Per Pupil Facilities Enhancement Program

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Per Pupil Facilities Enhancement Program

• Upon receipt of an award under this project, the
  State Charter School Board will meet with
  qualifying Charter Schools to explain the
  program, draft applications including necessary
  assurances and make awards based on October 1,
  2004, membership data. The grant will be managed
  by the State Office of Education in consultation
  with the Director of the Utah Charter School
  Board.

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In project year 1, this proposal will provide
2,646,372 and 139,283 in administrative
funding as a Federal match to Utahs per pupil
facilities program. FY 05 Per Pupil In Lieu of
Local Funds 905 per pupil AND 101 per
pupil for facilities. This is amount
currently in your budget and will be adjusted
based on the Oct. 1 count of students.
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The reason for using FY 04 as a base was that the
match of 9 to 1 in Year one of the grant could
only be applied to new state money put into
facilities. If the projected FY 05 allocation
was used, only the increase from FY 04 to FY 05
(285,331) would be eligible.
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Funding to schools

• Per pupil amounts will be determined when the
  Oct. 1 count is final and will be figured on the
  grant amount less 5.
• 2,646,372 At 5,913 student count, which was the
  projection at the time that the grant was
  submitted, that would be 447.55. Since that
  time two new schools have been chartered and
  their numbers will affect those amounts as will
  any variance from the projected enrollment.
• However, increases to the 5,913 student count
  will also result in increases to the State
  facilities funding for FY 05 which will be the
  basis of the FY06 federal grant. While
  supplementals are not guaranteed, they are
  available under the federal program.

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Guidance

• School meets federal definition of charter
  school.
• Operates in accordance with a specific State
  statute authorizing the granting of charters to
  schools which does not exempt the school from any
  rules relating to the requirements in this
  federal statute
• Is created by a developer as a public school or
  is adapted by a developer from an existing public
  school and is operated under public supervision
  and direction
• Operates pursuant to a specific set of
  educational objectives
• Provides a program of elementary or secondary
  education or both
• Is nonsectarian in its programs, admissions
  policies, employment practices and all other
  operations, and is not affiliated with a
  sectarian school or religious institution
• Does not charge tuition

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• Is a school to which parents choose to send their
  children, and that admits students on the basis
  of a lottery, if more students apply for
  admission than can be accommodated
• Agrees to comply with the same Federal and State
  audit requirements as do other elementary and
  secondary schools in the state
• Complies with the Age Discrimination Act of 1975,
  Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title
  IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, section
  504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Part B
  of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act
• Meets all applicable Federal, State and local
  health and safety requirements

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• Operates in accordance with State law and
• Has a written performance contract with the
  authorized public chartering agency in the State
  that includes a description of how student
  performance will be measured in charter schools
  pursuant to State assessments that are required
  of other schools and pursuant to any other
  assessments mutually agreeable to the authorized
  public chartering agency and the charter school.
• The charter school must meet each element of this
  definition in order to be eligible to receive
  Federal and non-Federal funding under the State
  Charter School Facilities Incentive Grants
  Program. Consequently, a school that meets its
  State definition of a charter school, but, for
  example, does not admit students based on a
  lottery if more students apply for admission than
  can be accommodated cannot receive funding from a
  grantee under the program.

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How May Charter Schools use these Funds

• Paying rent
• Purchasing a school building
• Constructing a school building
• Renovating an already owned school facility
• Making leasehold improvements
• Paying debt service on a school facility
• Purchasing of land on which construction of the
  charter school facility will commence within 12
  months (Schools may not use funds to purchase
  land when they have no immediate plans to
  construct a building since land alone does not
  meet a schools building infrastructure needs.)

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Supplement not Supplant

• Charter school must show that its 10 Local
  Replacement funding facilities dedication (101
  per student for FY 05) is also spent for the
  schools facility needs as previously outlined.
• Rent, purchase of building, construction of
  facility, renovation, leasehold improvements,
  debt service or land acquisition

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Application

• CS Board will announce per pupil funding late
  October
• Application will include assurances, budget,
  restatement of schools performance objectives
• Awards will be made sometime in November
• Reimbursements will be available December
• 90 Day Pre-Award costs allowed. (August, 2004)

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State Charter School Facilities Incentive Grants
Program

• CFDA Number 84.282D
• NCLB Title V, Section 5205
• Subject to Expanded Authorities
• OMB Circular A-87
• Education Department General Administrative
  Regulations
• Program Specific Guidance

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Terms of Grant

• Five year grant
• Matching Grant
• Year 1 90
• Year 2 80
• Year 3 60
• Year 4 40
• Year 5 20
• While Utahs program will meet this schedule, it
  will mean that while the total State Program for
  facilities will not ever fall below this years
  amount of 3,380,501. The amount of per pupil
  funding will never be as high as it is in this
  first year of funding.

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5 year grant
14
Administrative Funds

• The Project Manager for the Per Pupil Facilities
  Aid Program will be Utahs current Public Charter
  Schools Program Director.
• A person will be added to or be contracted to
  staff the project which will be administered by
  the State Charter School Board under the
  authority of the State Office of Education.
• The Applicant intends that a portion of the
  Administrative Personnel costs will involve an
  evaluation of Utahs progress on the following
  issues which were identified in the Utah
  Foundation Report Charter Schools, Can They
  Survive in Utah?, September 2000.

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q       Enact changes that would further define
charter schools in their state entity and seek
authority to issue general obligation bonds for
them through the State Charter School Board in
the same way that general obligation bonds are
issued for universities q       Create
incentives to private lenders to loan to charter
schools Pursue legislative or other avenues to
provide incentives for school districts and other
institutions to lease or sell buildings to
charter schools.
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The Applicant further intends that a portion of
the Administrative Personnel costs be dedicated
to developing a reporting tool that will help
authorizers and charter schools evaluate their
financial environment. Over time these reports
can serve as an evaluation of how financial
solvency overall is improving for charters, which
schools may need attention and assistance from
their authorizers, what part facilities issues
are impacting overall financial climate of the
school, etc. The Summary/Financial Environment
Section of the Standard Poors Charter School
Performance Report will be used as a model for
this project.
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The type of information that can be analyzed by
standardized reports of the financial strengths
and weaknesses will be powerful in helping the
Charter School Board make good recommendations
and identify important financial issues for the
schools. In exercising their duty in regard to
policy and fiscal recommendations, they have
tremendous power to remove obstacles to creation
of successful, solvent and efficient charter
schools.
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Details on Use of Grant Funds