| August 30, 2002 TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED: RE: Reporting Health Insurance Information In order to properly pay the $1,000 benefit amount, minimum effort transition assistance, and state aid hold harmless, the Texas Education Agency and Teacher Retirement System must obtain employment and group health care coverage counts each month from all public school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and other educational entities to which the requirements of HB 3343 apply. The Texas Education Agency has added a reporting feature to the new Foundation School Program system that will allow each entity to enter current month counts and amend counts for previous months. To enter the information, a reporting entity must have an authorized Texas Education Agency Secure Environment (TEASE) login for the FSP system, something that almost all entities have by now. All entities, including entities not participating in TRS ActiveCare, must report through this mechanism. The health care information reporting screens are found within the FSP application, which can be accessed at www.tea.state.tx.use/school.finance/fsp.html. In addition, the application form for a TEASE login authorization may be obtained at the same web address. Once the login is complete, an active link titled “Health Care Funding” appears in the left hand menu list. By clicking on the link, an entity’s employee would enter the health care reporting module. Once in that module, select the link titled “Health Care Application” to enter the appropriate monthly totals for eligible employees and those covered by group health care. Correction to a month’s entries may take place until October 31 following the end of the fiscal year. Remember that you must save the entries and then submit them in order to be picked up by the system. Entries that are simply saved will not be processed. The entry system has been set up with projections of employment and covered employees for each entity. There are also edits that will validate the entered numbers against the projections. A warning message will be generated to alert the user if the entered number is greater than 125% or less than 75% of either projection. The user can still save and submit the entered values by acknowledging the warning message. The system will not allow the user to save or submit entries greater than 150% or less than 50% of the projected values. The system response will direct the user to contact TEA to resolve the problem. The initial projections will be adjusted based on the counts reported over time. The deadline for submitting counts though the system is the
10th of each month, or the first business day after the 10th
if the 10th is not a business day. For entities that report
properly and by the deadline, TRS will remit to those entities
in that same month an amount equal to the reported number divided
by 12 and multiplied by $1,000. If an entity reports after the
deadline, The entitlement to the $1,000 benefit accrues on the first day of work for an employee. Therefore, entities should report all employees for a month as known on the reporting date. When additional employees are hired during the remainder of the month, they would be reported as a correction to a prior month when the next month’s report is submitted. Only those individuals who are active contributing members of the Teacher Retirement System and who have completed the Election Form for $1000 Supplemental Compensation are eligible for this benefit, and only those individuals should be reported as employees. Entities should also make sure that no other entity will report that individual in the case of dual employment situations. Ineligible employees, such as retirees under the TRS system that have been rehired or employees whose work schedules do not entitle them to membership in TRS, should be excluded from all counts. Please refer to the FAQ’s on the TRS web site, www.trs.state.tx.us for additional information regarding the $1,000 supplemental compensation. The count of covered employees should reflect only those active contributing members of the Teacher Retirement System that are receiving group health coverage through the entity. Ineligible employees, such as retirees under the TRS system that have been rehired or employees whose work schedules do not entitle them to membership in TRS, should be excluded from all counts, even though districts may have extended health-care benefits to them. Employees that are eligible for coverage through the entity, but are paying the full price of coverage (no employer contribution), should also be excluded. The new reporting screens should be available in the first week of September. Because this is a new system, some problems are to be expected, and we ask your patience in the early days of the new FSP system. While there is a fallback plan to make payments even if there is a general failure of the entry system, the fallback plan will not be used for individual failures to report. Payment of the minimum effort transition assistance and state aid hold harmless amounts will commence as soon after initial reports as possible. The first payment of the minimum effort transition assistance will occur no earlier than October 2002. Because the calculations for these amounts are somewhat more complicated and involve only a subset of districts, they most likely will initially be paid separately. If you have any questions concerning the entry of data, the new FSP system, or state aid hold harmless, please feel free to contact the State Funding Division at (512) 463-9238. Questions related to employee eligibility and proper counting of employees should be referred to the Teacher Retirement System at (512) 542-6618. Sincerely,
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