Inter-District Transfers - 2018–2019 Updates to Census Data–Based Federal Grant Formula Allocation Procedures

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July 25, 2018

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

SUBJECT:     Inter-District Transfers - 2018–2019 Updates to Census Data–Based Federal Grant Formula Allocation Procedures

The purpose of this letter is to inform local educational agencies (LEAs), including school districts (districts) and open-enrollment charter schools (charter schools), of a change in the data source used to calculate grant allocations and the inclusion of student inter-district transfer data into the calculation for the following grant programs:

  • Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Title I, Part A
  • ESSA, Title II, Part A
  • Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, Title I, Part C

Background

The federal grant formula allocation procedures for the three grant programs listed above allocate funds to eligible LEAs, based on US Census Bureau ages 5–17 population and poverty estimates released annually to states.

Because census data only accounts for school district LEAs with fixed state-defined geographic boundaries (resident LEAs), current formulas must adjust these counts and corresponding allocation amounts to account for other eligible LEAs, such as charter school LEAs, that draw their student enrollments from traditional school districts. In addition, these three formula allocation procedures have been updated to account for inter-district formula children and associated funding transfers between resident LEAs.

Charter School LEAs and Inter-District Transfer Data

The annual Texas Student Data System (TSDS) PEIMS Fall Data Collection will be the data source for student transfers to charter school LEAs and student transfers between district LEAs.

All LEAs are responsible for the accuracy of their student data submitted in TSDS PEIMS by Student Information System (SIS) vendors. Once the Fall Data Collection has been certified and released for use by these federal statute formula grant allocation procedures, the data is final for federal grant purposes.

Implementation Date

The updated calculation methodology, including the data source and inter-district transfers, will be used to calculate revised planning amounts for the three federal grant programs referenced above. Revised planning amounts, implementing the updated calculation methodology, will be released in July 2018. In addition, the updated calculation methodology will be used for all subsequent allocation calculations for these federal grant programs.

For Further Information

If you have any questions regarding the change to the calculations methodology, please contact Entitlements staff in the Federal Fiscal Compliance and Reporting Division at entitlements@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

James Connolly, Senior Director
Federal Fiscal Compliance and Reporting Division