New Grade Level Expansion Letter, FY 2017-18

September 12, 2017

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

SPECIAL ADVANCE APPORTIONMENT FOR
NEW GRADE LEVEL EXPANSION CHARTER SCHOOLS, FISCAL YEAR 2017–18

This special apportionment, in the amount of $21,222,683, is made in accordance with the California Education Code (EC) Section 47652(b) for fiscal year 2017–18. The purpose of this advance apportionment (Advance) is to fund charter schools that are adding at least one new grade level this year.

This Advance is for the months of July 2017 through November 2017, and equals 37 percent of the charter school’s estimated increase in funding attributable to the new grade level for the 2017–18 fiscal year. This Advance is calculated pursuant to EC sections 42238.02 and 42238.03, as well as Chapter 6 of Part 26.8 of the EC. The amount apportioned to each participating charter school and charter school sponsoring local educational agency (LEA) is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Charter School Special Advance Apportionments Web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/chschspcadv1718.asp.

Local Control Funding Formula Entitlement Calculations

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) entitlement calculations for charter schools that are adding at least one new grade level are based on the estimated average daily attendance (ADA) reported in the Pupil Estimates for New and Significantly Expanding Charter Schools data collection. 

The methodology used to estimate the 2017–18 Target and 2017–18 Gap funding is consistent with the methodology used to calculate the regular 2017–18 Advance Principal Apportionment.  For more information on the 2017–18 Advance Principal Apportionment calculations, refer to the letter on the CDE Principal Apportionment, Fiscal Year 2017–18 Web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/advappt1718ltr.asp.

Funding In-Lieu of Property Taxes

Also included in the special apportionment is funding to sponsoring school districts, that were not basic aid in the prior fiscal year, to backfill their transfer to charter schools of funding in-lieu of property taxes, for the months August 2017 through November 2017, which equals 28 percent of the charter school’s projected total in-lieu of property taxes funding for the 2017–18 fiscal year. For most charter schools, EC Section 47632 defines the sponsoring LEA as the district that approved the charter, or in the case of a charter that was denied by a district and subsequently approved by a county office of education, the district that initially denied the charter.

School districts that were basic aid in the prior year will not receive an Advance apportionment of state aid for in-lieu of property tax. The amount of in-lieu these school districts are required to transfer for the months of July through November is provided on the Advance Apportionment Summary for New Grade Level Expansion Charters Excel file but an apportionment of state aid is not reflected in the Advance Payment Schedule for New Grade Level Expansion Charters Excel file available on CDE’s Charter School Special Advance Apportionment Web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/chschspcadv1718.asp. 

For a county office of education approved charter school whose students do not meet the criteria in EC Section 2574(c)(4), or for a countywide charter whose students reside in a district that was basic aid in the prior year, the sponsoring LEA is the district of residence for those pupils. That means some county-approved charter schools may have multiple sponsoring districts if the school has students who reside in different districts. The In-Lieu of Taxes for Countywide or Charter Funded County Program Excel file provides this detail and is available at the Web page address noted in the prior paragraph. For a charter that was denied by an LEA and subsequently approved by the State Board of Education (SBE), the sponsoring LEA is the LEA that initially denied the charter or the LEA designated by the SBE pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of EC Section 47605.

Method for Receiving Charter School State Aid

Pursuant to EC Section 47651, for charter schools that elect to receive funding directly, the warrant will be drawn in favor of the superintendent of schools of the county in which the LEA that approved the charter is located, for deposit to the appropriate funds or accounts of the charter school in the county treasury. For all other charter schools, the funds shall be deposited in the appropriate funds or accounts of the LEA that granted the charter. Please refer to the enclosed payment schedule for the amounts apportioned to the applicable charter schools and the charter schools’ sponsoring school districts.

The CDE anticipates warrants will be issued by State Controller’s Office within two weeks of the date of this letter. For standardized account code structure coding, use Resource 0000, Unrestricted, and Revenue Object 8011, LCFF State Aid – Current Year.

What’s Next

For charter schools that are adding at least one new grade level, apportionments will be revised based on the actual first 20 school days of attendance for the new grade levels, as reported by the charter school; the payment for December and January should occur in late December. The actual ADA counts for the December payment must be reported to the CDE no later than five business days immediately following the 20th school day. The CDE will provide notification for this attendance reporting process within the next few weeks through the PASE listserv.

All communication related to the Principal Apportionment and LCFF funding will be available on the CDE’s Web site, and funding specific information will also be sent electronically via the CDE’s PASE listserv. The listserv provides LEAs and other interested parties important information, such as notifications regarding LCFF updates, software releases, key deadlines, reminders of due dates for submission of data, and any other pertinent topics related to the Principal Apportionment. If you do not already belong to the PASE listserv and would like to subscribe, send a "blank" message to: join-pase-contacts@mlist.cde.ca.gov.

If you have any questions regarding this apportionment or about funding for charter schools, please contact the Principal Apportionment Section by phone at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at PASE@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Nick Schweizer, Deputy Superintendent
Systems Support Branch

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Enclosure