ESPD+Business+Meeting+II

November 6, 2013

Attendees: Larianne Polk, John McClaren; Jenise Straight, Ruth Miller, Laura Barrett, Steve Helgeland, John Street, Sally Giittinger, Jane Moody, Nancy Meyer, Kris Elmshauser, Kristi Arlt, Stuart Clark, Brenda McNiff, Ellen Stokebrand


 * I. ADMINISTRATIVE/MANAGEMENT: **

This call had a professional tone. The liaison meeting shared positive feedback with NDE prior to the call. In talks about excess costs, it is always referred to as a miscommunication with the ESUs. IDEA funding – GMS Consolidated application might be open in mid November. The allocations will be approximately 5% less than 12-13. NDE was contacted by State Fiscal office after an inquiry by a state senator who had received info from an ESU. OSEP was contacted by an ESU Administrator. As a result, Nebraska will not be meeting state MOE. Nebraska will be on a “scrub” list. USDE Fiscal Office will be contacting NDE. No contact yet due to government shut down. This might lead to a reduced amount of discretionary funds (SeCIP, Collaborative, etc.) Rule 51 and Rule 52 hearings are scheduled in December.
 * //Sped Director's Call with NDE - October 31, 2013//**


 * //Special Education Finance//**

Does anyone know what the reimbursement rate will be? No

No one has changed their billing. John Marcucci is asking for the student names and hours when he does audits. He wants the data for each service. __//Beginning this year, the student lists/hours will be needed for IDEA claims.//__
 * //Special Education Billing and documentation//**

How do you provide supporting documentation for supervision costs? Pete has suggested that we add a statement to the bill that says a supervision calendar or log is available upon request. Some ESUs are having their providers update their calendars each day to reflect what they did for the day.(Meetings, therapy, evaluations, phone calls to parents, etc.) This is documentation that the schools are actually getting more hours of service than what they have been billed.

Does all of this information need to be on the bill or available as supporting documentation? Larianne will send the information that Pete gave her on September 20th regarding bills to John Marccucci, Greg Prochaska, and Shane Rhian for their review and suggestions. We need this information prior to IDEA grant applications.

Why does the rate need to be on each bill? It is used for IDEA claims.

Rates need to be a part of the Final Financial discussion with Shane and Pete.

ESPD members are encouraged to use what they have developed for billing on the ESPD wiki.

//**Transportation**// NDE is auditing the transportation final financials. Don't buy any vehicles with IDEA funds. Dispose of IDEA funds after getting quotes from dealers. If you request a spreadsheet from Shane for each district, he will send what NDE has as a list of vehicles for the district. Check it for accuracy.

//**Final Financials**// //**What questions would we like Shane and Pete to answer in the spring or summer of 2014?**// //**I**//f the substitute teacher does not have a sped endorsement can the school get reimbursement under special ed? Rule 51 10.01D17 No, any teaching certificate is allowable. Rates -- Should final rates match provisional rates? Clarification on the IDEA sections Where does 4404, 4403, 4406, 4410, and 4412 go on this page? Does NDE provide training to the school auditors on the difference between MAPS and MIPS, etc. ESU #1 has a budget workshop each summer. Superintendents and bookkeepers attend. Russ Inbody and Bryce Wilson from NDE Financial Services present on changes to budgets, coding, etc for the school year. The auditors that serve schools in ESU are also invited to attend. Stuart has posted the flyer on the ESPD wiki. Larianne works through her budget with new superintendents so that they understand what is included in their rates. Most districts meet their MOE on the worksheet by $100,000 + dollars. Some districts are beginning to use the ESU #1 MOE calculator. Wade has been doing some training. There are more changes for the district managers than for the teachers. Wade is a positive presenter. He validates what people suggest. There have been some concerns with responsiveness from the SRS helpdesk from a few. Matt Bloomstedt is his supervisor.
 * //Maintenance of Effort//**
 * //SRS//**

• Sharon Heater shared that the worksheet is a guide to assist districts with discussion points. The document states that if there are any no answers the student will not take the alternate assessment. Sharon said that it is not that black and white and the team needs to make the right decision for the individual student. Also, John Moon explained that a district can receive more that 1% proficiency on the Alternate Assessment. A waiver will be sent for each student that goes over the 1% in a district. NDE will review the waiver and if they feel it is valid the district can report the proficiency. The state can not go over the 1% proficiency on the Alternate Assessment. Sharon agreed with John's explanation.
 * //Alternate Assessment//**

There are some new student tools on the NeSA assessment this year. Students will need time to practice. Our schoolsnot be set up to do the text to speech.



Need approved leave documented Billing by Month and District If staff have charge accounts, need to have all documentation they need Need to have check and balance system, even payroll. (internal controls) Grants need to have time and effort and that documentation needs to be descriptive. Spent 8 days. $20,000 Special Ed billing questions came to the sped bookkeeper Did not ask to see the sped school contracts
 * //ESU 8 Audit//**
 * ie: speech bills have total hours a month contracted out, need documentation as to what those hours are and how they are determined.
 * Office time needs to describe what is going on those days

Joan Luebbers says that an audiological exam is the school's responsibility if there is a suspected hearing loss. 3 planning region teams have purchased OAE machines to do the screening without an audiologist. ESU 4, 1, 16, 10, 9, and 8 have ESU audiologists who test children in schools or homes.
 * //Audiological Services//**

TriState Law Conference twitter site #tristatelaw


 * II. IEP FACILITATION FOLLOWUP: **


 * //Conference call with Doug, Joyce and Cassie - October 24, 2013//**

It was nice to meet Doug. Follow up support is free. ESU #7 is having a 2 hour training with certificated staff who facilitate IEP meetings and later with their resource teachers via a webinar. The trainers will touch on everything except conflict resolution tools.

Would those facilitation skills be valuable for principals, too?

All of the forms from the training and a list of people who are willing to co-facilitate difficult IEPs are listed on the left hand side of this page under IEP Facilitation.

Share the agenda and ground rules with ESU staff and resource teachers so that they can share them at all meetings.


 * III. TRAINING: **

//**ILCD Workshop - October 17, 2013**//

This meeting went well. How do we support the schools in student performance? Special Populations and NDE Staff Development need to communicate. Should ESU special ed directors be part of staff development trainings at the schools? The January PDO training will be a continuation of the September training. 4 teams -- Blend Ed, Safari/Montage, ?,? ESPD does not get funding anymore. We need to participate in staff development to share accommodations or how the training applies to students with special needs.

• NDE and ILCD Facilitator's Responsibilities • ILCD Workbook - Draft 10/13 • ILCD Powerpoint describing the ILCD Workbook • Work group - questioned addressed (a compiled list will be sent out) • Final report for Collaborative Grant • ILCD agenda notes

//**PD Advisory Committee Meeting - November 15, 2013**// Discussion Points: Liaisons chosen from each affiliate will be meeting with ESUCC to talk about the events of this year and plan for the future. It is on the same date as the copyright training.

Do not put "as needed" on 504 plans or IEPs. State that they need it and at what times. Karen is recommending a meeting on every child in your district that has a medical need so that you verify that the team has considered the need for a 504.
 * 504 Training with Karen Haase at ESU 2 was well attended in October.**

Workshop for paras who work with students with vision impairments will be at ESU #7 on January 24th.
 * Other discussion: **
 * //Any speaker ideas for next time? -//**