Private School Teacher Certification Funds 2006-07
November 2006
TO: Superintendents of Special Act School Districts
Executive Directors of Approved In-State
Executive Directors of Approved Preschool Programs
FROM: James P. DeLorenzo
SUBJECT: Private School Teacher Certification Funds 2006-07
The 2006-07 State budget provides one time funding to ensure
the appropriate certification of teachers in schools that provide special services or programs to preschool and school-age students with disabilities. Special Act School Districts, private nonresidential and residential schools approved pursuant to section 4401 of Education Law and private preschool programs approved pursuant to section 4410 of Education Law are eligible to apply.
During the 2006-07 school year the State Education Department
(SED) will establish allocation amounts to eligible programs, subject to appropriation availability, based on information provided by the approved school on the attached survey. This information relates to the status of the school’s teacher certification and what is needed to remedy identified certification problems. Approved private schools, special act school districts and approved preschool programs must submit completed and accurate survey information in order to be considered to receive funding. The survey data will be collected electronically by SED. To access the survey, please go to https://www.oms.nysed.gov/rsu/TeacherCert/teachercerthome.html. In addition, schools must submit photocopies of their New York State Income Tax –45-ATT form and the associated supporting schedules for the quarter ending December 31, 2005 annotated as follows:
1) Highlight the names of the teachers employed in Preschool programs approved under section 4410 of Education Law or school-age programs approved under Article 81 or 89 of Education Law that are reported in position title codes 218, 220, 221, 222, 225, 260, 261, 262, and 263 on the New York State Consolidated Fiscal Report (CFR) or Supplemental Schedules SS 10 through 16 of the ST-3 Report (see the chart below).
SUMMARY OF POSITION TITLE CODES:Position Title Code Position Title
218 Teacher-Special Education
220 Teacher-Physical Education
221 Teacher-Vocational/Occupational Education
222 Teacher-Other
225 Teacher-Speech Certified
260 Teacher-Non-disabled
261 Teacher-Deaf
262 Teacher-Hard of Hearing
263 Teacher-Deaf/Blindness
2) Indicate if the teacher is primarily assigned to preschool or school-age programs by writing “PS” or “SA” to the left of the teacher name.
3) Do not highlight:a) teacher aides;
b) teaching assistants;
c) special education related service providers;
d) teachers working in Early Intervention Programs (EI) approved by the New York State Department of Health; and
e) teachers employed in adult programs which schools may operate.
We will determine the certification status of the highlighted
teachers using SED’s Teacher Certification database.
Please send materials, by close of business December 15, 2006 to:
Thomas Hamel, Chief
New York State Education Department
Rate-Setting Unit
89 Washington Avenue, Room 304B
Albany, NY 12234
OR
Via e-mail for those providers that have electronic versions of the New York State Income Tax –45-ATT form:
rateweb@mail.nysed.gov
The information received from the survey will provide the scope of
need for the funds and the basis for the methodology to be used for the allocation of funds to individual programs.
Each eligible school will be notified of their anticipated funding for
the 2006-07 school year and funding will be allocated on a reimbursement basis for all or a portion of expenditures based upon the submission of an expense report due to SED no later than July 1, 2007 for expenditures during the period July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. Expenditure information must be submitted on a form to be provided by SED prior to SED approving funds through a purchase order process. Funds cannot be used for increases in teachers’ or other staff salaries and cannot be incorporated into the expenditure base for rate-setting purposes.
Funds may be used for the following two priority areas:
1. tuition for coursework leading to teacher certification; and
2. costs for test preparation programs for tests required for certification.
Note: If these priority needs are fully met, funding may be made available at a later date for other costs such as for substitutes to allow teachers to participate in test preparation or coursework leading to certification, and/or to provide certification related mentoring.
Each private school accepting funding for this program must
provide executive director certification of the data submitted in the survey. Course completion documentation and other forms of expense justification must be maintained.
In order to qualify for funds, the attached survey must be
submitted to SED. Verification of survey information will be accomplished in part through a comparison of data from SED’s Teacher Certification System.
If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Hamel at (518)
474-3227.
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