DATE: March 13, 2009
SUBJECT: 2008–09 Revised Summary of Finances
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
A revised Summary of Finances (SOF) and other related reports for the 2008–09 school year have been posted to the School Finance website of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) at www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/. A summary of relevant information about the data updates in these reports, including planned future updates, is provided below:
- Projected Student Counts – The district planning estimate (DPE) column reflects the latest projection of end-of-year average daily attendance (ADA) and full-time equivalents (FTEs) for the current year. The ADA was projected by calculating the ratio of the final ADA reported to the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) for 2007–08 to the fall enrollment for that year. That ratio was applied to the enrollment reported to PEIMS in the fall of this school year. All other ADA and FTE counts were then estimated as a percentage of the projected ADA, again, using last year's ratios.
- Budgeted Tax Collections – Budgeted maintenance and operations (M&O) tax collections for the 2008–09 school year as reported to PEIMS have been used in both the legislative planning estimate (LPE) and DPE columns. If your district was awarded an Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) for a lease-purchase agreement, the district's local share of the IFA allotment was subtracted from the M&O tax collections estimate before the calculation of state aid.
- Tax Rate Updates – The TEA has worked with the comptroller's office to determine the tax rates adopted by school districts for the 2008–09 school year. These rates have been incorporated into the state funding calculations.
- Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) and Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) – If your district qualifies for EDA or IFA, the preliminary earned allotment appears in the SOF report under the heading "State Aid Funding by Source." Most IFA payments for 2008–09 have been processed for districts whose application files are complete. Settle-up amounts for 2007–08 have been incorporated into these payments. Detailed 2008–09 IFA payment reports will soon be available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/sofweb7.html. Instructions for amending IFA-supported debt information can be found on the IFA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/facilities/ifa.html.
- 2008–09 EDA payments have been processed. The EDA Detail Report within the SOF report includes information on the calculation of EDA state aid as well as a listing of EDA payments with prior year adjustments. Detailed EDA eligible debt reports are available online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/sofweb7.html. Instructions for correcting debt information can be found on the EDA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/facilities/eda.html.
- State Aid Reduction for WADA Sold– The March SOF report reflects reductions in state funding for the attendance credits sold by a partner district to a Chapter 41 district. The adjustments were made by reducing state aid based on the number of credits for students in weighted average daily attendance (WADA) involved in the partnership arrangement.
- State Compensatory Education– The information regarding the number of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch has been updated on the SOF report. The TEA uses this information in the calculation of funding for the compensatory education allotment.
- Amended Calculation of Revenue Target – Several changes have been made in the calculation of the revenue target, as follows:
- Adjustments to Transportation Allotment and New Instructional Facility Allotment – The adjustments for these allotments are now being calculated for each funding scenario (S1, S2, and S3). The best net funding scenario is being used to calculate your district's Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction (ASATR).
- Adjustment for Tuition Paid – If your district paid tuition to another school district and that amount exceeded the tuition amount your district paid during the target year, then your district's ASATR allotment has been increased by the difference between the two amounts.
As always, the TEA strongly advises school districts to project state aid based on the best available information. Your district should complete the 2008–09 state aid template produced by the Region XIII Education Service Center or an equivalent state aid estimation process. (The School Finance website provides a link to the ESC template on the website's "State Funding Worksheets Page" at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/index.html.) The greatest value of the SOF report is in explaining the basis of cash distributions to districts. Estimation of state aid earned can be significantly impacted by factors not known to the TEA and thus not reflected on the SOF reports produced by the State Funding Division. If you have any questions concerning these reports, please contact a state funding consultant at (512) 463-9238.
Sincerely,
Helen Daniels
Director, State Funding
HD/ll
