New Grade Level Expansion Letter, FY 2011–12

September 2, 2011

Dear County Superintendents of Schools, Chief Business Officials, and Directors of New Grade Level Expansion Charter Schools:

NOTICE OF SPECIAL APPORTIONMENT FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
NEW GRADE LEVEL EXPANSION, FISCAL YEAR 2011–12

This special apportionment of $14,222,235 is made in accordance with the California Education Code (EC) Section 47652 (b). The purpose of this apportionment is to fund charter schools that are adding at least one new grade level this fall. This apportionment is, in effect, an advance apportionment.

This apportionment is for the months of July 2011 through November 2011 and equals 37 percent of the charter school's projected total general purpose block grant and categorical block grant funding for the new grade levels for the 2011–12 fiscal year. Also included in the special apportionment is funding to school districts to backfill their transfer to charter schools funding in lieu of property taxes, for the months of August 2011 through November 2011, which equals 28 percent of the charter school’s projected total in lieu of property taxes funding for the 2011–12 fiscal year. The special apportionment is based on the charter school’s estimated current year second principal apportionment average daily attendance (ADA).

The special apportionment will be adjusted for the months of December 2011 through January 2012 for allocation in December and will be based on the actual first twenty (20) school days of attendance as reported by the charter school. The actual ADA counts must be reported to the California Department of Education (CDE) no later than five business days immediately following the 20th school day in order to be eligible to receive the second special apportionment funding. We will provide notification for this attendance reporting process within the next few weeks.

The warrants should be mailed by the State Controller’s Office to the County Treasurer within three weeks from the date of this letter. The County Treasurer of each county is requested to immediately deposit the amount received into the appropriate fund or account of the participating Local Education Agencies (LEAs) or charter schools at the direction of the County Superintendent of Schools.

For charter schools that elect to receive funding directly, EC Section 47651 provides that “the warrant shall be drawn in favor of the superintendent of schools of the county in which the local educational agency that approved the charter or was designated by the State Board of Education as the oversight agency pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of Section 47605 is located, for deposit to the appropriate funds or accounts of the charter school in the county treasury. The county superintendent of schools is authorized to establish appropriate funds or accounts in the county treasury for each charter school.” For all other charter schools, the funds shall be deposited in the appropriate funds or accounts of the LEA that granted the charter.

For charter schools using the standardized account code structure, use Resource Code 0000 and Revenue Object Code 8590 to account for the Charter School Categorical Block Grant, use Resource Code 0000 and Revenue Object Code 8015 to account for the General Purpose Entitlement, and for charter school sponsoring LEAs, use Resource Code 0000 and Revenue Object Code 8011 for the funds in lieu of property taxes transfer.

The amount apportioned to each participating charter school and charter school sponsoring LEA is available on the CDE’s Web site under Principal Apportionments at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/. Additional information about charter schools is available on that same Web site. If you have any questions regarding this apportionment or about funding for charter schools, please contact Byron Fong, Fiscal Consultant, Charter Apportionments and District Reorganization Office, by phone at 916-323-0498 or by e-mail at byfong@cde.ca.gov, or Caryn Moore, Administrator, Charter Apportionments and District Reorganization Office, by phone at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at cmoore@cde.ca.gov [Note, the preceding contact is no longer valid, please contact the Principal Apportionment and Special Education Office, by phone at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at PASE@cde.ca.gov].

Sincerely,




Scott Hannan, Director
School Fiscal Services Division