Does the back-to-school rush have you running behind? Well, you are not alone! Just last week TEA released a new Home Language Survey (HLS) to use when enrolling new students starting August 9, 2023 ! Unfortunately, the enrollment packets you have so nicely prepared will need an adjustment. The Home Language Survey is an important document … Read More
IDEA-B Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Compliance
TEA has calculated IDEA-B LEA maintenance of effort (MOE) compliance reviews for school year 2020-2021. What is IDEA-B Maintenance of Effort (MOE)? MOE is a federal requirement that affects how an LEA (i.e. Charters) budgets and spends their state and local funds on special education students. Charter School Success helps our charter school clients in both the … Read More
ESSA Basic Program Requirements: Fiscal and Program
Federal funds don’t just provide money to your schools. They create programs. By focusing on solid programs, you can add to your school’s repertoire and improve your ability to serve students. But programs funded by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are regulated by many rules that can seem confusing at times. As a savvy … Read More
Completing the 2021-22 ESSA Compliance Report
We know compliance reporting is the least fun thing to do at the start of school, but it can’t be avoided if you have ESSA funds. Each year, LEAs who accept Federal funds must complete a compliance report to verify activities have been implemented according to the program guidelines and the approved grant application. Hopefully, … Read More
Operational Minutes Adjustment 2021-2022
The Texas Education Agency has announced that LEAs will receive an automatic adjustment to operational minutes for the 1st – 4th six-weeks attendance reporting periods to mitigate against FSP funding reductions due to low percentage attendance rates. This will allow LEAs the opportunity to recoup funds lost due to low attendance rates likely caused from … Read More
Salary/Payroll Overview – The Total Package
Compensation An employee’s compensation is determined by their position and responsibilities along with the amount of related experience and education they’ve obtained. An organization determines what tool best fits their structure. Districts utilize Pay Scales, Pay Grades, and Pay Step Scales to assist in the Compensation Process. These scales can fluctuate from one year to … Read More
Completing Fall Time and Effort for Federally Funded Staff
Time and effort are two things we all wish we had more of, but what do they mean in federal grants lingo? You may have been asked by auditors before for “time and effort” paperwork for your federally-funded personnel. With the fall semester coming to an end, it is time to pay attention to this … Read More
Audit Update: Submitting Your Annual Financial Report
It’s Audit Time! In Today’s Tip, we’ll be discussing the steps you need to take to submit/upload your Annual Audit — also referred to as the Annual Financial Report (AFR). At CSS, we help review and assist in the completion and submission of the audit for our Charter School Success clients. On-time audits are required to Pass FIRST, … Read More
Updated State Aid Template available from TEA
The Charter School 2020-2021 State Aid Template is NOW AVAILABLE on the Texas Education Agency website! Over the last several months, Charter School Success has been working with our client charters to help develop their 2020-2021 budget, using the 2019-2020 State Aid Template information and calculations. Now that the 2020-2021 Estimate of State Aid Template … Read More
Financial Compliance and Accountability
Because Texans trust charter officials to spend money wisely and efficiently, the state’s financial accountability systems for public charters provides a report that annually examines school funding and compliance issues to confirm that spending has been appropriate. This report is referred to as Charter FIRST. Districts and charters must also have an outside auditor examine their financial records each … Read More