APRIL 2010 84.298 INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS-TITLE VI OF NCLB 84.298 INNOVATIVE PROGRAM State Project/Program: TITLE V PART A; (NCLB) NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (PRC 059) U. S. Department of Education Federal Authorization: Title V, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind of 2001 (NCLB) N. C. Department of Public Instruction Agency Contact Person Program Program Charlotte Hughes, Director Program Monitoring and Support Division CHughes@dpi.state.nc.us (919) 807-3957 Financial Gene Bruton, Accountant Monitoring and Compliance gbruton@dpi.state.nc.us (919) 807-3726 Address Confirmation Letters To: Gene Bruton, Accountant N.C. Department of Public Instruction Division of School Business Monitoring and Compliance Section Education Building 6334 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-6334 (919) 807-3726 The auditor should not consider the Supplement to be safe harbor for identifying audit procedures to apply in a particular engagement, but the auditor should be prepared to justify departures from the suggested procedures. The auditor can consider the supplement a safe harbor for identification of compliance requirements to be tested if the auditor performs reasonable procedures to ensure that the requirements in the Supplement are current. The grantor agency may elect to review audit working papers to determine that audit tests are adequate. I. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES The objective is to assist State and local educational agencies in the reform of elementary and secondary education; to support local education reform efforts that are consistent with and support statewide education reform efforts; to provide funding to enable State educational B-4 84.298 1
agencies and local educational agencies to implement promising educational reform programs and school improvement programs based on scientifically based research; to provide a continuing source of innovation and educational improvement, including support programs to provide library services and instructional and media materials; to meet the educational needs of all students, including at-risk youth; and to develop and implement education programs to improve school, student and teacher performance, including professional development activities and class size reduction programs. The State educational agency shall bear the basic responsibility for the administration of funds made available under this part, but it is the intent of Congress that the responsibility be carried out with a minimum of paperwork and that the responsibility for the design and implementation of programs assisted under this part be mainly that of local educational agencies, school superintendents and principals, and classroom teachers and supporting personnel, because local educational agencies and individuals have the most direct contact with students and are most likely to be able to design programs to meet the educational needs of students in their own school districts. II. PROGRAM PROCEDURES Title V, Part A funds are obtained by a State following submission of an application or consolidated plan to the Secretary of Education that satisfies the application requirements as stipulated in the statute. The SEA distributes at least 85 percent of the funds to its LEAs/Charter Schools that have filed an application that meets certain requirements. These funds are distributed to LEAs/Charter Schools as follows: 1. Sixty percent (60%) of available state funds are allotted in the following manner: a. The available dollars are divided by the sum of the Public School average daily membership (ADM) and participating Private School Enrollments to determine a per enrollment amount. b. The total of Public School ADM and participating Private School Enrollments is multiplied by the per enrollment amount determined in 1 (a) above. 2. Forty percent (40%) of available state aid is allotted based on the prior year's December free lunch count in the following manner a. A LEA/Charter School must have at least 15% of eligible children on the free lunch headcount as compared to the Public School ADM and the participating Private School Enrollment count. LEAs are also eligible if they do not meet the 15% requirement but have at least 6,500 eligible children on the free lunch headcount. A LEA/Charter School determined eligible based on the 6,500 rule will be funded on the number of eligible children in excess of 6,500. b. The available dollars are divided by the sum of the eligible children on the free lunch headcount for those LEAs which were determined eligible in 2.a above to determine the per child funding amount. B-4 84.298 2
c. The per child funding amount is then multiplied by the eligible LEA's/Charter School's free lunch headcount. Funds are distributed according to the cash request procedures discussed in the DPI Cross- Cutting Requirements, DPI-0. III. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS NC Dept of Public Instruction (DPI) mandates that all testing in the DPI Cross-Cutting Requirements be performed by the local auditor. Please refer to Cross-Cutting Requirements DPI-0. Other procedures that pertain to this program can be found in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section and the Federal Compliance Supplement. A. Activities Allowed or Unallowed Compliance Requirement A LEA must use Title V funds only for one or more of the innovative assistance program areas described in Title V, Section 5131 (b) of the ESEA (20 USC 7351(b)). The innovative assistance program areas are: (1) Programs to recruit, train, and hire highly qualified teachers to reduce class size, especially in the early grades, and professional development activities carried out in accordance with title II, that give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging State or local academic content standards and student academic achievement standards. (2) Technology activities related to the implementation of school-based reform efforts, including professional development to assist teachers and other school personnel (including school library media personnel) regarding how to use technology effectively in the classrooms and the school library media centers involved. (3) Programs for the development or acquisition and use of instructional and educational materials, including library services and materials (including media materials), academic assessments, reference materials, computer software and hardware for instructional use, and other curricular materials that are tied to high academic standards, that will be used to improve student academic achievement, and that are part of an overall education reform program. (4) Promising education reform projects, including magnet schools. (5) Programs to improve the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged B-4 84.298 3
elementary school and secondary school students, including activities to prevent students from dropping out of school. (6) Programs to improve the literacy skills of adults, especially the parents of children served by the local educational agency, including adult education and family literacy programs. (7) Programs to provide for the educational needs of gifted and talented children. (8) The planning, design, and initial implementation of charter schools as described in Part B. (9) School improvement programs or activities under sections 1116 and 1117. (10) Community service programs that use qualified school personnel to train and mobilize young people to measurably strengthen their communities through nonviolence, responsibility, compassion, respect, and moral courage. (11) Activities to promote consumer, economic, and personal finance education, such as disseminating information on and encouraging use of the best practices for teaching principles of economics and promoting the concept of achieving financial literacy through the teaching of personal financial management skills (including the basic principles involved with earning, spending, saving, and investing). (12) Activities to promote, implement, or expand public school choice. (13) Programs to hire and support school nurses. (14) Expansion and improvement of school-based mental health services, including early identification of drug use and violence, assessment, and direct individual or group counseling services provided to students, parents, and school personnel by qualified school-based mental health services personnel. (15) Alternative educational programs for those students who have been expelled or suspended from their regular educational setting, including programs to assist students to reenter the regular educational setting upon return from treatment or alternative educational programs. (16) Programs to establish or enhance prekindergarten programs for children. (17) Academic intervention programs that are operated jointly with community-based organizations and that support academic enrichment, and counseling programs conducted during the school day (including during extended school day or extended school year programs), for students most at risk of not meeting challenging State academic achievement standards or not completing secondary school. B-4 84.298 4
(18) Programs for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in schools. (19) Programs to establish smaller learning communities. (20) Activities that encourage and expand improvements throughout the area served by the local educational agency that are designed to advance student academic achievement. (21) Initiatives to generate, maintain, and strengthen parental and community involvement. (22) Programs and activities that expand learning opportunities through best-practice models designed to improve classroom learning and teaching. (23) Programs to provide same-gender schools and classrooms (consistent with applicable law). (24) Service learning activities. (25) School safety programs, including programs to implement the policy described in Section 9532 and which, may include payment of reasonable transportation costs and tuition costs for such students. (26) Programs that employ research-based cognitive and perceptual development approaches and rely on a diagnostic-prescriptive model to improve students' learning of academic content at the preschool, elementary, and secondary levels. (27) Supplemental educational services, as defined in section 1116(e). Audit Objective Determine whether Federal Awards were expended only for allowable activities and expenditures are properly recorded. Suggested Audit Procedure - Review internal controls designed to ensure that LEA uses funds for targeted assistance programs. Determine if actual expenditures of funds are for targeted assistance programs and are in accordance with project application. Determine that personnel paid from these funds do not exceed budgeted personnel in approved project budget. See State Public School Fund guidelines for salary audit requirements. B. Allowable Costs/Cost Principles B-4 84.298 5
Addressed in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section and the NC Department of Public Instruction Cross-Cutting Requirements. C. Cash Management Cash Management procedures are covered in the DPI Cross-Cutting Requirements (DPI-0). F. Equipment and Real Property Management Addressed in the NC Department of Public Instruction Cross-Cutting Requirements G. Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking 1. Matching This compliance requirement does not apply at the local level. No testing is required. 2. Level of Effort Address in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section and the Federal Compliance Supplement. 3. Earmarking Address in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section and the Federal Compliance. H. Period of Availability of Federal Funds Addressed in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section. Compliance Requirement Expenditures may not be incurred before the beginning date of the project. Audit Objective Determine that no expenditures were incurred prior to the beginning date of the approved project. Suggested Audit Procedures: Review transactions to verify that no expenditures were incurred prior to the approved application beginning date. I. Procurement and Suspension and Debarment Addressed in the NC Department of Public Instruction Cross-Cutting Requirements L. Reporting B-4 84.298 6
Addressed in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting and NC Department of Public Instruction Cross-Cutting Requirements. M. Subrecipient Monitoring This compliance requirement does not apply at the local level. No testing is required. N. Special Tests and Provisions Addressed in the US Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section, the NC Department of Public Instruction Cross-cutting Requirements and Federal Compliance Supplement. Compliance Requirement - A LEA shall provide children enrolled in private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools in the school district of a LEA with secular, neutral, and nonideological services, materials, and equipment or other benefits that will ensure equitable (as compared with children enrolled in public schools) participation of private school children in the purposes and benefits of Title V. If a LEA s provision of services and benefits to these children is prohibited by State law or if the Secretary of Education determines that a LEA has substantially failed or is unwilling to provide for the participation on an equitable basis of children enrolled in private schools, the Secretary of Education waives the requirement and arranges for services to be provided through other means. (34 CFR 298.31-298.38) Audit Objective Determine that LEA has provided the specified services, and assistance to the applicable private nonprofit entities. Suggested Audit Procedure - Evaluate the adequacy of the policies and procedures used by a LEA for determining the numbers and needs of children in private schools to ensure that the services provided to children enrolled in private, nonprofit elementary and secondary schools are equitable to services provided to children enrolled in public schools. Determine whether a LEA followed policies and procedures. Compliance Requirement An LEA that has not been identified as in need of improvement or corrective action under Title I may transfer up to 50 percent of its formula allocation under the Teacher Quality State Grants (PRC 103), Educational Technology State Grant (PRC 107), Innovative Programs (PRC 059) or Safe and Drug Free Schools (PRC 048) to supplement its allocation under any of the programs listed here. It also may use the funds to supplement its Title I allocation. An LEA identified as in need of improvement may only transfer up to 30 percent of its allocation for the programs listed above only if it transfers the funds to (1) supplement its school improvement allocation; or (2) carry out Title I LEA improvement activities. An LEA identified as in need of corrective action may not transfer any funds. B-4 84.298 7
Audit Objective An LEA that wishes to transfer funds must: (1) notify the SEA, at least 30 days prior to the transfer, of its intent to transfer funds; (2) modify each local plan affected by the transfer; and (3) provide SEA, not later than 30 after the transfer, with a copy of the modified plans. Suggested Audit Procedure Verify that the LEA (1) transferred no more than the allowable 50 (or 30) percent of funds from any of the programs listed above; (2) notified the SEA, at least 30 days prior to the transfer, of its intent to transfer funds; (3) modified each local plan affected by the transfer; and (4) provided the SEA, not later than 30 days after the transfer, with a copy of the modified plans. B-4 84.298 8