Recommendations An abbreviated summary of the Title I Tiger Team - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Title I Tiger Team Recommendations An abbreviated summary of the Title I Tiger Team findings concerning the efficient use of Title I dollars at the district and school site levels.

Title 1 Tiger Team Mission Through a review of Title I documents, create ideas for measuring future Title I site-based spending and its impacts on student achievement with a focus on improving ongoing transparency, efficiency, and accountability.

The 5 Areas of Focus • 1) Look at 5 years of Title 1 expenditures. • 2) Review existing site based and other expenditures and chart how funds were applied. • 3) Determine if existing data can demonstrate effectiveness of past expenditures on student achievement. • 4) Suggest methods for measuring future Title 1 site based spending and its impacts on student achievement. • 5) Review legal and policy restrictions on all Title I categories and determine level of flexibility and potential reallocation of these funds. The Title I Tiger Team was instructed to not address the issues of the 75% threshold cutoff for Title I Dollars.

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 1 Look at 5 years of Title 1 expenditures Recommendations • Adopt Trustee Beiser’s vision statement of Transparent Finances by posting district and site budgets for public review and continue to have staff provide the information to the public as was done in the past few months for the Tiger Team. • The community needs to have access to this financial information to know how their educational dollars are being spent. • Post monthly each site’s budget transaction sheets on the district website for budget codes 30100, 30103, 30104, 30105, and 30106. • The committee feels that the budget book information is not accessible to the average School Site Council member or parent. The availability of this data will allow the public to view the site’s financials. • School Site Council members would be able to view the financial information in advance of the SSC meeting and with their own eyes independent of the site administrator. • Template can be created and federal laws should be basis for monitoring.

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 2 Review existing site based and other expenditures and chart how funds were applied Recommendations • Budget codes that should not be used with Title I dollars must be blocked. • If they are used the budget book should send an error message and not allow the site to allocate, encumber, or expose those Title I dollars to those budget codes. • Budget codes with 4 digit trailing codes should be created and added to Budget Codes to identify individual Title 1 budgeted programs and strategies and consistently used so there is transparency on the uses of Title I dollars across the district. • Linked to the 4 digit trailing budget code, materials and personnel should be listed in the SPSA and its measurement of predicted success stated. • It will help troubleshoot as to why a program that works at one school but did not perform well at another site.

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 2 Review existing site based and other expenditures and chart how funds were applied Recommendations • A reference handbook should be compiled by a committee of SDUSD stakeholders addressing Federal Programs Expenditure Guidelines and categorical funding guidelines should be created and available to all provided. • SSC members do not have sufficient training and information. • A timeline should be created and include tasks that would provide more information about the budget and targeted programs. • Schools should provide the entire budget to SSC, to include the Budget Workbook with the unrestricted and categorical monies. • Post budgets on the school websites to increase transparency. • It should be the district standard that the San Diego City School Department Resource Budget Status Summary be presented at each SSC meeting. • Reports should include all school budget categories – Title I, Title II, general school budget, etc. • A column should be added that states the % of the budget consumed.

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 3 Determine if existing data can demonstrate effectiveness of past expenditures on student achievement. Recommendations • Parent Centers should be implemented at all schools using Title I dollars as a springboard to increase parent to parent interaction and collaboration. • Program Monitoring and Accountability should conduct rolling audits with every school being audited at least every 3 years. When a school is audited it should include a site visit and interview of various SSC members at that site. This audit should include whether Title I dollars were spent legally and effectively. A monthly employee certification form detailing Time-and-effort requirements as set forth in federal law should be maintained to provide school-level data of the duties performed by employees paid by categorical monies. This would document successful strategies employed by teachers that could be reviewed . • (1) An employee who works solely on a single cost objective (i.e., the consolidated administrative cost objective) must furnish a semi-annual certification that he/she has been engaged solely in activities that support the single cost objective. The certifications must be signed by the employee or a supervisory official having first-hand knowledge of the work performed by the employee ( March 2011 Department of Education Cross-Cutting Section ED A- 133 Compliance Supplement 4-84.000-13)

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 4 Suggest methods for measuring future Title 1 site based spending and its impacts on student achievement Recommendations • It must become a District Standard that Principals at all SSC meetings show an overview of what is going on at the sites by including Title I expenses in the form of the printing of the budget transactions for the site or a presentation of the Budget Book. • The Budget Book review allows the SSC to track expenses in a timely manner and see that money is being spent in accordance with the approved plan. • Monthly review will prevent excessive carryover or an end of the year emergency surplus spending spree. • Area superintendents should routinely monitor SSC minutes and site expenses to assure that the correct protocol is being followed. • Continue the current district practice of zero carryover in school site budgets to insure monies are spent for the students in the current school year. • This practice aligns with the Federal Government best practice to ensure that the monies granted are spent in a timely manner and are not subject to waste, fraud, and abuse.

Title 1 Tiger Team Area 5 Review legal and policy restrictions on all Title I categories and determine level of flexibility and potential reallocation of these funds. Recommendations • The Program Monitoring and Accountability Office should conduct rolling audits with every school being audited at least every 3 years. • When a school is audited it should include a site visit and interview of various SSC members at that site. • This audit should include whether Title I dollars were spent legally and effectively and according to Federal and State Laws and District guidelines.

Many thanks goes out to the entire Title I Tiger Team especially those who sacrificed their time to write the report and create the power point presentation. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Debbie Foster and her staff for all the financial documents and copies they provided as well as thanks to Ron Rode for his guidance at Tiger Team meetings. Thank you all. The Title I Tiger Team is set to present their entire report to the San Diego Unified School Board on Tuesday, November 1st at the 5pm board meeting at the Eugene Brucker Center.