2011-2012 Student Attendance Accounting Handbook

1. 2011-2012 Student Attendance Accounting Handbook PEIMS ESC Training September 2011

2. Foreward 2011-2012 Student Attendance Accounting Handbook The submission of Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data is required of all public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. Student attendance and contact hours will again be reported at the student detail level, for the entire school year, through the PEIMS. The Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (handbook) provides districts and charter schools with the Foundation School Program (FSP) eligibility requirements of all students and the minimum requirements of all student attendance accounting systems. The handbook — • describes the FSPeligibility requirements of all students; • prescribes the minimum standards for all attendance accounting systems, whether manual or automated; • lists the documentation requirements for attendance audit purposes; • specifies the minimum standards for systems that are entirely functional without the use of paper; and • details the responsibilities of all district and charter school personnel involved in student attendance accounting. The handbook is for all school district and charter school personnel involved in the student attendance accounting process. No school district or charter school official (or any other person in your district or charter school) has the authority, either implied or actual, to change or alter any rules, regulations, or reporting requirements specified in this handbook. Commissioner of Education

3. TEA : A-Z Index : C – Correspondence from the Agency http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/legal072811.html All Public Schools http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/taa/legal072811-2.html Charter Schools Addendum

4. 2011-2012 Highlights Student Attendance Accounting Handbook Sections 1 - 3 Sections 4 - 11 • Adjustments to FSP Funding • Repeated Courses • Self-Paced Courses • Sending Records through TREx • Auditing Classes • Alternate Attendance Times • Religious Holidays • Bad Weather/Health & Safety Closures • Special Education • Career and Technical Education • Bilingual/ESL • Prekindergarten • Pregnancy Related Services • Nontraditional Schools • Nontraditional Programs Section 1.1 Note: An inherent difference exists between your district's being permitted to serve a student in a particular program and your district's being entitled to funding for that student in that program. For example, depending on local policy, your school district may serve virtually any student in virtually any capacity/setting as long as serving the student does not interfere with the education of funding-eligible resident students. However, the only time a student may be coded as an eligible participant in a program/setting, thereby generating state funding, is when that student meets all the eligibility requirements, and all documentation is complete and on file.

5. Attendance Records Retention Section 1.4 Information for all FSP attendance reports must be (made a part of a schools’ permanent records.) available for audit purposes for five years from the completion of the school year. Superintendents, principals, and teachers are responsible to their school board and to the state for maintaining accurate and current attendance records, regardless of the attendance accounting system in use.

6. Adjustments to FSP Funding Section 2.1 TEA can now retain up to 100% of your district’s Foundation School Program (FSP) allotment for undocumented attendance if it is not provided within 20 working days of a written request. The maximum retention of your district’s FSP allotment was 30%. • 2.1 General Audit Requirements • Your district must make available and provide to the Financial Audits Division of the TEA copies of all required attendance records within 20 working days of written request by the agency. Failure to provide all required attendance records (specific program[s] and/or grant[s]) could result in the TEA's retaining 100% of your district's Foundation School Program (FSP) allotment for the undocumented attendance for the school year(s) for which records have been requested. • All documentation required for audit purposes is outlined in 2.3 Required Documentation. … • Documentation must — • cover the entire school year and • encompass three main data sets: Student Detail Reports for all students by 6-week reporting period, Campus Summary Reports for all campuses by 6-week reporting period, and a District Summary Report by 6-week reporting period. • All codes reflected in the attendance reports must be defined in the reports.

7. "Paperless" Electronic Attendance Accounting Systems Section 2.2.3 • Even with the use of a "paperless" attendance accounting system, some documentation required for audit purposes, such as a doctor's note supporting a student's excused absence or other documentation listed in 2.3.5 Additional Required Documentation, may necessarily need to be kept in paper form. • If attendance data cannot be reproduced in an acceptable format at the time of an audit, a school district may be held financially responsible for its inability to reproduce required documentation.

8. Disaster Recovery Section 2.2.4 • Disaster or attendance accounting system malfunction or sabotage do not negate your district's responsibility to produce attendance data required for an audit. Your district should have in place plans for how it will recover and reproduce data required for an audit if the primary means of producing the data is threatened by disaster or by attendance accounting system malfunction or sabotage. • Storage of duplicate records and/or data at various locations within your district is an example of a plan that prevents the loss of data if a disaster occurs at the primary storage facility. • Your district should document its data recovery plans and ensure that the plans are available for examination by auditors. The district should also regularly test its data recovery plans.

9. Repeated Courses Section 3.2.2.2 • Time spent in a course for which a student has already received credit does not count for FSP funding purposes. i.e., this time does not count as instructional time for purposes of the 2-through-4-hour rule. Example • Tex Student receives credit for Algebra I and a grade of C. Tex Student repeats Algebra I to receive a better grade. Time in this repeated course would not count for FSP funding purposes.

10. Self-Paced Courses Section 3.2.2.3 • Time spent in a self-paced computer course may be considered instructional time for FSP funding purposes. • A certified teacher must be present in the room for the duration of the course to answer questions and otherwise assist the student. • The course must be a regularly scheduled course (not designed as a ‘drop-in’ course).

11. Self-Paced CTE Courses Section 3.2.2.3 • Time spent in a career and technical education (CTE) self-paced computer course designed for credit recovery may be considered for purposes of computing a student's CTE contact hours provided that the following conditions are met: • An teacher appropriately qualified/certified to teach the course, as defined in 19 TAC 231.1(e) must be present in the room for the duration of the course to answer questions and otherwise assist the student. • The course must be a regularly scheduled course (not designed as a ‘drop-in’ course). • All other requirements specified in Section 5 Career and Technical Education must be met These are not online virtual courses (11.9 TxVSN) or CTE Independent Study Courses (5.8)

12. Met Grad Requirements, did not pass TAKS Sections 3.2.2.4 Changed in November 2010 SAAH change addendum. • Your school district may serve and generate FSP funding for a student who has met all graduation requirements other than passing required state assessments and who continues to attend school to participate in a study program for those assessments, provided all other eligibility requirements are met. Time spent in the study program is considered instructional time for FSP funding purposes; i.e., this time counts as instructional time for purposes of the 2-through-4-hour rule. Note: Students who have met all graduation requirements other than passing required state assessments are the only students for whom time spent in such a study program may be considered instructional time for FSP funding purposes. For any other student, this time is not considered instructional time for FSP funding purposes.

13. Enrollment Procedures and Requirement Section 3.3 Clarification of Residency… • Residency is not defined by an address on a driver’s license, a signature on a lease, or the address on a utility bill. These are indicators that may expedite verifying residency, but the absence of such indicators is not conclusive that the student is not a resident. The traditional basic residence criteria are living in the district and having the present intention to remain there. In establishing whether a student meets residency and age requirements for enrollment in your district, your district may not ask about the citizenship or immigration status of the student or his or her parent or other person with legal control of the student under a court order. Your district may report an enrolled student it believes to be eligible for FSP purposes as eligible while awaiting documentation of eligibility from the student's previous school district or parent or other person with legal control of the student under a court order.

14. Sending Records through TREx Sections 3.3 and 3.4.4 Clarification of Working Days for TREx purposes TREx 10 days wording changed from “calendar days” to “working days” • A working day does not include days that the campus is closed. • A working day does not include days that the district administrative office is closed.

15. Auditing Classes Section 3.3.2.1 • A school district or open-enrollment charter school may not permit a student to "audit" classes at the district or school without being enrolled in the district or school.

16. Attendance Times Sections 3.6.2 and 3.6.2.2 Your campus may select an official attendance-taking time that is not during the second or fifth instructional hour of the day if your local school board has adopted a district policy allowing for recording absences in an alternate period or hour. The policy may — • allow for each campus to choose an alternate attendance-taking time for the campus as a whole, • allow for each campus to choose an alternate attendance-taking time for certain groups of students as described in 3.6.2.2, or • allow for both of these circumstances. Campuses may choose an alternate attendance-taking time for a group of students scheduled to be off campus during the regular attendance-taking time. • The school board must adopt a district policy allowing for an alternate attendance-taking time. • The alternate attendance-taking time will be in effect for the period of days or weeks for which the group is scheduled to be off campus during the regular attendance-taking time. • The alternate attendance-taking time for a particular group and period may not be changed.

17. If student’s absence is FSP excused: Section 3.6.3 • Twelve reasons to excuse a student’s absence for FSP (Off campus dual credit; board approved activities; mentorship for Distinguished Achievement Program; Medicaid-eligible in Early and Periodic Screening and Diagnosis Treatment; observing religious holy days; grades 6-12 sounding “Taps”; required court appearance; election clerk; Apply for US citizenship; participate in US naturalization oath ceremony; temporary absence for health care appointment and Jr or Sr higher ed days). • If excused for one of above reasons, must allow a reasonable amount of time to make up school work missed. • School must keep documentation related to absence on file for audit purposes. Need a local policy describing what constitutes acceptable documentation for each of the types of absences.

18. Holy Days Section 3.6.3 • School districts and Open-Enrollment Charter Schools are responsible for determining what constitutes a holy day. • The day should be one generally recognized by the student’s religious denomination as a holy day that is required to be observed by all members of that denomination. • Church retreats, camps, mission trips, and individual religious rites (baptisms, christenings, bar mitzvahs, etc.) are not considered holy days.

19. Health Care Professionals SAAH Frequently Asked Questions (April 13, 2011) The Texas Health and Safety Code, §105.003, requires the statewide health coordinating council to collect information on the following professionals, any of which would be considered examples of health care professionals • audiologists • chiropractors • licensed professional counselors • licensed chemical dependency counselors • dentists • dental hygienists • emergency medical services personnel • marriage and family therapists • medical radiologic technologists • licensed vocational nurses • registered nurses • certified nurse aides • occupational therapists • optometrists • pharmacists • physical therapists • physicians • physician assistants • psychologists • social workers • speech-language pathologists

20. Makeup Days; Bad Weather/Health & Safety Closures Sections 3.8.2.1 and 3.8.3 3.8.2.1: TEA encourages district to select practical makeup days… 3.8.3 New Chart • Provides guidance for closures due to bad weather and for health and safety issues. • Describes common situations and provides agency policy. • Not meant to cover extreme situations – such as hurricane. Examples 3.11.29 - 31 3 additional General attendance examples added

21. Special Education Section 4.6.2.3 • The section related to Special Education Homebound Services and Pregnancy Related Services has been replaced with a reference to an updated Section 9, Pregnancy Related Services. • Updated references and added clarifications: • “licensed physician – footnote reference to Texas Medical Board’s searchable database • Reference : Related Services http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147496881 • Updated examples at end of section.

22. Career and Technical Education (CTE) Section 5 • Section 5.2 – requires one program and at least three different clusters to generate CTE contact hours instead of at least three programs in three different clusters. • Section 5.2.2 – refers to the Texas Administrative Code, which changes the maximum allowable indirect cost rate. • Section 5.7 – rearranges all Career Preparation information into one subsection. • Section 5.7 – updates and revises information for career preparation and practicum courses. • 5.7.1 Career Prep courses cannot be offered in settings such as credit recovery, disciplinary programs, or any other setting that does not allow a student to be enrolled the entire school year.

23. Bilingual/ESL Section 6 general language “Bilingual and ESL education programs” • Sections 6.4.1 & 6.12 – clarify the effective date of withdrawal. • For a student who withdraws from the district, the date the student withdraws is considered the effective date of change. • For a student who has been classified by the LPAC as English proficient at the end of the school year, the first day of the following school year is considered the effective date of change. District personnel record the effective date in the attendance accounting system, and eligible bilingual/ESL days are no longer accumulated from that date forward. It is rare to change LEP-related codes during the school year. • Section 6.4.2 – updates the exit criteria chart.Visit the TEA Bilingual Education web page at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=4098&menu_id=720 for the most current exit criteria • Section 6.5 – clarifies the evaluation of students transferred out of bilingual or ESL programs. During the first 2 years after a student has met criteria to transfer out of a bilingual or ESL education program, the LPAC must monitor the student's academic progress. During this time, the LEP codes of F and S are used to reflect the first and second years of monitoring. Program type codes other than 0 and parental permission codes should not be present, as the student is no longer LEP and no longer served.

24. Bilingual/ESL Section 6 general language “Bilingual and ESL education programs” • Section 6.6 –updates bilingual/ESL program funding eligibility. A TEA-approved exception or waiver remains valid for the current year only • Section 6.8 – updates required servicesadding language on changes under new graduation requirements (March 2010) and LEP student completing ESOL I or II. • Section 6.9 – clarifies teacher certification requirements. • 6.9.1 – PK – 5th Must be ESL-Certified for funding of ESL; • 6.9.3 9th – 12th funding eligible if at least one teacher is ESL certified for grade level… • Section 6.11.3 – revises LPAC recommendations and parental approvals information.

25. Prekindergarten (PK) Section 7 • Moved the information about when PK must be offered to the beginning of the section. • Section 7.2.4 – updates the definition of ‘homeless’ based on the federal definition. • Section 7.5 – provides direction on where to find information about the new PK program type codes for PEIMS. • Section 7.5.1 – indicates that PK Early Start Grant funding is not currently available.

26. PK Eligibility & Age Section 7.2.1 This is not new – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION and TEA Audit issue. • A child who is 3 years old is eligible for PK only if your district operates a 3-year-old PK program. A child who is 5 years of age on September 1 of the current school year is not eligible for enrollment in a PK class. It is the position of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that children who reach age 5 on September 1 are most appropriately served in kindergarten, and that the law specifically established the PK program to serve students who have not reached age 5. Given the intent of the law, if your district enrolls a 5-year-old student in the PK program, the student must be reported as ineligible for average daily attendance (ADA) (ADA eligibility code 4 or 5). • Students under 5 years of age who do not meet eligibility requirements but are still served in the PK program should be coded ineligible half-day (ADA eligibility code 5). Your district should ensure that serving students who are not eligible for the program does not interfere with serving students who are eligible for the program.

27. Pregnancy Related Services (PRS) Section 9 • This entire section has been revised and updated for clarity. • Special Education homebound and PRS has been moved from Section 4 to Section 9. • 9.2.3 : Life Skills Program for Student Parents (PEP) will not be funded for 2011-2012 or 2012-2013.

28. Nontraditional Schools Section 10 • Section 10.6 – updates at-risk definition to include how students perform on assessment instruments. • Section 10.7 – revises information on alternative education campuses of choice and residential facilities with alternative evaluations to reflect coming accountability system changes. • Section 10.9 – revises DAEP and JJAEP information to reflect statutory changes. • Section 10.12 – updates and consolidates information related to disciplinary removals for students with disabilities. • Section 10.13 – updates the out-of-school suspension (OSS) section to reflect statutory changes.

29. Nontraditional Programs Section 11 • Section 11.3 – allows state funding for students taking dual credit and paying their own tuition and fees, unless ECHS • Section 11.3.1 – updates the chart of student eligibility for dual credit courses. • Section 11.4 – clarifies the eligibility of developmental courses for state funding. • Section 11.5 –Optional Extended Year Program (OEYP): no funding • Section 11.6 – clarifies the Optional Flexible School Day Program (OFSDP) enrollment and withdrawal policy. • Section 11.7 – clarifies days NOT eligible as Instructional days forOptional Flexible Year Program (OFYP). (early release, makeup days and before 4th Monday in August (except charters)) • TEA strongly encourages parent and student notification of program. • Section 11.9 – refers to the TxVSN website – statutory changes.

30. Attendance Audit Concerns 2011 David Loseke (512) 463-9095 david.loseke@tea.state.tx.us Calendars • All calendars are required to have six six-week periods of approximately 30 days each and 2 emergency days. Both emergency days must be used before other days will be waived. • The minimum amount of days including waivered days is 170 days. • Charter schools can have less days but funding will be adjusted for less than 180 day minus waivered days. • District or charter school should have a “paper” calendar for every track that they report. • Any changes to the calendar should result in a change to the “paper calendar” that is retained for audit purposes.

31. Attendance Audit Concerns 2011 David Loseke (512) 463-9095 david.loseke@tea.state.tx.us Early Education • Special education services will never make a student eligible for the prekindergarten program. • Monitoring a special education student is not providing special education services. • The special education services must be regularly scheduled in that a specific amount of time is scheduled at least weekly in the IEP. Services must not be scheduled on an as-needed basis. (The audit Division regularly finds once a month as to what is put on the ARD.) • In many instances, the Audit Division will find ARD services pages that show 100% of instruction as being in regular education, grades determined by regular education, and an instructional setting of mainstream.

32. Attendance Audit Concerns 2011 David Loseke (512) 463-9095 david.loseke@tea.state.tx.us Optional Flexible Year Program (OFYP) • OFYP program was intended to allow students additional time if they were at risk of not passing TAKS or passing their grade level. • If the extra days are placed throughout the year then there isn’t a concern as to where in the six weeks the days are added. However, when in doubt, make the change at the being of a six-week period. • The wrong way to use OFYP program is to run a track of 170 days that all students attend; then follow it with a track of 10 days in the sixth six-weeks that has all of the students needing additional study moved to it. (This method results in the possibility of generating more than one ADA per student.)

33. Attendance Audit Concerns 2011 David Loseke (512) 463-9095 david.loseke@tea.state.tx.us Dual Credit Courses • Dual Credit courses allow the student to earn college credit while completing their high school requirements. • Students with a class ranking of at least junior are allowed to take up to two dual credit courses per semester. • Exceptions to this requirement for students with demonstrated outstanding academic performance and capability (as evidenced by grade-point average, PSAT/NMSQT scores, PLAN or other assessment indicators) may be approved by the principal of the high school and the chief academic officer of the college. Students with less than junior year high school standing must demonstrate eligibility. See the SAAH “11.3.1 Student Eligibility for Dual Credit Courses” • High school students must not be enrolled in more than two dual credit courses per semester. Exceptions to this requirement for students with demonstrated outstanding academic performance and capability (as evidenced by grade-point average, ACT or SAT scores, or other assessment indicators) may be approved by the principal of the high school and the chief academic officer of the college.

34. Contact Information Mary Beth Matula ESC3 PEIMS Coordinator mbmatula@esc3.net (361) 573-0731 ext 257 www.tea.state.tx.us TEA website: A-Z Index: S – Student Attendance Accounting Handbook http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7739