FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR :

Greetings!

Welcome to school year 2011-12 with ERCO. After your summer's rest, we know you are all in anticipation of the excitement each year offers as it unfolds - some challenges but mostly the rewarding satisfaction of a job well done, as you assist your students with their continued development.

Our staff at ERCO is dedicated towards excellence in education and we know you share the same goals with us. We are here for you and ready to help with any concerns or questions you may have. Please feel free to contact us any time between our scheduled visits - our doors are open.

Again, welcome back and have a great and successful school year.

J. Leonard Harding, Executive Director
jharding@ercoinc.org

FROM OUR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR :

With various changes in legislation, the school year has gotten off to a great start. 

ERCO looks forward to working with you and anticipate a fantastic year!

Aaron Kinebrew, Assistant Director
akinebrew@ercoinc.org

EMIS Newsflash – October 20, 2011

Contents:

• FY12 October Reporting Collection Request  Released Today
• 5 Year Forecast – Posted to Web Daily
• Rectifications & Refinements (R & R) to FY12 EMIS Manual

FY12 October Reporting Collection Request Released Today
The Collection Request for the October reporting period is available today.  The availability of the Collection Request in the Data Collector constitutes the start of the October reporting period. 

The initial phase of October reporting will focus on districts cleaning their data in the Data Collector, before submission to ODE begins in a few weeks.

We have attached the FY12 October Collection Request Release Notes to this e-mail.  The Release Notes will provide pertinent information about the October Collection Request.

5 Year Forecast – Posted to Web Daily
ODE is now processing the 5 Year Forecast data submissions daily; all forecast data submitted and available to ODE by 1:00 pm will be processed on that day.  Additionally, once the forecast data has been processed, it will be posted to the 5 Year Forecast web page by the following morning.  The 5 Year Forecast web page is http://fyf.oecn.k12.oh.us/

Rectifications & Refinements (R & R) to FY12 EMIS Manual
(Changes are reflected by underline or strikethrough, and new language is highlighted.  All page numbers refer to the PDF version of the FY2012 EMIS Manual.)

Action:  Chapter 4, Grade Schedule Record, Hours Per Day Element, Page 25, added language to the first paragraph of the reporting instructions.

Reporting Instructions. This element is required to be reported by all EMIS reporting entities. Do not include lunch.

Action:  Chapter 4, Organization General Information Record, Page 28, Modified Column under Attribute Number for Student Group.

Action:  Chapter 4, Organization General Information Record, Calamity Group, Page 31, Deleted and Added language in the reporting instructions.

☼ Calamity Group
Reporting Instructions. Districts are required to submit a record for each of the district's buildings for each one of the group's Attribute Names when the Attribute Number is not zero. Report zero in any Attribute Number if no days were used, the actual number if they were. The Attribute Text is always the default, spaces.

Best Practices for Responding to Public Records Requests

Auditor of State Bulletin
2011-006

Date Issued: October 21, 2011
TO: All Public Offices and Independent Public Accountants
FROM: Dave Yost, Ohio Auditor of State
SUBJECT: Best Practices for Responding to Public Records Requests

Access to public records is a right that underlies the fundamental principles of democracy.  A citizen’s right to know how government operates is a right that needs to be protected and preserved. 

Ohio public records laws are sometimes confusing, and responding to a request can be burdensome on an already burdened public office.  Noncompliance with the laws, however, will be costly to taxpayers.

This bulletin includes the Auditor of State’s recommendations for best practices in complying with the Ohio Public Records Act (the "Act").  These recommendations are not intended to add to the responsibilities of your office or to place additional burdens on you or your staff.  Rather, we hope our recommendations will help a public office navigate the requirements of the Act, streamline its response process and insulate itself from liability in the event of litigation. Should you have any questions about these best practices, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Download full version of this bulletin

Dave Yost
Ohio Auditor of State

October Community School Payment

TO: Community School Administrators
FROM: Eric Bode
SUBJECT: October 25, 2011

This payment reflects school districts' funding calculations based on provisions of Am. sub. H.B. 153 of the 129th General Assembly. Payments to community schools are made no later than the 10th business day of each month. The tenth business days for fiscal year 2012 are as follows:

October 17, 2011
November 15, 2011
December 15, 2011
January 17, 2012
February 14, 2012
March 14, 2012
April 13, 2012
May 14, 2012
June 14, 2012

Community School Payment Report

• Career tech weighted funding is based on the CTA course data entered in the FY2011 October EMIS records and the matching FY2011 career tech data entered in the SOES system.
• Students enrolled in an e-school who did not take one of the required state achievement tests for two consecutive years were not funded.
• Special education weighted funding is provided for students 1) with an IEP completed on or before December 1, 2011 and are no more than 12 months old at December 1, and 2) assigned both an appropriate disability condition and Outcome ID in SOES.
• Students with an enrollment date that overlaps with another community school or an EdChoice scholarship are not funded.
• FY2010 EMAD OWF numbers are applied. Academic intervention funds transferred to the community school are based on the number of OWF community school students attending the community school.

Community School Foundation Statement of Settlement Report

• Final #1 adjustments for FY2010 are still be in recovered (JV38).
• SERS and STRS: If you have questions or believe the annual amount to be incorrect, please contact the appropriate retirement system.
• EMS Withholdings. If you school has EMIS withholdings, the amount received for the payment will not match the amount on the Statement of Settlement.

SOES Reminders
It is very important to check at least once a year that all users having access to SOES school still have access.

• To see who is listed as the users for a particular community school, go to Utilities, Entity Profile and scroll to the bottom of the screen.
• To activate a user , 1. Run a User Query, 2. Select the user and click on the pencil to modify the account, 3. Click on the scissors icon next to the names of the entity that you would like to remove from this user’s account, 4. Click the Save button.

SCHOOL NEWS :

VLT Academy Receives Auditor of State Award

Cincinnati, OH – A recent financial audit of VLT Academy by the Auditor of State Dave Yost’s office has returned a clean audit report. VLT Academy’s excellent record keeping has earned it the Auditor of State Award.

”Quote from the entity official.”

The Auditor of State Award is presented to local governments and school districts upon the completion of a financial audit. Entities that receive the award meet the following criteria of a “clean” audit report:

• Must be a GAAP entity without a CAFR (Certified Annual Financial Report) that timely files their financial reports with the Auditor of State;
• The audit report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings or questioned costs;
• The entity’s management letter contains no comments related to:
  o Ethics referrals
  o Questioned costs less than $10,000
  o Lack of timely report submission
  o Reconciliation
  o Failure to obtain a timely Single Audit
  o Findings for recovery less than $100
  o Public meetings or public records

In September and October, 2011, Mr. Kinebrew and Mr. Wilson visited each of the ERCO sponsored schools and presented certificates of achievement to schools that raised their state report card rating. 

City Day Community School, Dayton Ohio – Rated Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Shonise Carr

Cleveland College Preparatory School, Cleveland Ohio – Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Jason Stragand

Hamilton County Math & Science Academy, Cincinnati Ohio – Rated Excellent
Superintendent Dwan Moore

King Academy, Cincinnati Ohio – Rated Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Andrea Martinez

Millennium Community School, Columbus Ohio – Rated Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Tijuana Russell

New Day Academy and Boarding School, Cleveland Ohio – Rated Effective

Northeast Ohio College Preparatory School, Cleveland Ohio – Rated Effective
Superintendent Marshall Emerson

TCP World Academy, Cincinnati Ohio – Rated Excellent
Superintendent Karen French

VLT Academy, Cincinnati Ohio – Rated Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Valerie Lee

Zenith Academy, Columbus Ohio – Continuous Improvement
Superintendent Ashfaq Tashfeen

SCHOOL WEBSITES

To get the most current information and news about one of our schools, connect directly to the school website:

CASTLE (Cleveland)

Cleveland College Preparatory (Cleveland)

Northeast Ohio College Preparatory (Cleveland)

Hamilton County Math and Science (Cincinnati)

King Academy Community School (Cincinnati)

Millennium Community School (Columbus)

New Day Academy and Boarding School (Euclid)

Premier Academy of Ohio (Columbus)

The Renaissance Academy (Columbus)

TCP World Academy (Cincinnati)

Zenith Academy (Columbus)