1 School Year 2005–06 Enrollment Essentials for State Funding Prepared By: Kim Thompson OSPI - School Apportionment and Financial Services Web site:

2 Why Is Enrollment Important?  What enrollment are we talking about?  Enrollment is one of the two pillars of public school funding in Washington state.  The classification of a student or groups of students can significantly alter the funding received by a district.  Audit findings can be significant.  Enrollment is a high profile area with the public and the legislature.  Declining AND rising enrollment can pose budget problems.

3 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) WAC  Full-time (1.0) FTE is: 5 hours/ day or 25 hours/wk grades hours/ day or 20 hours/wk grades hours/ day or 10 hours/wk full year K 4 hours/ day or 20 hours/wk for 90 days – ½ yr K  A student may not be counted in excess of 1.0 FTE. Running Start (WAC ) is the only exception.  A kindergarten student may not be counted for more than 0.5 AAFTE (1/2).

4 Headcount  Is a count of enrolled students. Hours of course work or daily attendance are not considered.  Is used for funding of special education & bilingual.  Drives state budgeting for education by Caseload Forecast Council. Accuracy is critical.

5 Count Dates  Count Dates – authority WAC  The 4th school day of September.  The 1st school day of October through May.  Running start count dates are the 1st school day of October through June.  A count day may be determined by an individual school or grade start date.  Students are counted as of the count date. It is a snapshot.

6 Resident District  Is the district a student resides in, with or without an address. (WAC )  Is the district a student attends if the student resides on a U.S. reservation, national park or forest, or Indian reservation contiguous to the school district.  Is the district a student is attending under a choice agreement (RCW 28A & 230).  Special education apportionment dollars flow to the resident district.

7 Resident District cont’d  “Choice” exists when the releasing district (where the student lives) retains NO financial liability for the student’s education.  RCW 28A says that under choice, “the student’s attendance shall be credited to the non-resident school district of enrollment for state apportionment and all other purposes.”  Under choice, in the current apportionment calculation system, the resident and serving district are reported as being the same.

8 Serving District  Is the district actually providing instruction or services to the student.  Does not have to be the resident district.  If it is not the resident district, the serving district should have an interdistrict agreement with the resident district.  The serving district performs the clerical task of reporting the student’s enrollment and resident and serving district numbers.  Basic education apportionment dollars flow to the serving district.

9 Enrolled Students WAC  An enrolled student:  Is a resident of the district or attending through an interdistrict agreement AND  Has enrolled on or before the count date AND  Was under 21 as of August 31 AND  Actually participated on a school day during the first 4 school days of the current term or on a school day during the current term on or prior to date being counted in a course of study AND  Does not meet exclusions in WAC

10 Course Of Study  Authority WAC  Course of study includes:  School district instruction including special education.  Alternative learning experience.  Contractor & National Guard instruction.  Ancillary service.  Running Start, Work Based Learning, Technical College, UW Transition School.

11 Enrollment Exclusions  Authority WAC  A student shall not be counted as an enrolled student if student has met ANY of the following:  Been consecutively absent for > 20 school days.  Dropped out or transferred.  Been expelled or suspended pursuant to WAC or 260.  Met high school graduation requirements as of the beginning of the school year (midnight August 31).

12 WAC Definition—Enrollment Exclusions. A person who qualifies for any of the exclusions set forth in this section shall not be counted as an enrolled student pursuant to WAC (1) Absences - except as provided in (a) and (b) of this subsection, a student whose consecutive days of absence from school exceed twenty school days shall not be counted as an enrolled student until attendance is resumed. (a) If there is a written agreement between the appropriate school official and a student’s parent or guardian pursuant to RCW 28A that the student’s temporary absence is not deemed to cause a serious adverse effect upon the student’s educational progress, the absent student may be counted as an enrolled student for up to two monthly enrollment count dates as specified in WAC (b) A student receiving home and/or hospital service pursuant to WAC shall be counted as an enrolled student as provided in WAC (2) Dropouts - a student for whom the school district has received notification of dropping out of school by the student or the student’s parent or guardian shall not be counted as an enrolled student until attendance is resumed. (3) Transfers - a student who has transferred to another public or private school and for whom the school district has received notification of transfer from the school to which the student has transferred, from the student, or from the student’s parent or guardian shall not be counted as an enrolled student unless the student reenrolls in the school district.

13 This paper addresses questions and confusion about when migrant students may continue to be claimed for funding during extended absences. Background OSPI regularly receives questions about the circumstances under which a district can count migrant students who are absent for more than twenty days. While the questions tend to focus on migrant students who leave the district and return to Mexico in the fall and winter, the basic enrollment rules apply to any student who leaves the district for more than twenty days and is not enrolled in another school district in any state. The ultimate test of any district policy on claiming students who are extended absent is whether it follows the rules promulgated by OSPI. This document represents OSPI’s interpretation of extended absence enrollment rules. Question 1. When can we continue to claim a student who is absent more than twenty consecutive days? Answer 1. All of the following criteria must be met: (1) the absence is temporary in nature; (2) a written agreement between the school official and the student’s parent or guardian is in place; and (3) the temporary absence is not deemed to cause a serious adverse effect upon the student’s educational progress. If all three criteria are met, a student may continue to be counted for up to two monthly count dates. Note that RCW 28A (2) requires communication to be appropriately bilingual for those parents of pupils in a bilingual instruction program. Example: If a student leaves the district November 25 and the above criteria are met, the student may be counted on the December and January count dates. If the student has not returned by the February count date, the student cannot be counted on the February count date. Question 2. What if the student does not return to the district following his/her absence? Answer 2. If the student ultimately does not return to the district, then the absence is not deemed temporary, and the district must revise the enrollment to remove the student from all counts done after the student began his/her absence. Example: In the above scenario, the district would remove the student from the December and January counts. Question 3. When must we stop claiming a student? Answer 3. The district must stop claiming a student when the student drops out, transfers, is long-term suspended, or is expelled, even when these occur BEFORE the student is absent more than twenty consecutive days. Additionally, the district must stop claiming an extended absent student who is (1) absent more than twenty consecutive days without all three criteria in Answer 1 being met or (2) who has already been claimed for two count dates while absent.

14 Question 4. How do we decide that a student has transferred or dropped out? Answer 4. The question, “Has the student been absent more than 20 days?” is not relevant if the student has already transferred or dropped out. The student is deemed transferred if the school district has received notification from the (1) new school, (2) student, or (3) student’s parent or guardian. If notification has been received from any of the three, the student has transferred and cannot be counted. The student is deemed to have dropped out if the school district has received notification from the (1) student or (2) the student’s parent or guardian. If notification has been received from either, the student has dropped out and cannot be counted. In general, written notification from the student or student’s parent holds more weight than a verbal notification, but verbal still needs to be taken into account. Question 5. May a student remain enrolled and be claimed for basic education funding but not be enrolled in the Migrant Student Information System (MSIS) during an extended absence? Answer 5. The student should be handled the same in MSIS as he/she is in the basic education system. For instance, when a student remains enrolled on an extended absence, he/she is counted absent in the basic education system and should be enrolled and counted absent (not present) in MSIS as well. The district must determine if the extended absence will have a serious adverse effect on the educational progress of the student as a whole, not class by class or program by program, and claim the student consistently across all counts. Question 6. What constitutes a “serious adverse effect on the student’s educational progress”? Answer 6. The district determines what constitutes a serious adverse effect on the student’s educational progress. However, the district should have a written policy that is consistently applied when making the determination. Some questions to consider when making the determination are: Is the student making satisfactory progress in his/her academic studies prior to the extended absence? Has the district provided school work or alternative assignments for the student to complete during the absence that in some way approximates the school work that the student is missing in the classroom? If not, how is the district determining that no serious adverse effect will take place? Will the student’s grades or number of credits earned be impacted by the extended absence? When the student returns, what accountability measures are in place to ensure that a serious adverse effect has not taken place? Is the student at risk of being retained in his/her present grade? For any questions about counting students for state funding, contact Kim Thompson, School Apportionment and Financial Services, at (360) or