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Microsoft Word version of this letter is available for download
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INFORMATION ONLY April 30, 2007 Re: Updates to the 2006‑07 Summary of Finances and related matters To the Administrator Addressed: We are writing to inform you about recent updates that have been made to the 2006-07 Summary of Finances (SOF). In previous years, we have used the information that school districts report in the Fall to the Public Education Information Management Systems (PEIMS) to update the current year SOF to better reflect the actual earnings of the school district for that year. Typically, this update occurs in March. This year, there are several noteworthy changes that we wanted to bring to your attention. First, the PEIMS data were not released in time to update the March SOF. Thus, the updates will not appear on the March SOF, but will appear on the April SOF. Second, as in the past, we have updated the information on the number of students in average daily attendance (ADA) and the data on your special populations using the Fall enrollment data. Third, while we have previously updated the tax collection information on the SOF using the budgeted tax collections reported in the Fall PEIMS submission, statutory changes created by House Bill 1, 79th Legislature, Third Called Session, direct us to make a calculation of local tax collections using the average collection rate based on the collection rates for tax years 2003, 2004, and 2005. As a result of this change, we will not use the budgeted collections reported in the Fall PEIMS submission for the purposes of estimating the revenue target created by House Bill 1 or for the purposes of making payments for the balance of the 2006-07 school year. We will use the calculated collection amounts to calculate state aid payments until we do our near-final settle-up at the close of the current fiscal year. At that time, we will use the tax collections reported to us by districts during the tax collection survey that is traditionally done during June each summer. Audited tax collections will be used to complete the final settle-up for the 2006‑07 school year in March 2008. Finally, we have also made some changes to the calculation of the revenue target with regard to the provisions found in Section 42.2516(b)(1)(C) that make reference to the effective tax rate described by Section 26.08(i), Tax Code. These changes modified our calculation of estimated tax collections based on our estimation of the district’s effective tax rate. We identified an error in that calculation that resulted in an over-estimate of tax collections, and that error has been corrected. Please note that based on our on-going efforts to clarify the interpretation of this language, we expect to make further refinements to this calculation that will be reflected on the May or June SOF. We hope this information is helpful. Please watch your email correspondence for further updates on the current year funding and for information about the 2007-08 school year. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the State Funding Division at (512) 463-9238. Sincerely, Lisa Dawn-Fisher, Ph.D.  |
