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
Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is here!
Districts may begin submitting data for the 2020-2021 school year to OCR. The portal to do so, opened up on December 13, 2021. You may submit and make changes up until the data submission period ends on February 28, 2022. What is CRDC? CRDC stands for Civil Rights Data Collection, and it is a universal … Read More
Coming Soon! IDEA -ARP Funding for Special Ed
We hope you like some twist in your peppermint this holiday season, because this news is going to be different! Coming in “mid December” is the release of the IDEA -B Formula ARP funding along with the same for IDEA-B Preschool ARP funding. You are accustomed to getting normal IDEA increases and carryover this time … Read More
Independent Contractor or Employee?
As we encounter the end of one year and the beginning of another, many year-end accounting tasks are upon us, including the issuance of W2s and 1099s to those who have performed work for us during 2021. To determine who needs to get which type of tax form, we must be able to properly classify … Read More
Applying for your Texas Work Commission (TWC) account
Once a Charter School has four or more employees on their payroll for more than 20 weeks, it’s time to apply for your Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) account. This means that the charter will now be obligated to report their employees’ wages to the state unemployment office and should start paying SUTA taxes. The “Status … Read More
Reporting Requirements for the Annual Report and 2019-20 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR)
The countdown has begun! No, not for New Years (although 2022 is not far off!), but rather for the public hearing to share your Charter District’s annual TAPR results. All LEAs must hold a public hearing to discuss the annual report within 90 days of the reports being released by TEA. The main portion of … Read More
Charter FIRST Rating: Notice and Public Hearing
Charter FIRST is the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST), which is detailed in Texas Education Code 39.082. The purpose and goal of having a financial accountability rating system is to ensure that open enrollment charter schools continually strive to improve the management of their financial resources and provide transparency and openly report results to … Read More
District Improvement Planning (DIP) for Charter Districts
You have heard the expression “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” and when it comes to school improvement, this is certainly the case. Having a well-designed DIP can help your organization have focus and reach its goals, but in some cases, it is also required by law. According to the federal law, … Read More