The Charter FIRST & PEIMS connection: Do you need a budget amendment?

The Charter FIRST & PEIMS connection: Do you need a budget amendment?

October 23, 2019 | Charter Administration

The Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) consists of four mandatory yearly data submissions. These submissions encompass all data requested and received by TEA about public education for all open enrollment charter schools in the state of Texas.

PEIMS data directly affects your district’s funding, accountability and compliance systems. One of the major compliance elements is the Charter FIRST Rating (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas).

The PEIMS Snapshot date is October 25, 2019, and in this PEIMS submission, TEA will be gathering information for three new indicators looking at specific data, with some data spanning over a three-year period. These are unique because data will be based on a number of years’ Actual data vs. Estimated data and not just the current school year. A couple of these indicators involve staying within a 10% variance, which may be difficult for some schools.

Let’s take a look at these three indicators:

Solvency Indicator #6: (Worth 10 Points)

Question: Was the average change in total net assets over 3 years less than a 25 percent decrease or did the current year total net asset balance exceed 75 days of operational expenditure?

Calculation:

[((Year 2 – Year 1)/Year 1)+ ((Year 3 – Year 2)/Year 2)+ ((Year 4 – Year 3)/Year 3))]/3 OR

[(Total expenditures less depreciation) /365] *75 days

  • Year 1 = three years prior
  • Year 2 = two years prior
  • Year 3 = one year prior
  • Year 4 = current year

Indicator Notes

This indicator is a Yes or No answer. “No” will yield the charter zero points, and “Yes” will yield the charter all ten points. If the charter school fails indicator 6, the maximum points and highest rating that the charter school may receive is 89 points, B = Above Standard Achievement.

Solvency Indicator #10: (Worth 10 Points)

Question: Did the charter school average less than a 10 percent variance (90%-110%) when comparing budgeted revenues turned in during Snapshot to actual revenues for the last 3 fiscal years?

Calculation:

[((A-B)/B)+((C-D)/D)+((E-F)/F))]/3 = G +/- 10% variance, where

  • A = Actual Revenues for Year 1
  • B = Budgeted Revenues for Year 1
  • C = Actual Revenues for Year 2
  • D = Budgeted Revenues for Year 2
  • E = Actual Revenues for Year 3
  • F = Budgeted Revenues for Year 3
  • G = Average Variance

Indicator Notes

Information is gathered from TSDS PEIMS collections – General fund (420); object codes 57XX and 58XX, October Snapshot – Fall PEIMS (Budgeted Revenues); & Mid-year PEIMS (Actual Revenues).

This indicator is a Yes or No answer. “No” will yield the charter zero points, and “Yes” will yield the charter all ten points. Emphasis on the October Snapshot!  It’s critical your budgeted revenues are as accurate as possible, so your charter school gets awarded the maximum points on this indicator.  You may want to consider a budget amendment if you know that October snapshot budget data is not going to fall within 10% of actual data. 

Financial Competence Indicator #16: (Worth 5 Points)

Question: Was the charter school’s actual average daily attendance (ADA) within 10 percent of the charter school’s annual estimated ADA?

Calculation:

(A – B)/ B ≤ 10%, where

  • A = Actual Average Daily Attendance (ADA)
  • B = Estimated Average Daily Attendance (ADA)

Indicator Notes

This indicator is a Yes or No answer. “No” will yield the charter zero points, and “Yes” will yield the charter all five points.

Monitoring and confirming the accuracy of your PEIMS data is critical to ensuring a favorable Charter FIRST rating.  Failing to achieve an acceptable rating on your Charter FIRST report can have negative implications, up to and including the revocation of your charter.  This can also affect the ability to renew your charter, or cause TEA to order a hearing to be held before the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee at which the board president must explain the school’s low performance and/or lack of improvement.

Want to know more?

Click on these links for details about our  Charter FIRST online courses and PEIMS Submissions online courses.