DATE: April 12, 2011
SUBJECT: Revised 2010–2011 Summary of Finances
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
A revised Summary of Finances (SOF) for the 2010–2011 school year has been posted to the School Finance website of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/sofweb7.html. A summary of relevant information about the data updates in the report 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 2009–2010 to the fall enrollment for that year. That ratio was applied to the enrollment reported to the 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 2010–2011 school year as reported to the PEIMS have been used in the DPE column. 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 Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to determine the tax rates adopted by school districts for the 2010–2011 school year. These rates have been incorporated into the state funding calculations.
- Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) and IFA – If your district qualifies for EDA or IFA, the preliminary earned allotment appears in the SOF report under the heading "State Aid by Funding Source." Most IFA payments for 2010–2011 have been processed for districts whose application files are complete. Settle-up amounts for 2009–2010 have been incorporated into these payments. Detailed 2010–2011 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 web page at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5516.
- 2010–2011 EDA Payments – EDA payments for 2010–2011 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 web page at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7724.
- State Aid Reduction for WADA Sold– The 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.
As always, the TEA strongly advises school districts to project state aid based on the best available information. Your district should complete the 2010–2011 state aidtemplate produced by the Region XIII Education Service Center (ESC) or an equivalent state aid estimation process. (The ESC template is available at http://www5.esc13.net/finance/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
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