Wyo. Code R. 206-0002-8
General Agency, Board or Commission Rules
Chapter 8: School Foundation Program
Effective Date: 02/01/2007 to 03/20/2007
Rule Type: Expired Emergency Rules & Regulations
Reference Number: 206.0002.8.02012007
Section 1. Authority. These rules are promulgated pursuant to the Wyoming Education Code of 1969, as amended (W.S. 21-2-202; W.S. 21-2-203; W.S. 21-3-117(a)(i); W.S. 21-3-314; W.S. 21-13-309; W.S. 21-13-320; W.S. 21-13-321).
Section 2. Applicability. These rules pertain to criteria and standards for the School Foundation Program for Wyoming Public Schools. These rules become effective when signed by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State.
Section 3. Promulgation, Amendments or Repeal of Rules. Any amendments to these rules shall become effective as provided by the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (W.S. 16-3-101 through 16-3-115).
(a) The definitions in W.S. 21-2-203(a), W.S. 21-13-101(a), and W.S. 21-13-321(a) apply to these rules.
(b) Case Manager. For purposes of applying the requirements in Section 14(e)(iii) of these rules and regulations, an individual working under a personal-services contract with a school district or Board of Cooperative Educational Services to provide general supervision of special education programs and services provided to children with disabilities.
(c) Data Correction. Corrections necessary to ensure model operation and current school year district payments are using the correct data supplied by school districts, other state agencies, and outside Department consultants to properly compute school foundation program payments to school districts as required by law.
(d) Days of Operation. Each school shall be in operation for at least 185 days unless an alternative schedule has been approved by the State Board, and shall conduct classes with a majority of teachers and students present for at least 175 days. Days used exclusively for registration, report card distribution, teacher/parent conferences, in-service programs, and similar activities shall only be counted as days of operation beyond the 175-day pupil-teacher contact minimum.
(e) Department. Wyoming Department of Education.
(f) Format Change. Any change to the funding model that results in a different appearance or layout and maintains the integrity and functionality of the model. Examples include, but are not limited to: bolding, underlining, color and font change.
(g) Foundation Program Report. The accumulation and aggregation of student attendance and membership statistics, school district financial data, reimbursement claims, estimates, and other representations including, but not limited to, the following reports: the Annual District Report (WDE-601), the Annual District Attendance & Membership Report (WDE-600), the Foundation Program Funding Worksheet (WDE-100), the Annual Special Education Expenditure Report (WDE-401), the Annual Student Transportation Expenditure Report (WDE-103), the WDE-100 VocEd Student FTE Worksheet, WDE-100 VocEd Teacher FTE Worksheet, and the Annual District Budget.
(h) Foundation Program Review. The examination, analysis, testing, and verification of a school district's Foundation Program Report and system of student accounting by the Department or its representative (whether on-site at the school district or in the form of a desk review at the offices of the Department) to confirm, verify, validate, and, if necessary, correct the student attendance and membership statistics, school district financial data, reimbursement claims, estimates, and other representations appearing in the district's Foundation Program Report.
(i) Funding Model. The spreadsheet adopted by the Wyoming State Legislature in Attachment 'B' of 2006 Wyoming Session Laws Chapter 37 as modified by the Department with technical corrections and data corrections.
(j) General Fund Operating Expenditures. For purposes of computing Student Transportation reimbursement under W.S. 21-13-320 and Special Education reimbursement under W.S. 21-13-321, those expenditures, after removal of transfers, of the school district from its general fund for operation of the district.
(k) Hospitalized or Homebound Students. Students who cannot physically attend regular school sessions but are receiving instruction through a homebound program provided in accordance with W.S. 21-4-402 shall be included in the school district's aggregate membership.
(l) Membership. For purposes of counting and reporting Average Daily Membership (ADM), the appropriate inclusion of a student in a school's student accounting records for all or part of a day when the school is regularly in session, whether the student is physically in attendance or absent on that day.
(m) Mobile Student. For the purpose of computing the unduplicated count of at-risk students under W.S. 21-13-309(m)(v)(A), a student who is enrolled in any grade six (6) through twelve (12) in a school on a pre-defined snapshot date in March or April having enrolled in the school after October 1 and prior to or on the aforementioned, pre- defined snapshot date used in specifying mobility for NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress determinations (or an alternate snapshot date in March or April as deemed necessary and determined by the Department).
(n) School Day. For purposes of counting and reporting ADM, the starting time of a pupil-teacher contact day to the ending time of a pupil-teacher contact day as established by school district board of trustee policy. However, the total number of hours for all school days, when accumulated over the 175-day pupil-teacher contact period required by W.S. 21-4-301 or the number of days required under an alternative schedule approved by the State Board, shall not be less than the minimum applicable number of hours established by the State Board in Chapter 22 of its rules and regulations.
(o) State Board. Wyoming State Board of Education.
(p) Student Accounting. The process of enrolling students, taking attendance, appropriately withdrawing students and removing them from student accounting records, and maintaining accurate and verifiable computer-based or written records for the purpose of uniform and timely reporting of student attendance and membership statistics at each school district's school.
(q) Technical Correction. A correction necessary to ensure model operation and current school year district payments are in accordance with law and the model is properly computing school foundation program payments to school districts. Section 5. Basis of Accounting. With the exception of those accounting operations necessary to properly compute a school district's operating balance and cash reserves under W.S. 21-13-313(e) and Section 15 of these rules and regulations, all school districts shall, for purposes of preparing the individual reports within the Foundation Program Report, utilize the cash basis of accounting. Any exceptions shall have prior approval of the Department.
Section 6. Responsibility of School Districts. Districts shall ensure their full compliance with the law or rules regarding timeliness, format, completeness and accuracy on all reports submitted to the Department.
(a) All foundation program reports required to be submitted to the Department by school districts by statute or rule and regulation shall include a statement by the district superintendent certifying that the information submitted is complete, accurate and in conformance with the reporting requirements.
(b) All foundation program reports shall be submitted by the district superintendent to the Department on or before the statutory date. If a district superintendent fails to provide data or financial reports by the statutory date, the district superintendent shall include an explanation as to the tardiness of the report.
(c) If a district superintendent submits, without good cause, a foundation program report that is tardy, incomplete, inaccurate or in an incorrect format, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, through Department staff, shall advise the district's board of trustees of the noncompliance with reporting requirements and require the district's board to submit a plan to correct the noncompliance and prevent future instances of noncompliance. The plan shall be submitted to the Department by the district within thirty (30) days of receipt of the request from the Department and shall include the specific steps the district is taking to correct the noncompliance and prevent its reoccurrence.
Section 7. New School Openings, Old School Closings, Emergency School Closings, and School Grade Arrangement Changes. School districts shall give written notification to the Department within two (2) weeks of the event whenever:
A grade level change is made to a school.
Districts shall notify the Department of a requested grade level change;
This relates only to the authority of a district to configure grade levels at each of its schools and not to the configuration of schools for application to the education resource block grant model;
In addition to changing a school's grade configuration, for school year 2006-2007, the configuration of grades for each school shall be based upon the ADM reported for each grade in which students were enrolled for the 2005-2006 school year;
Excluding charter schools established under W.S. 21-3-301 through 21-3-314, any modification to the configuration of grades in which students are enrolled during any school year such that the configuration differs from that in which students were enrolled during the 2005-2006 school year shall be documented by the district within reports submitted to the Department and shall require approval by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction; and
Approval by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be based upon the appropriate delivery of the required educational program, the cost effectiveness of the modified grade configuration for the delivery of adequate educational services to students and any extraordinary circumstances related to the safe and efficient delivery of the education program to students.
Section 8. Minimum Attendance Taking Requirements. All Wyoming public schools shall take and record attendance at least two (2) times during the school day to verify either half-day or full-day attendance for full-day kindergarten and grades one (1) through twelve (12). Half-day kindergarten attendance shall be taken at least once per class session. Accordingly, full-day kindergarten and grades one (1) through twelve (12) attendance shall be taken:
Section 9. Mathematical Calculation of ADM. Each school shall meet both the 175-day pupil-teacher contact requirement (or, if less, the number of days required by an alternative schedule approved by the State Board) and the minimum applicable number of hours established by the State Board in Chapter 22 of its rules and regulations. The following applies to the calculation of ADM:
(a) All school districts, in making mathematical calculations on the Annual District Attendance & Membership Report (WDE-600) and the Foundation Program Funding Worksheet (WDE-100) shall, for purposes of computing the ADM for each school, divide the school's aggregate membership, including hospitalized or homebound students, for the period of time under aggregation by the actual number of days over which the aggregation occurred. All Wyoming school districts shall compile ADM from attendance and membership statistics provided by each school within the district. ADM calculations shall be carried out and rounded off to three (3) decimal places for the WDE-600 and the WDE-100.
(b) All Wyoming schools shall not include in their membership those students for whom the school district is no longer actively or prospectively providing appropriate instructional services. Examples include, but are not limited to, situations relative to students who:
(c) A school district that receives a student from another school district shall immediately include that student in its membership. The school district that sends a student to another school district shall immediately cease including that student in its membership. No student shall be included in two schools' memberships at the same time, whether those schools are in the same district or in different districts.
(d) For students attending one or more, but not all, of the normally scheduled daily periods available in a school, aggregate membership and ADM shall be calculated using one of the following three (3) methods selected by the district:
(i) Include in membership a student in attendance for a major fraction of a half school day as if he or she had completed a half school day. Include in membership a student in attendance for a major fraction of a school day as if he or she had completed a school day. Include in membership a kindergarten student in attendance a major fraction of his or her regular session or the equivalent amount of time as if he or she had completed his or her regular session or the equivalent amount of time; or
(ii) Calculate the ratio of periods in membership to the total periods normally offered at that school (e.g., a student in membership two (2) periods a day in a school that offers seven (7) periods per day would generate a 2/7 aggregate membership, or 0.286 ADM for the number of days over which the aggregation occurred); or
(iii) Calculate the ratio of hours in membership for the period of time under aggregation (regular or alternative schedule) to the total possible hours normally scheduled for the period of time under aggregation for the closest district-operated non-alternative school offering instructional services at the grade level of the student under consideration (e.g., a student in membership for 200 days in classes that provide 120 minutes (2 hours) per day of pupil-teacher contact time (i.e., 400 hours), and measured against a school that normally provides 1100 contact hours during the 200-day period would generate a 400/1100 aggregate membership, or 0.364 ADM for the 200-day period).
(e) When school is dismissed for emergencies prior to the end of the school day, membership inclusion shall be allowed according to the following guidelines:
(i) Students in membership for a major fraction of a half school day shall be counted as one-half day in membership.
(ii) Students in membership for a major fraction of a school day shall be counted as one whole day in membership.
(iii) Kindergarten students in half-day sessions in membership a major fraction of their session or the equivalent amount of time shall be counted as if the entire session had been completed.
(f) ADM in the funding model will be school based. ADM will not be transferred from one school to another due to a school configuration change or an opening or closing of a school.
Section 10. Corrections to the Funding Model. The Department shall make any necessary changes to the funding model according to the following processes:
(a) Technical correction as defined in Section 4(q):
(i) Evaluate suggested correction in consultation with school finance advisers and state agencies as necessary. If suggested correction is deemed necessary, then proceed with the following steps;
(ii) Notify Department staff, Legislative Service Office, and outside school finance consultants;
(iii) Document the correction on a Department technical correction form;
(iv) Send corrected education resource block grant model to outside school finance consultants for review;
(v) Request letter from outside school finance consultants certifying that the technical corrections made by the Department are in compliance with Wyoming law;
(vi) Inform the School Finance Data Advisory Committee of the correction;
(vii) Notify all school districts in a memo format; and
(viii) Forward revised education resource block grant model to Secretary of State’s office along with certification letter.
(b) Data Correction as defined in Section 4(c):
(i) Evaluate suggested correction in consultation with Department staff. If suggested correction is deemed necessary, then proceed with the following steps;
(ii) Notify Department staff, Legislative Service Office, and school finance advisers;
(iii) Document the correction on a Department data correction form; and (iv) If data correction is made after the WDE-100 is released or while the statewide payment model is being created, notify district(s) affected.
(c) Format change as defined in Section 4(f):
(i) Notify Department staff;
(ii) Document the change on a Department format change form; and
(iii) Print off a before and after worksheet to illustrate change(s) and attach to format change form.
Section 11. School District Building Data. School Facilities Commission (SFC) data from July 1 of the prior fiscal year will annually be populated by the Department in the education resource block grant model to fund the current school year. The Department will update data during school year, if necessary, to ensure model operation and current school year district payments are in accordance with law and the model is properly computing school foundation program payments to school districts as required by law.
Section 12. Reimbursable Expenditures. In general, School Foundation Program reimbursement for school district expenditures incurred in a prior year shall be limited to those incremental costs relative to particular areas specified by law and for which funding is not already directly provided in the education resource block grant model. No reimbursement shall be provided for costs previously or simultaneously recovered elsewhere in the Wyoming school finance system.
Section 13. Student Transportation Reimbursement. Chapter 20 of the Wyoming Department of Education rules is hereby incorporated into these rules as applicable. In addition, the following applies to student transportation reimbursement under W.S. 21-13-320:
(a) Pro rata reimbursement for personnel not devoting one hundred percent (100%) of their time to student transportation issues and operations shall be supported by clear and continuous documentation.
(b) Personnel dealing with pupil transportation issues and operations full-time shall be subject to one hundred percent (100%) reimbursement provided that an appropriate position description exists and an affidavit specific to the year for which reimbursement is expected, signed by the employee and the district superintendent (or another involved supervisor) attesting to such full-time involvement, is on file at the district offices. Such affidavits shall be renewed annually and shall clearly reference the school year for which reimbursement is claimed.
(c) Reimbursement for bus and loading-zone aides shall be limited to those individuals otherwise qualified under Sections 13(a) or 13(b) above.
(d) No reimbursement for student transportation facility major maintenance shall be allowed under this Section.
Section 14. Special Education Reimbursement. Chapter 7, Special Education Rules Governing Services for Children with Disabilities, of the Wyoming Department of Education rules is hereby incorporated into these rules only as applicable. Chapter 7 rules remain in force and continue to apply to all areas of Special Education not specifically addressed in Chapter 8. In addition, the following applies to special education reimbursement under W.S. 21-13-321:
(a) Reimbursement for expenditures incurred to provide special education services to children with disabilities shall not duplicate any other reimbursement or revenue source used to offset district special education costs. For example, any amount received by a district from the special school district tax levied under W.S. 21-20-109 for Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) providing services to children with disabilities, but not passed through to the BOCES for which the tax was levied, shall be considered by the Department to be a state revenue under W.S. 21-13-310(a).
(b) Special education reimbursement shall be limited to those actual costs required to provide services to children with disabilities. Imputed and/or indirect costs, such as those for utilities and other overhead, shall not be claimed.
(c) Salaries and employee benefits for personal services paid to certified and/or licensed teachers, substitute teachers, and other certified and/or licensed personnel, or to paraprofessionals and classified employees, are subject to the following requirements:
(i) Personnel providing services to children with disabilities full-time shall be subject to one hundred percent (100%) reimbursement provided that an appropriate position description exists and an affidavit specific to the year for which reimbursement is expected, signed by the employee and the district superintendent (or another involved supervisor) attesting to such full-time involvement, is on file at the district offices. Such affidavits shall be renewed annually and shall clearly reference the school year for which reimbursement is claimed.
(ii) Pro rata reimbursement for personnel not devoting one hundred percent (100%) of their time providing services to children with disabilities shall be supported by clear and continuous documentation.
(iii) Reimbursement for personnel costs of teachers providing services to children with disabilities shall be limited to those individuals having appropriate special education certification. Substitute teachers need not be certified as special education instructors.
(iv) Reimbursement for personnel costs of aides and other paraprofessionals shall be based on the amount of time devoted to special education and/or related services, working under the supervision of certified special education personnel.
(d) Instructional materials, supplies and equipment, and other items will be reimbursed to the amount necessary to provide services for children with disabilities to benefit from special education, as determined by their IEP team. Reimbursement would also include those items necessary to evaluate a child as to needed special education services as well as those day-to-day supplies, materials, and equipment utilized by special education staff and programs. However, supplies, equipment, and materials generally available to all students shall not be reimbursed under this Section.
(e) Contracts for special education services shall be executed on Department approved forms.
(i) Charges for contracted services related to individual children shall be supported by an itemized billing statement showing each child served during each billing period. Reimbursement shall not exceed actual costs for services.
(ii) With the exception of those payments to BOCES or other Wyoming school districts that have been pre-approved by local boards of trustees, payment for services shall be made only after the services have been provided.
(iii) School districts offering special education services through a case-management arrangement utilizing other than district staff shall develop a personal-services contract setting out and describing those case-management services provided by the case manager.
(iv) Each contract for out-of-district or out-of-state placement shall be written for only one child.
(v) Contracted services shall only be provided by appropriately certified, licensed, or registered providers.
(vi) All providers shall adhere to all Department and State Board rules and regulations.
(vii) All contracts for services shall be subject to review by the Department.
(f) Each local district shall develop, implement, and enforce a reasonable policy setting forth the conditions, limitations, and allowable frequency of travel by parents to visit their child with disabilities when the child has been placed in a specialized setting away from their home in accordance with the child’s IEP.
Section 15. Cash Reserves. A school district's 'operating balance and cash reserves,' as that term is used in W.S. 21-13-313(e), includes all district general fund financial resources computed in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as of the end of the fiscal year which are not legally obligated or otherwise restricted by law or regulation for expenditure on specific educational programs or facilities. Thus, a school district's unrestricted end-of-year general-fund fund balance as reported in the district's audited financial statements will normally be considered to be its operating balance and cash reserves for that year.
(a) A school district shall not transfer funds or accumulated reserves from its general fund to another fund for purposes of avoiding inclusion of such amounts as state revenues under W.S. 21-13-310(a). Any amount so transferred shall be considered by the Department to be State revenue under W.S. 21-13-310(a).
(b) District's revenues received from settlements of prior protested twenty-five (25) and six (6) mill tax payments may be excluded from the cash reserve calculation for the fiscal year in which the payments were received per W.S. 21-13-313(e).
(c) A district wishing to exclude a tax settlement from the cash reserves calculations shall submit a letter to the Director of Finance requesting exclusion, thirty (30) days after the end of the previous fiscal year in which the protest payment was received.
(d) The letter shall include a certification from the county treasurer on the amount of the tax settlement receipt.
Section 16. Internal Consistency of Reports and Mathematical Integrity. The individual reports making up the Foundation Program Report shall be operationally and mathematically consistent. The Annual District Report (WDE-601) shall serve as the hub and master repository of district financial data. As such, the other reports making up the Foundation Program Report shall, where applicable, achieve reconciliation with the WDE-601. Each school district superintendent shall review the individual reports making up the Foundation Program Report for his or her district as appropriate and necessary before they are forwarded to the Department and, based upon his or her review, certify that, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, the Foundation Program Report and its subparts are complete, accurate, and in conformity with all reporting requirements.
Section 17. Retention of Foundation Program Reports. The foundation program reports for each district, along with all supporting data, shall be maintained in easily accessible computer-based or written format and shall be retained by for a minimum of Seven (7) years.