Division Finance and Budgeting
Foster Care Data Collection
Article: 2024-26-241
Audience: Superintendents, School Finance Staff
Contact: Ed Lanza, Director of Budget, [email protected]
The 2024 Appropriation Act provides state funds for the costs of prior year (FY 2024) local operations and the local share of the FY 2025 (Summer 2024) Remedial Summer School program for certain children placed in foster care. A detailed description of state funding requirements for Education of Children in Foster Care and instructions for completing the Foster Care data collection are provided in the Foster Care application in the Single Sign-on for Web Systems portal. Also provided in SSWS are the provisions from the appropriation act, the Code of Virginia, and Board of Education regulations pertaining to the education of children in foster care.
Please note that all school divisions must complete the Foster Care Data Collection through the SSWS portal even if your division is not requesting reimbursement. Once a division has successfully completed the Foster Care certification in SSWS, the division superintendent or designee will certify it electronically through the Superintendent's Data Collection Approvals application in SSWS. Please see the instructions in the Foster Care application in SSWS for additional information.
The Foster Care data collection will open on July 1, 2024, and is due to VDOE no later than July 31, 2024. If you have any questions concerning this data collection, please contact the budget office staff at (804) 225-2025 or [email protected].
2024-2025 School Security Equipment Grant Application
Article: 2024-26-240
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals
Contact: Vijay Ramnarain, Director of the Office of Support Services, [email protected], 804-750-8125
The 2024-2025 School Security Equipment Grants(SGEM) will be awarded on a competitive basis and school divisions are eligible to receive grant awards up to $250,000. SEGM grant information is located at VDOE's Security Equipment Grants webpage. Grant applications must be submitted to VDOE between July 1, 2024, and August 1, 2024. School divisions must purchase all funded security equipment within six months of the notification of the grant award or by March 1, 2025.
To support the installation of school security equipment during the summer months and expedite the spend-down of these funds, school divisions and regional programs may apply for grants reimbursements for school security equipment expenditures made on or after May 16, 2024. Such projects must otherwise meet all existing program guidelines and only approved projects will be reimbursed.
For a school division to receive a grant, a local match of 25% of the grant amount is required. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is authorized to reduce the local match for school divisions with a composite index of local ability-to-pay less than 0.2000, including any such school division participating in a regional vocational center, special education center, alternative education center, or academic year Governor's School. The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is exempt from the match requirement.
Awarded grant funds will be maintained and disbursed from accounts administered by the State Non-Arbitrage Program (SNAP) under the Virginia Public School Authority. Upon approval of a reimbursement request, a written certification will be sent to SNAP to complete reimbursement payment within 30 days.
Continuing Application - Regional Alternative Education Programs
Article: 2024-26-242
Audience: Superintendents, Non-teaching Staff
Contact: Sofia McDaniel, Senior Policy Analyst, Department of Strategic Innovation, [email protected]
Previously, VDOE shared an overview of the slot assignment and slot reallocation process for regional alternative education programs in Newsletter item 2024-20-181. Part of this process includes an annual slot survey to determine actual slot need in local divisions. Regional alternative education coordinators were asked to complete the surveyby June 21, 2024. If additional time is needed to complete the survey, please contact Ms. Sofia McDaniel at [email protected]. As a reminder, the number of slots allocated to each division can be found in the Direct Aid Calculation Tool and in a condensed version here.
VDOE hosted a webinar on May 29 to provide more transparency on the current slot assignment and slot reallocation process and solicit feedback for potential revisions for the 2025-2026 school year. If unable to attend, the recording is available for review.
Yearly, VDOE asks regional alternative education coordinators to complete the Continuing Application. Previously, this was sent to regional education coordinators via email. The Continuing Application ensures that programmatic information is recorded and up to date. We ask that this application is completed by July 26, 2024.
Thank you to those of you who have filled out the slot survey and provided helpful feedback. As always, any comments on the process are welcomed. Please contact Ms. Sofia McDaniel at [email protected] with suggestions.
Annual Superintendent Certification of Vehicle Insurance
Article: 2024-26-238
Audience: Superintendents, Directors of Transportation
Contact:Kerry Miller, Director of Pupil Transportation, [email protected]
Division superintendents are required tocertify that insurance providing the required coverage for all vehicles to be used in transporting school children and school personnel has been obtained during the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Pursuant toSection 22.1-191, Code of Virginia, such insurance shall be secured, certified, and submittedto the Superintendent of Public Instruction on or before August 16, 2024.
Compliance with these requirements is mandatory before any state school funds can be distributed (see Sections 22.1-190, 191 and 197, Codeof Virginia). The VDOE urges you to initiatethe procurement process in time to finalizethe necessary insurance contract by the end of July 2024. Please ensure that the contract containsthe coverage requiredfor all daysschools are operatedduring the entire 2024-2025 school year.
Annual School Bus Driver Critical Shortage Survey
Article: 2024-26-237
Audience: Superintendents, Directors of Transportation, HR Departments
Contact: Kerry Miller, Director of Pupil Transportation, [email protected]
The Superintendent of Public Instruction annually surveys all local school divisions to identify critical shortages of school bus drivers by geographic area and by individual school division.
This data will be used to identify school divisions or geographic areas with critical shortages of school bus drivers, thus permitting any school bus driver hired by a local school board in any area or division in which a critical shortage of school bus drivers has been identified to elect to continue to receive a service retirement allowance during such employment if the driver meets certain other conditions.
A survey form to meet this requirement will be emailed to school division transportation directors which must be completed and returned to the Virginia Department of Education by August 16, 2024.
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