We’ve received our nonprofit determination letter from the IRS.
irs nonprofit determination letter
Learn MoreI’ve been working on a student hours spreadsheet to ensure we are in compliance with state requirements. The information from Jessica and Laurie’s calendars were incorporated into the spreadsheet. The state requirements are defined in OAR 581-022-1620. The spreadsheet can be found here. I had to cut the Christmas break from 3 weeks to 2 weeks and add 10 – 4:35 instructional activity sessions for the 4th – 8th graders.
Learn MoreWe interviewed 5 teachers over the last week for positions at Mountain View. During these interviews we discussed the budget, teacher job description, and administrator job description. Here are the highlights of the feedback we received:
- Cut the time on the 4 hours shadow. I changed this to “Perform multiple unscheduled blind shadows of each teacher throughout the month for a total of 2 hours.” This equates to having 1.7% of your total class time shadowed.
- Add time (16 hours) for conferences and add time for field trips. I created a section titled “Attend the following events”. I don’t feel that these require an increase in compensation.
- Teach to the top 3rd of the class. This is something that Laurie mentioned and if it is what we are planning on doing I want it in the job description. I’ve asked Laurie for additional details on this before I add it.
- We discussed that the administrator and secretary are there to provide services to the teacher and that the teacher should have the ability to choose which of these services they utilize. I feel that if a teacher wants total control over their classroom and does not want to utilize the secretary then they should have that option as long as they hold up their end of the bargain and operate efficiently. I’ve added the following item to the secretary job description “Meet with each teacher individually before the school year starts to review a list of services that you can provide. Document the items that the teacher is interested in and perform these duties”.
- I’m not sure if it came up in the discussion with the teachers, but during our talks after and between the meetings the topic of confidentiality kept coming up. I’ve added the following section to each of the descriptions “All information pertaining to student academic progress, disciplinary issues, and other information pertaining to individual students is confidential and should only be shared with parents, teachers, the administrator, and board members. An attempt should be made to keep these conversations discreet and to not have them take place in environments where others may over hear what is being discussed”.
- Our plan for ability grouping was also discussed. To clarify the process and to enable reassessment throughout the year I’ve added the following item to the administrators responsibilities “Work with the teachers to create a plan for ability group testing new students.”
I need to ensure that our budget meets the standards set forth by the State. One of them is:
Complies with the requirements of the uniform budget and accounting system adopted by rule of the State Board of Education under ORS 327.511.
This ORS states:
327.511 Uniform budget and accounting system.
- (1) The State Board of Education shall adopt by rule a uniform budget and accounting system for school districts and education service districts.
- (2) The uniform budget and accounting system shall include uniform definitions for a chart of accounts that shall allow for valid comparisons of expenditures among schools and among districts. The uniform definitions for the chart of accounts shall be developed by the Department of Education in consultation with the Legislative Revenue Officer, the Legislative Fiscal Officer, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services and appropriate organizations that represent kindergarten through grade 12 educational interests.
- (3) The uniform budget and accounting system shall allow for the gathering of data on separate functions and programs, including but not limited to:
- (a) Individual school;
- (b) Grade level;
- (c) Curriculum area;
- (d) Class size; and
- (e) Extracurricular activities.
- (4) The Department of Education shall place data gathered from the uniform budget and accounting system in a database that includes information that is accessible by the public through the Internet, a personal computer or other similar technology. [1997 c.616 §1]
That doesn’t really give any specifics. I need to find out the details. I found a previous post I made that references OAR 581-023-0035 which states:
Rules governing the budgeting and accounting systems for schools and the school systems of accounts are contained in Chapter 2 of the Program Budgeting and Accounting Manual, published by the Oregon Department of Education. The State Board of Education adopts this publication to govern budgeting and accounting systems for schools.The Program Budgeting and Accounting Manual is available from the ODE web site. It lists out the minimum chart of accounts which is the minimum list it must follow a certain minimum list of these classifications to meet federal and state reporting requirements. This is what I’m going to focus on for our initial go around.
Revenue Codes
- 1000 Revenue from Local Sources
- 1100 Taxes
- 1110 Ad Valorem Taxes Levied by District
- 1120 Local Option Ad Valorem Taxes Levied by District
- 1130 Construction Excise Tax
- 1190 Penalties and Interest on Taxes
- 1200 Revenue From Local Governmental Units Other Than Districts
- 1300 Tuition
- 1310 Regular Day School Tuition
- 1311 Tuition From Individuals
- 1312 Tuition From Other Districts Within the State
- 1313 Tuition From Other Districts Outside the State
- 1320 Adult/Continuing Education Tuition
- 1330 Summer School Tuition
- 1400 Transportation Fees
- 1410 Regular Day School Transportation
- 1411 Transportation Fees From Individuals
- 1412 Transportation Fees From Other Districts Within the State
- 1413 Transportation Fees From Other Districts Outside the State
- 1420 Summer School Transportation
- 1500 Earnings on Investments
- 1600 Food Service
- 1700 Extracurricular Activities
- 1800 Community Services Activities
- 1900 Other Revenue from Local Sources
- 1910 Rentals
- 1920 Contributions and Donations From Private Sources
- 1930 Rental or Lease Payments From Private Contractors
- 1940 Services Provided Other Local Education Agencies
- 1950 Textbook Sales and Rentals
- 1960 Recovery of Prior Years’ Expenditure 1970 Services Provided Other Funds
- 1980 Fees Charged to Grants
- 1990 Miscellaneous
- 1100 Taxes
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I’ve documented our insurance requirements on the charter requirements page and emailed the info to David Lees our insurance guy. His initial quote he gave me at the beginning of the year was $2,ooo annually. I’ve also added payroll, checks, and tax forms to our budget. The first quotes/info I got were for the following:
- QuickBooks payroll
- $87/month
- Costco checks
- 500 checks for $50. I’m confident that 500 will last us a year.
- Greatland tax forms
- W-2 and 1099: $55/year
I’ve added this info to our budget.
Learn MoreI have sent in our School Institution Number application to Joy Blackwell at the ODE. The application and supplemental documents that were sent in are:
- Application
- Conflict of Interest
- Procurement Policy
- Charter Contract
- EIN Document
- Institution Request Form
- Boundary Calculator
The budget has also been updated. I’ve been working with Ranell Curl (ACE Charter School) to ensure that it contains all of the necessary revenue and expenses for next year. The updated budget is located at the top of the Documents page.
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