December 9, 2011

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

SUBJECT: Additional Funds Available through 2010–2012 Education Jobs Fund Grant

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is pleased to announce the availability of approximately $18,000,000 in additional funds under the Education Jobs Fund (Ed Jobs). Ed Jobs funds were originally allocated in May 2011. In November 2011, the US Department of Education (USDE) made additional Ed Jobs funds available. On December 8, 2011, TEA awarded the additional Ed Jobs funds in a revised allocation. This revised allocation includes the original Ed Jobs funds awarded to your local educational agency (LEA) plus the additional Ed Jobs funds awarded to your LEA.

Important Information

No application is necessary to receive the additional Ed Jobs funds. Grantees will receive an amended NOGA via email that includes the reallocation funding, along with a revised NOGA transmittal letter. On December 8, 2011, TEA sent a message via the Grants Administration and Federal Program Compliance (GAFPC) listserv to notify grantees that their amended 2010–2012 Ed Jobs NOGAs had been emailed.

Eligible Applicants

All LEAs in Texas are eligible to receive the additional Ed Jobs funds.

Allocations

Allocations for the additional Ed Jobs funds are based on weighted average daily attendance (WADA) state funding formulas. The allocations can be viewed at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=5040&menu_id=2147483678.

Project Period

The project period for the Ed Jobs grant is August 10, 2010, to September 30, 2012.

Federal Requirements for Use of Funds

Please refer to USDE Guidance on Ed Jobs at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=%202147500359&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941. This federal guidance is also summarized in the following sections.

Federal Required Use of Funds

Pursuant to the authorizing statute, Public Law (P.L.)111-226, LEAs must use Ed Jobs funds for compensation and benefits and other expenses, such as support services, necessary to retain existing school-level employees, to recall or rehire former school-level employees, and to hire new school-level employees, in order to provide early childhood, elementary, or secondary educational and related services. Allowable expenditures include, among other things, salaries, performance bonuses, health insurance, retirement benefits, pension fund contributions, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment assistance, transportation subsidies, and reimbursement for child-care expenses. All expenditures must support school-level employees. No funds may be expended for central office employees or for district-wide employees.

Federal Permissible Use of Funds

LEAs may use Ed Jobs funds to pay the salaries of teachers and other employees who provide school-level educational and related services. In addition to teachers, school-level employees supported with program funds may include, but are not limited to, principals, assistant principals, academic coaches, in-service teacher trainers, classroom aides, counselors, librarians, secretaries, social workers, psychologists, interpreters, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, information technology personnel, nurses, athletic coaches, security officers, custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers.

For an individual with both LEA-level and school-level responsibilities, an LEA may use Ed Jobs funds to pay only that portion of the employee’s salary and benefits associated with the time spent on allowable (i.e., school-level) activities. The LEA must maintain documentation (i.e., time and effort records) substantiating that amount of time. Employees paid from Ed Jobs funds who work 100% of their time on school-level activities are not required to maintain time and effort records.

An LEA may use the Ed Jobs Fund grant to restore reductions in salaries and benefits and to implement salary increases for the 2010–2011 or 2011–2012 school years. In addition, an LEA may use the funds for any additional salary and benefits costs associated with the elimination of furlough days that had been scheduled for the 2010–2011 or 2011–2012 school years.

Federal Statutory Prohibitions on Use of Funds

LEAs may not use Ed Jobs funds for general administrative expenses related to the operation of the superintendent’s office or the LEA’s board of education, including the salaries and benefits of LEA-level administrative employees. Funds may not be used for payment of expenditures for fiscal services, LEA program planners and researchers, or human resource services. Funds may also not be used for construction, renovation, remodeling, or repairs.

In addition, the following federal restrictions on uses of funds apply:

An LEA may not use Ed Jobs funds to compensate employees for any period prior to August 10, 2010, the date of enactment of the act.
An LEA may not use the funds to pay for contractual school-level services by individuals who are not employees of an LEA (e.g., janitors employed by an outside firm). However, an LEA that contracts with another LEA to provide educational and related services may use Ed Jobs funds to pay that portion of the contract associated with the salaries and benefits of the employees of the LEA providing the services.
An LEA may not use Ed Jobs funds to meet pension obligations incurred in prior school years. However, an LEA may use its funds for pension obligations accruing on the basis of services that an employee performs during the 2010–2011 or 2011–2012 school years.

Ed Jobs and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Federal Requirements

Ed Jobs, like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), is accompanied by unprecedented levels of federal oversight and accountability. Please be reminded of the significant federal compliance obligations, additional federal reporting requirements, and potentially increased audit exposure related to these funds. As such, LEAs should retain accurate records related to Ed Jobs funds.

Federal Requirement for ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reporting

Section 101 of the Ed Jobs statute, P.L. 111-226, requires that the fund be administered under the terms and conditions of Title XV of ARRA. Therefore, LEAs must report quarterly on the use of these funds as is required for all ARRA grants, pursuant to the requirements in Section 1512 of ARRA, including reporting jobs funded with Ed Jobs funds. Those reports will be cumulative and made available to the public at http://www.recovery.gov. TEA will submit the required federal reports and coordinate with recipient LEAs to obtain the necessary information for funds distributed by TEA. Guidance related to ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting is available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=7860&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941.

At the state level, TEA must submit quarterly reports to the federal government within 10 days after the end of each quarter. To meet this deadline, TEA requires LEAs to enter the required data by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on the fifth day following the end of each quarter. To enable TEA to meet the federal required deadline, LEAs that fail to enter the required data within the five-day period will be unable to draw down funds until the data is entered. Continued failure to enter the required data in a timely manner will result in additional sanctions.

Approximately five weeks after the end of each quarter, a continuous corrections period will be provided to accommodate LEAs that want to revise data in previously submitted reports for the immediate preceding quarter.

The following table summarizes the ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting dates that are applicable to this grant:

Final Day of Quarter	LEA Quarterly Reporting Due Date	Tentative Begin Date of Continuous Corrections Period
12/31/2011	1/5/2012	2/6/2012
3/31/2012	4/5/2012	5/7/2012
6/30/2012	7/5/2012	8/6/2012
9/30/2012	10/5/2012	11/5/2012

When the five-day reporting period includes a holiday, TEA may open the ER system for ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting prior to the end of the quarter. TEA will notify LEAs when early reporting is available.

One required data element of ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting is the number of jobs created/retained and funded by ARRA. Please note that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance does not establish specific requirements for documentation or other written proof to support reported estimates on jobs created/retained and funded; however, LEAs should be prepared to justify their estimates. LEAs must use reasonable judgment in determining how best to estimate the job impact of ARRA funding, including the appropriate sources of information used to generate such estimates. Where such written evidence exists, it can be an important resource for validating the job estimates reported. Additionally, if auditors review your LEA’s ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting processes and submitted data, they may request sources such as written policies and procedures, work papers, payroll journals, jobs calculations, and detailed general ledgers.

Expenditure Reporting Deadlines

The following table lists reporting deadlines for the 2010–2012 Ed Jobs Fund grant. LEAs that are awarded grants are responsible for meeting all required deadlines. Failure to meet deadlines may result in loss of funds and could cause the LEA to be identified as “high risk.”

Grant Program	Grant Period	Final and Revised Final Expenditure Report
Education Jobs Fund	8/10/2010–9/30/2012	10/31/2012

Information and Assistance

For additional information about Ed Jobs Fund requirements and guidance from the USDE, please refer to TEA’s Education Jobs Fund website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=%202147500359&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941.

For questions on ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reporting, contact the Division of Federal Program Compliance at (512) 936-3647 or GAFPC@tea.state.tx.us.

For assistance in expenditure reporting or for fiscal-related questions, contact the Division of Grants Administration at (512) 463-8525 or GAFPC@tea.state.tx.us.

Sincerely,

Yolanda Cantu

Senior Director, Division of Grants Administration

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