2018-2019 Perkins CTE Local Plan and Budget Web viewDecember 14, 2017 Transcript [00:07:09] Greetings. I am Rachel Blanton. I am the Senior Budget and Grants Manager for the CTE department

2018-2019 Perkins CTE Local Plan and Budget Submission

December 14, 2017 Transcript

[00:00:00] Good afternoon. Welcome to the Virginia Department of Education’s video streaming session that will focus today on the 2018-19 Perkins Local Plan and Budget Application. I am joined today by Bill Hatch, who is the Coordinator for Planning, Administration, and Accountability, and also Rachel Blanton, who is the Senior Budget and Grants Manager. We will focus specifically on the process for completing schedules 1 through 18 in the local plan, and additionally we will highlight particular features that deal with the navigation of the Excel template and the OMEGA system. Further, we will review the 2018-19 Federal Program Monitoring Self-Assessment requirements. I would like to point out that in the event the Department of Ed does not receive its Perkins allocation for 2018-19 prior to your deadline for submitting your plan, which is April 30, 2018, you will need to use your 2017-18 Perkins allocation to complete Schedule 17 and 18. And that particular Superintendent’s Memo was 178-17 issued on June 16the, 2017. We will now begin today’s program with Bill Hatch, who will walk through the first series of slides pertaining to the plan.

[00:02:22] Hello. I am Bill Hatch, and I am the CTE Planning, Administration, and Accountability Coordinator, and I look forward to assisting you throughout the Perkins Local Plan and submission process. The purpose of the Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006 focuses on the academic achievement of career and technical education students, strengthening their connections between secondary and post-secondary education, and improving state and local accountability. These four components of the plan determine how local school divisions may utilize their Perkins grant funding.

Let’s begin by talking about the Excel template that is available on the VDOE website under the CTE Program, Administration, and Management tab. Once you load the template, you will see several tabs across the bottom of the screen, and those tabs will run continuously. If you prefer to have your print capability and screen views arranged so that they break by page, you will need to enable content at the top of the screen, and this slide provides the illustration of where you will see that Enable Content tab. This also will provide you information about the security warnings that will be at the top of the screen.

On this slide we point to three key components. One, the location for downloading the OMEGA user’s guide that has a series of tips and steps pertaining to uploading, amending, budget transfers, and all of the details associated with the online system. Rachel Blanton will talk more in detail about the OMEGA system later in the today’s session. Second, you will find the telephone number and email address for the OMEGA support staff. If you have challenges at any point in uploading or managing your template within OMEGA, we encourage you to call or email. Third, within the office of CTE, there are two primary people that will work with you in terms of the content of your plan, and this will be either George Willcox or myself.

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[00:05:04] The OMEGA system supports an array of Excel templates and extensions. We would like to think most school divisions are now currently using Microsoft Excel 2010; however, the earlier versions 2003 and 2007 will also work with the system.

Your 2018-19 local plan will be required in substantially approvable format by April 30th, 2018. We would encourage you to look back at the Superintendent’s Memo 178-17 for your current year allocation in the event that you have to use those figures, as opposed to the 2018-2019 figures. It is important that your plan be submitted by April 30, 2018, and be in substantial approvable format by no later than July 1, 2018. In the event that this does not happen, a local school division would be responsible for any expenditures pertaining to CTE between July 1 and the date that the plan is substantially approvable.

There are two key components in terms of how your allocations funds may be used. One is permissive funds, and the other is required use of funds. You may actually use 100 percent of the funds in your required area; however, you must use at least 60 percent in the required area, and you may only use 40 percent of your Perkins allocation in the permissive use of funds category. There must be at least a 60-40 split in terms of the minimum use of funds in terms of the required and permissive areas.

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[00:07:09] Greetings. I am Rachel Blanton. I am the Senior Budget and Grants Manager for the CTE department. I look forward to working with you in submitting your 20018-19 Perkins Local Application. Also, I look forward to being available for any questions or concerns that you may have about your revisions, amendments, and any budget transfers.

On the Schedule 17 of the Perkins application is where the financial information is provided and it must match your federal allocation to the penny. Please remember not to round.

Effective school year 2015-16, Regional technical centers were required to submit a Schedule 17, as a result of a federal review that took place in December of 2014. The U.S. Department of Education required that all regional center administrators must obtain from each participating school division the amount of Perkins funding that will be allocated for center use. This total funding amount from all participating school divisions must be used to complete the Schedule 17.

Since 2015, the process for submitting and implementing new CTE programs and courses was revised. Applications for implementation of new courses must be submitted and approved prior to the beginning of the course. These applications can be submitted at any point during the school year but must be approved before the implementation of the course. We do ask you to please refer to Superintendent’s Memo 043-17 for instructions and the link.

Also, as a result of the December 2014 federal review, the Virginia Department of Education was required to establish a reserve fund. Our expectation is that every school division would utilize all of their allocated funds each year; however, in the event that this doesn’t happen, all of the funds that were not depleted at the local level are placed in a reserve fund and then reallocated. The reserve fund will be reallocated equitably to school divisions which has used 100 percent of their initial school year Perkins allocation with a priority focus on industry credentials and/or innovative program improvements. Now, Bill is going to take you through the Certification and Assurance tab.

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[00:10:25] Within the Perkins application there is a Certification and Assurance page. The Certification and Assurance page must be completed and either emailed or faxed to the CTE office. We will talk in a bit more detail about that Certification and Assurance page as we move forward.

Each of the criteria within the Perkins Plan will require that a narrative be provided that explains how the funds will be used, and that narrative should be substantial enough so that on the reimbursement side we will be able to align what you intended to do with your allotment compared with what you actually did.

Schedules 1 and 2 deal with stakeholders. It is a requirement that you involve business, industry, parents, students, community, community colleges, in the development of your plan, and in Schedules 1 and 2 you are actually explaining how those individuals were engaged and then identify those individuals.

In Schedule 3 you will provide information pertaining to the career clusters and pathway plans of study that have been developed previously in your division, and then you will indicate the plan of study that will be completed for 2018-19. That plan of study must be emailed to the CTE office in a Word format. You will receive a separate approval letter once those plans of studies have been reviewed and approved. You must submit a minimum of one plan of study; however, you may submit more. Also, if you have already developed a plan of study for each of your programs and courses, you may want to look back and begin to update those plans that were developed several years back.

Schedule 4 deals with the age and population of students being served, the number of students in grades K through 12 that are disabled, limited English proficient, migrant, single parents, and non-traditional. So, you may need to check with other departments within your local school division in order to obtain that data.

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[00:13:05] Skipping to Schedule 9. In this schedule you will need to describe how the state system of performance standards and measures will be used to develop and evaluate and continually improve the performance of your CTE programs. This schedule is very important, so please be detailed in the information that you provide.

Schedule 15 has two component parts. There’s Schedule 15 and also a Schedule 15A. In Schedule 15, those school divisions that participate in one of the 9 regional technical centers must identify the number of students that will be participating in that center, and then there’s a formula in the schedule that’s used to calculate the percentage of your Perkins grant that must be allocated to the regional technical center.

In Schedule 15A, the 9 regional technical centers must communicate with each of the participating local school divisions and obtain from those divisions the amount of money that will be allocated to the center. And that allocation from each school division must be listed in Schedule 15A. Therefore, if you are in a school division that does not participate in a regional center, you would not be required to complete Schedule 15 or Schedule 15A.

Schedule 16 is used to determine the school division’s maintenance of effort in terms of use of local funds to support your CTE program. If you need more information about maintenance of effort, please contact Rachel Blanton for technical assistance.

A schedule is developed that tracks the reported local funds from local school divisions, and then that information drives the determination of the amount of funding that you must identify on Schedule 16 and particularly on line 10. This slide points specifically to line 10 and the information that must be provided.

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December 14, 2017 Transcript[00:15:31] On the Schedule 17, the regional technical centers and local school divisions indicate how they plan to expend the federal allocation. You must include the program area, object code, and whether the funds will be federal Perkins funds, state funds, or local funds. Remember, the regional center administrator must obtain the amount of Perkins funds from each participating school division. The combined total funding from all participating school divisions will be used to complete Schedule 17.

Also, within Schedule 17, if your expenditures exceed 40 percent of your allocation, a red warning message will appear at the bottom of the screen, and, in the same manner, if you spend less than 60 percent of your allocation in the required areas, the same red warning message will appear.

The next slide continues to provide a description of the various columns that are within Schedule 17 and specifically column 2. You will identify the program area, such as, agriculture, business, technology, or trade, and if a particular expenditure will benefit all of the program areas, you should select “All.”

At the end of each schedule there is a blank screen in which you can provide additional comments pertaining to any of the schedules, so we do ask you to take advantage of those pages.

We also ask that you be as detailed and concise in providing enough information so that under any type of review it will be clear in terms of how your allocation is expended.

The department divides the 132 local school divisions into two tiers. George Willcox and myself are your primary contacts. Appendix A provides you a list of all the school divisions and who your primary contact will be. However, do not hesitate to give me a call in working with any of the divisions across the state.

Appendix B provides details about section 135 of the Carl D. Perkins Act, and that section identifies the required usage of funds and also the permissive use of funds. So please take some time to carefully review Appendix B.

Appendix C provides information about financial Object Codes. Object codes 1000 through 8000. We would note that Object Code 6000 is not to be used within the federal Perkins grant.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the areas of the Perkins application. I mentioned earlier the Certification and Assurance page must be completed and either emailed or faxed back to the department. The top section of that form, you must complete that section and in doing so, it pre-populates all the other schedules with the school division’s name and other information that’s needed on each of the schedules.

At the bottom of that page, you will note that five signatures that are needed. Once you have obtained those five signatures, you will either email or fax this Certification and Assurance page back to the department. Please note the circled section that indicates that a representative from the community

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college must also sign your Perkins application. Please establish communication with your partners in that area early on so that the review of the plan of study and the application in total can take place in a timely manner to enable you to submit your plan by April 30, 2018.

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[00:20:43] Assurance 1. As identified here, details with sufficient size, scope, and quality of your CTE program. This is codified in the Virginia Administrative Code and is also a requirement within Perkins. Several years ago, Size, Scope, and Quality was one of the schedules and in the review, December 2014, the U.S. Department of Education required that we move that from a Schedule to an Assurance, and now it is now Assurance number 1.

We would also like to point out to you Assurance number 24, which deals with having to conduct a self-assessment. And later in this presentation we will review those school divisions that will be required this year to submit a self-assessment along with their Perkins plan.

There is a tab within your Perkins Plan that deals with the performance standard, and in this section you will be identifying data from your 2016-17 annual performance report. We anticipate that the annual performance reports will be available in January 2018. If you have questions about the annual performance report, please contact Mark Burnett in the Office of CTE.

If for any reason you have performance standards that are not met, you are required to identify the number of those standards. There are drop-down boxes to select the exact performance standard that was not met and the text box space to explain why the performance standard was not met and the actions that will need to be taken to ensure the standard is met in the future.

Also, there is information in the document about 2017-18 performance targets. You will want to be mindful of that page as well.

Local school divisions are required to complete all of the schedules. Several years ago, if you had completed a particular schedule and in the next year there had been no changes, you did not have to complete a particular schedule in the past. But now, effective in the 2015-16 school year, all schedules must be completed each year.

We have mentioned earlier that Schedule 1 deals with stakeholder participation, and this screen indicates or shows that it is required to have at least three representatives from business and industry. And as you think about size, scope, and quality, CTE programs are required to have at least three program areas within a minimum of 11 courses that may cut across any of those three areas.

So the need here for having three business representatives is to ensure that you have at least one in each of those three areas. And then there must be a representative from labor, from Workforce Investment, from special populations, from the community college, parents, and students, and in this chart you will identify how those people were involved.

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In the next part of Schedule 2, you will need to identify the individuals’ names and the businesses or organizations that they represent. You must provide a description and an explanation of how those individuals were involved. So please utilize all the space that is provided there.

In Schedule 3, this is where you’ll identify the plans of study that have previously been developed, including the cluster, pathway, and the year developed, and whether, in fact, you followed a local design template or the state model.

Here in the second part of Schedule 3, you will need to identify the plans of study by cluster and pathway and whether you used a local or state template and submit along with your 2018-19 local Perkins Plan. And that plan of study must be submitted in Word format.

[00:25:32] Schedule 4. This is the schedule that is utilized to identify the number of economically disadvantaged students, disabled students, limited English proficiency, migrants, single parents, non-traditional, and displaced homemakers. So you may need to contact other departments within your school division to obtain that information. The cells, in this case, will allow you to enter a zero for any of these subcategories, though you cannot leave the cells blank. You must put the exact number.

In Schedule 8, you will identify the number of teachers by program area that will be involved in professional development. Note that the cell will only accept a number and will not accept an X. You must put a number in each of those cells and along the first column of activities, identify the various activities that the teachers will be involved in each of the program areas. And of course, at the end of each of the schedules, there is a text box required for description and/or explanation of the activities that will be offered.

In Schedule 9, you must provide a narrative of how you will use the state performance measures to evaluate your CTE Programs.

This is the top part of Schedule 15 that we talked about earlier. If a school division participates in a regional center, it is in this area that you will provide the data, and there’s guidance in terms of how to calculate the amount of funding that must follow the students to the CTE center.

If you are a CTE regional center, then you would complete Schedule 15A, and to complete that schedule, you must contact each of the participating school divisions, identify them on this form, and the amount of funding that will be provided from each of those divisions.

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[00:27:51] On Schedule 17, we’re going to discuss the several columns that are listed on that schedule. In column 1, you must identify whether the activity is a required use of funds or permissive use of funds. In column 2, there’s a drop-down box and you must select the program area, or you can select “All” if it covers all of the program areas. In column 4, you must select an object code. And in column 5, you have a drop-down box where you must select the funding source. This is either federal, state, or local.

Next we’re going to talk about Schedule 18 Administration, and, as noted earlier, each school division is entitled to indirect cost and must use object code 5000 for this expenditure.

As we work through Schedule 17, the totals from each object code will automatically calculate in a protected cell area at the bottom of the pages, so as you input this information in which you’re funding will be allocated — federal, state or local — these allocations are tabulated automatically in a protected area. So before you submit your plan, you want to make sure that these numbers match your allocation to the penny. And remember: you do not round. And again, there is space for providing comments.

Before we move into the next section that deals with OMEGA and OMEGA accountability, I’d like to point out one final point when you are submitting your OMEGA plan. One question that you will be asked is whether or not the plan being submitted is a consolidated plan. OMEGA automatically populates the answer field with “Yes”; however, you must select “No.” The Perkins plan is not a consolidated plan. It’s critical that you select “No,” because that then will enable you to locate your plan with ease within the OMEGA system.

Next I will be doing an OMEGA overview as well as Perkins local plan and budget tips.

First of all, we ask that you do read the directions and appendices listed in the first tab of the local plan on the Excel spreadsheet template before beginning the local plan application. Remember to use all of your support systems. If you are experiencing any problems uploading your local plan or even with revisions and amendments when you have to make them, please remember to reach out to your support systems.

In OMEGA, on the submission page, if you click on the OMEGA support, you will be able to send an email directly to OMEGA support. If you click on the “Help,” you will be directed to the OMEGA web page on which the first paragraph provides a link to the user’s guide. This guide is very handy and you can print it out for future reference. If you wish to speak with one of the OMEGA specialists, you can call 804-371-0993. And of course, the CTE staff is available for questions regarding the directions for completing information in the Excel template.

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Another reminder: When submitting your original CTE local plan, when asked if this is a consolidated application, you must select “No.” Perkins is a non-consolidated application. This will allow you to identify the type of application as “Perkins CTE,” enabling you to quickly locate your application from the other awards.

Tips when completing the budget. When completing the budget in Schedule 17, you must use the total federal allocation as provided by the U.S. Department of Education; however, if you don’t have these numbers at the time that you’re going to complete your budget, you will use last year’s numbers and then make the amendments when you do get the current information.

Review the object code descriptions in the welcome instruction tab of the Excel spreadsheet. In Appendix C, it has all of your object codes, and it has a complete description how each object code can be used as well as examples.

The next slide shows examples for object code 3000, service acquired from outside vendors.

And there’s also an example of 5000, charges that are reimbursed directly to individuals, and this is the object code that is used for indirect cost.

[00:34:10] Also on Schedule 17, when you have a budget request that may span over all of your program areas, select the “All” from the drop-down menu. For instance, if you are initiating, expanding, improving, or modernizing a program with updated equipment from the items on the approved state equipment list, you may provide a general statement and select “All” from the drop-down. Keep in mind that you will need to provide specific information on your OMEGA reimbursement.

Don’t forget a signed copy of your Perkins CTE local plan certification form must be submitted to VDOE by email or fax. Also, a Microsoft Word file of your completed 2018-19 plan of study must be emailed as well. Currently these are the only items that are sent separately from your OMEGA submission.

Hopefully all the school divisions are using the current Excel software and you don’t have any problems, but if you do, you can always contact your OMEGA support.

We ask that you do monitor your to-do list. It is important to monitor your to-do list. If you have submitted an application, a reimbursement, or a budget transfer you should check your to-do list to ensure that there are no future actions required.

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And now when you submit your revisions and amendments, it is important that when you are requested to make changes to your local Perkins application before it can be approved, both the revisions and the amendments must be made to the spreadsheet that was saved in the local file and uploaded for submission. Again, there are step-by-step directions in the OMEGA user’s guide that will help you through this particular process.

If you are amending applications that are approved, it must be indicated as “amended application.” Again, the step-by-step directions for submitting amendments are listed in the OMEGA guide, pages 85 through 90.

Indicate where and what amendments are being made to your budget. You may provide an explanation in the comments box or you may put “amended” within the budget on Schedule 17 beside any changes made. And after making these changes, be sure to upload the entire spreadsheet when submitting amendments.

Next, Notification of local approval. On the OMEGA homepage, the notifications section appears under the announcements section. New notifications are referenced as unacknowledged until the notification is opened and the user acknowledges the notification has been received, so we ask you to be mindful of that.

[00:37:48] Next is a review of the Federal Program Monitoring Self-Assessment System, and the next couple of slides will identify those school divisions that will be required to submit a self-assessment along with the 2018-19 Perkins plan.

The Federal Program Monitoring System has three phases. Phase I involves the local school division completing a self-assessment. That self-assessment document is available on the VDOE CTE website, and that self-assessment document must be submitted by April 30, 2018. In Phase II, the Department of Education conducts an analysis of the self-assessment report, and other relevant data may also be used to determine if an on-site visitation would be scheduled. And then, in Phase III, if a school division does receive an on-site assessment, and if there were any non-compliance issues, the division would then be required to identify deficiencies and concerns and prepare a corrective action plan.

The school divisions that must submit a federal program monitoring self-assessment by April 30, 2018, are listed on this screen as indicated on Superintendent’s Memo 219-17, released on July 28, 2017.

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[00:39:25] Thank you, Bill and Rachel, for providing a very detailed overview of the 2018-19 Perkins plan. We would ask the school divisions across the commonwealth to contact Bill, Rachel, or myself at any time that you might need assistance in the preparation of your plan or in the administration and expenditure of funds during the year. The department staff really believes it is important to receive feedback pertaining to the professional development video series that are provided throughout the year. Please take a few minutes to click on the evaluation survey link on the webpage that provides the link to this video. We value your input and will use your comments to continue to improve on our services. Thank you very much for participating in this program, and we wish you a very successful remainder of the school year. Thank you.

[00:40:52]

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Documents

2018-2019 Perkins CTE Local Plan and Budget Web viewDecember 14, 2017 Transcript [00:07:09] Greetings. I am Rachel Blanton. I am the Senior Budget and Grants Manager for the CTE department