Using the Master Schedule to Maximize Funding

Using the Master Schedule to Maximize Funding

August 20, 2024 | PEIMS & Data Management

Whenever you think about maximizing ADA funding for a school district, you most likely think about proper coding of student attendance, student eligibility codes, and ensuring your students attend school for as many school days as possible. Do you ever think about the impact that your Master Schedule had on your ADA funding? Some of the courses in your Master Schedule even receive weighted funding for your students! It is imperative that you follow all rules and regulations regarding course coding and that you use your Master Schedule to benefit your district!

Many staff members in your school district play an important part in ensuring that your district receives the ADA money it deserves for all services provided to your students. Your final ADA calculation is determined by your Summer PEIMS submission, and it is important that all Administrators and Support Staff understand their roles and responsibilities regarding PEIMS data and how it impacts ADA funding.

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Who is responsible for PEIMS data?

Superintendents

The superintendent of a school district is responsible for the safekeeping of all attendance records. The superintendent is also the final approver for all PEIMS submissions and should only give their approval after they have verified that the PEIMS submission is free of Fatal Errors and that all Warnings and Special Warnings have been reviewed for accuracy.

Principals

The principal of each campus should be reviewing their campus’ Campus Summary Reports each six weeks for accuracy. It is important that the Campus Summary Report out of the district’s Student Information System is compared to the same report out of TSDS PEIMS to ensure that they match. By signing the Campus Summary Report the Principal is affirming that they have reviewed the data and that the attendance for their campus was taken accurately following all rules and regulations as outlined in the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook.
The principal of each campus may also be the staff member determining the campus’ Official Attendance Snapshot time. It is important that all teachers understand that this is the time of the day when student attendance must be taken, and the district will only get funded for students that were in in attendance during the Official Attendance Time.

Teachers

A teacher is responsible for the coding of student absences at the Official Attendance Snapshot time determined for their campus. By signing a student roster, or submitting attendance electronically, a teacher is attesting to the validity and accuracy of the data, which determines which students the district receives ADA funding for that day.

Attendance Personnel

Attendance Clerks, Registrars and Receptionists may all be considered Attendance Personnel for your district. Attendance Personnel is any staff member that is transcribing absences, generating attendance summaries or coding attendances in your Student Information System. It is important that all staff members adhere to the laws and regulations pertaining to student attendance accounting and that they sign an affidavit stating that all data entered is accurate to the best of their knowledge.

Special Program Directors

Some Special Programs receive weighted ADA funding for the students participating. These programs have unique eligibility criteria, documentation requirements and enrollment and withdrawal procedures. The director of each special program should be aware of these requirements and should be verifying that proper documentation is in place. Special Programs Directors should also be determining the coding for these students and should verify that it was correctly entered in the Student Information System. They should also be running the student detail report every six weeks to catch any coding errors while reviewing the data for accuracy and completeness. Special Program Directors should sign off on program specific PEIMS reports out of TSDS to ensure coding accuracy.

Counselors

Counselors create the master schedule for their campus, which ensures that students can meet graduation requirements. The student’s schedule also determines the student’s eligibility code. Depending on how many courses a student is registered for determines if that student is a full or part time student, which in turn determines if the district receives full or part time ADA funding. Some courses, such as CTE courses, also receive weighted funding making it crucial that counselors understand the requirements for claiming weighted course funding and that they have these courses correctly coded.

What should be taken into consideration when creating the Master Schedule?

ADA funding

  • The school day should offer at least 4 hours of INSTRUCTION every day.
  • For a student to receive full funding they are required to receive a minimum of 4 hours of instruction EVERY day.
  • For a student to receive half day funding they are required to receive between 2 and 4 hours of instruction EVERY day.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Courses

  • To receive weighted funding for CTE courses, each course must meet for a minimum of 45 minutes each day. Per the SAAH, three contact hours (V3 135-180+ Minutes) is the maximum an LEA may claim for a single course. To receive CTE weighted funding, course periods must be an average of minimum of 45 minutes a day, including pep rallies, assemblies, modified bell schedules, etc., for the calendar year. Days covered under 3.6.6. Attendance Accounting during Testing Days, 3.8.1.4 Staff Professional Development Waivers, and 3.8.2. Closures for Bad Weather or Other Issues of Health and Safety are excluded from the calculation.
  • Only students in grades 6-12 are eligible to receive weighted CTE funding if they are taking a high school credit course.

Certified Teachers

  • To claim funding for a CTE course the teacher of record may need to be certified. This requirement does not apply to an open-enrollment charter school unless the school’s charter states that a CTE course must be taught by a qualified/certified CTE teacher. You can find more information about CTE Teacher Certification requirements at this link.
  • Special Education teachers must be certified.
  • Homebound Teachers must be certified (or meet charter requirements) as a CTE teacher to continue to claim CTE funding. For more information regarding the requirements for homebound students to receive CTE funding please see 7.2.10 Homebound: Career and Technical Education (CTE) Funding Requirements in the published 2024/25 Student Attendance Accounting Handbook. The SAAH can be found at this link.

Innovative Courses

 Official Attendance Time

  • Each campus can have a different Official Attendance Snapshot Time, but once set, you cannot change it during the school year.
  • Make sure that the Official Attendance Snapshot time chosen for each campus is not during a passing period.
  • Make sure all students are scheduled in a course the period that your Official Attendance Snapshot time occurs so that you submit accurate attendance data for all students.
  • If you have a student that is taking multiple dual credit courses, attempt to have them in a non-Dual Credit course during the Official Attendance Time. If not, these students may need to have an alternative attendance time, which requires board approval. If a student is in Dual Credit courses all day, you will not have any way to take their attendance, and you may be in a position where that student becomes ineligible for funding.

Course Coding in the Student Information System

  • Make sure all CTE courses are correctly coded with the appropriate CTE indicator code.
  • All Dual Credit courses should be accurately coded with the appropriate college credit hours that the students will receive upon completion.
  • AP courses should be correctly coded.
  • All courses should be set up with the proper AAR category and max total credits received upon completion.
  • Program Intent Codes for teachers should match the population served in the courses they teach.

AP, IB and Dual Credit Courses

  • These courses factor into your district’s accountability ratings.
  • These courses might require fees for registration or testing that will need to be paid by the student or district.

PEIMS submissions require the organization and verification of many staff members to ensure a finalized submission with strong data integrity. The more educated each staff member in your district is regarding their responsibility when it comes to PEIMS data, the better off you district will be, both from a financial and an accountability standpoint.

Have questions?