1 presenters: bob soldner erin fath bruce w. anderson school financial services

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RECENT LEGISLATIVE CHANGES – FUND 80 AND OTHER CHANGES

2014 WASBO FOUNDATION SPRING CONFERENCE ATTENDEE REGISTRATION

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2014

Presenters: Bob Soldner

Erin FathBruce W. Anderson

School Financial Services

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WORKSHOP AGENDA:

Review New legislation: Act 306: Community Programs & Services (Fund 80)

Act 336: Long Term Capital Improvement “Trust” Fund

Act 257:

Eliminates the 180 day requirement

Permits districts to create Interim Sessions

Allows counting Online Courses – Summer School & Interim Sessions

Act 255: substitutes as eligible cost for State Categorical Special Education Aid

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COMMUNITY PROGRAMS & SERVICES (FUND 80)

2013 ACTS 20, 46 & 306

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COMMUNITY SERVICE FUNDPRIOR TO 2013 FISCAL YEAR

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES. Establish and maintain community education, training, recreational, cultural or athletic programs and services, outside the regular curricular and extracurricular programs for pupils, under such terms and conditions as the school board prescribes. The school board may establish and collect fees to cover all or part of the costs of such programs and services. Costs associated with such programs and services shall not be included in the school district’s shared cost under s. 121.07(6)

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COMMUNITY SERVICE FUNDTHE IMPACT OF 2013 ACTS 20 AND 46:

The “characteristics of community service activities” has become the “criteria” school boards must use to describe Fund 80 levy expenditures.

Imposes a limit on the amount a board may levy into Fund 80 for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years;

Specifies a procedure for exceeding this new limit; Requires school boards to include information on planned

Fund 80 expenditures in the budget summary at an annual meeting;

Requires districts to publish this information on the district website and report the information to (DPI); and

Requires DPI to publish the information on the DPI website and submit a report to the Legislature by December 1, 2014 detailing the information reported to DPI by school boards.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE FUND2013 ACT 306

Requires DPI to create administrative rules defining ineligible/eligible expenditures from the Community Programs and Services (CPS) Fund (Fund 80).

Requires DPI to determine if ineligible CPS expenditures exist and if so, reduce the district’s allowable revenue limit authority the following year by the amount of the ineligible CPS expenditures; structured as a negative exemption rather than a reduction to the district’s base (first applies to Revenue Limit calculation for 2015-16 school year, based on 2014-15 expenditures).

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COMMUNITY SERVICE FUND2013 ACT 306

Requires that Fund 80 expenditures be audited by the school district’s auditor.

NOTE: Current law already directs DPI to exclude from Shared Costs (for General Aid purposes) any CPS expenditures. If an audit of the CPS expenditures were to

determine that a district had inappropriately coded CPS expenditures to Fund 10, those expenditures would have to be removed from Fund 10 and would decrease the district’s Shared Costs for General Aid purposes.

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ADMINISTRATIVE RULES HTTP://PB.DPI.WI.GOV/PB_RULESPG

WHAT IS A RULE? A rule has the effect of law and is issued by an agency (DPI) to implement, interpret or make specific legislation administered by the agency.

ADMINISTRATIVE RULES ACTIVITY: The first step in the rulemaking process is

preparation of a scope statement that sets forth information about the agency’s intended rulemaking, including the objective of the proposed rule, the statutory authority for the rule, and a description of all entities that may be affected by the rule.

This step has been completed

http://pb.dpi.wi.gov/pb_rulespg

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Once a statement of scope has been published in the Administrative Register and approved by the State Superintendent, (it will be) sent to the Legislative Rules Clearinghouse for review,

DPI holds a public hearing before the rule is submitted to the Legislature…

Once a public hearing is held a permanent rule can be submitted to the Legislature for approval.

The Legislature is not scheduled to meet until January 2015.


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After legislative review, the final stage of the rulemaking process is filing the rule. NOTE: Legislative review can result in changes to the

permanent rule.

DPI Administrative Code: DPI administrative rules can be obtained by going to the Wisconsin State Legislature's website: http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/toc/pi

Please send the SFS Team your viewpoints and advice regarding your district’s community programs and services (Fund 80) and 2013 Act 306 to the following mailbox:[email protected]


http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/toc/pi

mailto:[email protected]

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LONG-TERM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT(FUND 46)

2013 ACT 336

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LONG-TERM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT(FUND 46) 2013 ACT 336

In common law legal systems:

A trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another.

“Trust” as used in 2013 Act 336 is property (revenue) held for the district’s own future use at a date yet to be determined.

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A school board with an approved long-term capital improvement plan (minimum of 10 years) may establish a capital improvement “trust” that is funded with a transfer from the general fund.

The transfer from Fund 10 to Fund 46 is the “expenditure” that is counted as a shared cost.

This transfer becomes a shared cost in the FY in which funds are deposited in the capital improvement fund.

Expenditures from Fund 46 are NOT counted as shared costs.


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A school board is prohibited from expending money deposited into Fund 46 for a period of five years after the fund is created.

After the initial five year wait period is over, funds may be used only for the purposes identified in the approved capital improvement plan.

Fund 46 funds may not be transferred to any other school district fund.


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180 DAYS / INTERIM SESSIONS / ONLINE COURSES

2013 ACT 257

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2013 ACT 257

2013 Wisconsin Act 257 included several changes:

Elimination of 180 Day requirement (eff. 2013-14)

Authority for districts with year-round schools to hold “Interim Sessions” & generate membership

Modified the law to permit districts to count for membership purposes, on-line courses offered during summer school & interim sessions.

http://docs.legis.wi.gov/2013/related/acts/257

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DAYS & HOURS OF INSTRUCTION2013 ACT 257

YES – the 180 day requirement was eliminated, but …

Districts are still required to meet the minimum hours of instruction, per ss. 121.02(1)(f) [School district standards]

DPI will continue to require districts to complete the Calendar Report for both hours and days of instruction

The required minimum hours of instruction did not change:Grade Level Minimum Hours

Kindergarten (4k & 5k)* 437 hours

Grades 1 through 6 1,050 hours

Grades 7 through 12 1,137 hours

*4k – may use up to 87.5 hours for “outreach” (0.50FTE), or may add 87.5 hours of outreach (524.5 hours – 0.60 FTE)

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Act 257 permits districts with “year round” school to count pupil instructional minutes for courses taken during an interim period towards membership for General Aid / Revenue Limits,

as permitted by law for Summer School.

INTERIM SESSIONS2013 ACT 257

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What is an “Interim Session?” “ … a period of time in a school year when school is

held by a school in a school district to provide hours of direct pupil instruction in addition to the hours of direct pupil instruction provided by the school district as required under s. 121.02 (1) (f).”

“Year Round” is not defined in state law/rule

“School Year” is defined in state law: “… the period beginning with July 1 and ending with June 30.”


http://docs.legis.wi.gov/document/statutes/121.02(1)(f)

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Counting pupil minutes for courses taken during an interim session:

Interim period instructional hours will not count towards the minimum required hours of instruction

Must follow all current law requirements rules pertaining to summer school (academic purposes, no tuition for residents, allowable fees, etc.)

Includes online courses offered during an interim session … another change included in 2013 Act 257 –next topic!


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ONLINE COURSES – SUMMER & INTERIM2013 WI ACT 257

Act 257 permits districts to count online courses completed by pupils in either summer school or an interim session towards membership for General Aid and Revenue Limits, provided all the following specific criteria are met:

The online class is offered by the school district as a summer class (or interim session class)

The student is entering grades 7-12 in the fall of 2014-15.

The student resides in the school district. Or, if the student is not a resident …(next slide)

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Act 257 permits districts to count online courses completed by pupils in either summer school or an interim session towards membership for General Aid and Revenue Limits, provided all the following specific criteria are met:

If the student is not a resident of the district:

1. The student attends the school district under open enrollment and

2. One of the following applies:

a. The student receives the instruction from the district’s virtual charter school, or

b. the student accesses the online course within the geographical boundaries of the district.

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Act 257 permits districts to count online courses completed by pupils in either summer school or an interim session towards membership for General Aid and Revenue Limits, provided all the following specific criteria are met :

The school board determines the online class fulfills a requirement for high school graduation specified under s. 118.33 (1) (a) 1., Wis. Stats., or

established by the school board under the authority of the department.

and …

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Act 257 permits districts to count online courses completed by pupils in either summer school or an interim session towards membership for General Aid and Revenue Limits, provided all the following specific criteria are met :

The high school student receives credit for the class [OR]

The 7th or 8th grade student successfully completes the class.

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In addition to the specific criteria we just covered with respect to counting online courses during summer school / interim session:

All other summer school rules apply to online courses being counted for membership (i.e., DPI licensed teachers, academic purpose, no charge of tuition to pupils being counted, reasonable fees that do not exceed costs, etc.)

Interim minutes (online or seat time) counted the same as summer minutes

Quick review of how summer school is counted and general rules …


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How we count summer school minutes:

“Membership” for any school district includes the summer average daily membership equivalent for academic summer classes or laboratory periods that are for necessary academic purposes.

This now includes: Interim session classes and Online courses, as permitted under Act 257

1 FTE = 48,600 minutes


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General Over-Arching Rules – Summer School & Interim Sessions:

Open to all residents, but cannot be mandatory Necessary for academic purposes/HS graduation;

related to instruction during regular school year Instructors are appropriately licensed teachers No charge of tuition to residents Reasonable fees for personal use items /

“consumables” permitted – fees may not exceed actual costs!


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SPECIAL EDUCATION AID – SUBSTITUTES 2013 ACT 255

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SPECIAL EDUCATION AID - SUBSTITUTES2013 ACT 255

Permits a school board to contract with private or public agencies for substitute teaching and paraprofessional staffing services,

Allows these expenditures to be claimed as eligible costs for state categorical Special Education Aid.

The change is first effective for state aid paid in the 2014-15 school year (for expenditures in 2013-14).

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YOUR TURN…

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THANKS TO WASBO FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO YOU

TODAY! (ALL AREA CODE 608) Bob Soldner, Director …………………… 266-

6968 Erin Fath, Asst. Director ………………… 267-

9209 Bruce Anderson, Consultant …………… 267-

9707 Dan Bush, Consultant …………………… 267-

9212 Karen Kucharz, Consultant …………….. 266-

3464 Victoria Chung, Accountant ……………. 267-

9205 Gene Fornecker, Auditor ………………… 267-

7882 Brian Kahl, Auditor …………………….…. 266-

3862 Michele Gundrum, Auditor ………………. 267-

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E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 608/267-9114

mailto:[email protected]

1 presenters: bob soldner erin fath bruce w. anderson school financial services

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