§ 256C.4 — Funding provisions — enrollment

Iowa § 256C.4

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title VII: EDUCATION, HISTORY, AND CULTURE
• Ch. 256C: STATEWIDE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

Text

1. General.
a. State funding provided under the preschool program shall be based upon the
enrollment of eligible students in the preschool programming provided by a school district
approved to participate in the preschool program.
b. A school district approved to participate in the preschool program may authorize
expenditures for the district’s preschool programming from any of the revenue sources
available to the district from the sources listed in chapter 298A, provided the expenditures
are within the uses permitted for the revenue source. In addition, the use of the revenue
source for preschool or prekindergarten programming must have been approved prior to
any expenditure from the revenue source for the district’s approved local program.
c. Fundingprovidedunderthepreschoolprogramisintendedtosupplement,notsupplant,
existing public funding for preschool programming.
d. Preschool foundation aid funding shall not be commingled with the other state aid
payments made under section 257.16 to a school district and shall be accounted for by the
local school district separately from the other state aid payments. Preschool foundation aid
payments made to school districts are miscellaneous income for purposes of chapter 257. A
school district shall maintain a separate listing within its budget for preschool foundation aid
payments received and expenditures made. A school district shall certify to the department
of education that preschool foundation aid funding received by the school district was used
to supplement, not supplant, moneys otherwise received and used by the school district for
preschool programming.
e. Preschool foundation aid funding shall not be used for the costs of constructing a
facility in connection with an approved local program. Preschool foundation aid funding
may be used by approved local programs and community providers for any purpose
determined by the board of directors of the school district to meet standards for high-quality
preschool instruction and for purposes that directly or indirectly benefit students enrolled
in the approved local program, including but not limited to professional development
for preschool teachers, instructional equipment and supplies, material and equipment
designed to develop pupils’ large and small motor skills, translation services, playground
equipment and repair costs, food and beverages used by children in the approved local
program, safety equipment, facility rental fees, and for other direct costs that enhance the
approved local program, including by contracting with community partners for any such
services. Preschool foundation aid funding may be used by approved local programs for
the costs of transportation involving children participating in the preschool program. The
costs of transporting other children associated with the preschool program or transported
§256C.4, STATEWIDE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN 4
as provided in section 256C.3, subsection 3, paragraph “h”, may be prorated by the school
district. Preschool foundation aid funding received by an approved local program that
remains unexpended and unobligated at the end of a fiscal year beginning on or after
July 1, 2017, shall be used to build the approved local program’s preschool program
capacity in the next succeeding fiscal year excluding that portion of such unexpended and
unobligated funding that the school district authorizes for transfer for deposit in the school
district’s flexibility account established under section 298A.2, subsection 2, if the statutory
requirements for the use of such funding are met. For purposes of determining whether a
school district has authority to transfer preschool foundation aid funding for deposit in the
school district’s flexibility account established under section 298A.2, subsection 2, the school
district must have provided preschool programming during the fiscal year for which funding
remains unexpended and unobligated to all eligible students for whom a timely application
for enrollment was submitted.
f. The receipt of funding by a school district for the purposes of this chapter, the need
for additional funding for the purposes of this chapter, or the enrollment count of eligible
students under this chapter shall not be considered to be unusual circumstances, create an
unusualneedforadditionalfunds, orqualifyunderanyothercircumstancesthatmaybeused
by the school budget review committee to grant supplemental aid to or establish a modified
supplemental amount for a school district under section 257.31.
g. ForthefiscalyearbeginningJuly1,2015,andeachsucceedingfiscalyear,oftheamount
of preschool foundation aid received by a school district for a fiscal year in accordance with
section257.16,notmorethanfivepercentmaybeusedbytheschooldistrictforadministering
the district’s approved local program. Outreach activities and rent for facilities not owned by
the school district are permissive uses of the administrative funds.
h. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015, and each succeeding fiscal year, of the
amount of preschool foundation aid received by a school district for a fiscal year in
accordancewithsection257.16, notlessthanninety-fivepercentoftheperpupilamountshall
be passed through to a community-based provider for each pupil enrolled in the district’s
approved local program. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015, and each succeeding
fiscal year, not more than ten percent of the amount of preschool foundation aid passed
through to a community-based provider may be used by the community-based provider for
administrative costs. The costs of outreach activities and rent for facilities not owned by
the school district are permissive administrative costs. The costs of transportation involving
children participating in the preschool program and other children may be prorated.
2. Eligible student enrollment.
a. To be included as an eligible student in the enrollment count of the preschool
programming provided by a school district approved to participate in the preschool program,
a child must be four years of age by September 15 in the base year and attending the school
district’s approved local program.
b. The enrollment count of eligible students shall not include a child who is included in
the enrollment count determined under section 257.6 or a child who is served by a program
already receiving state or federal funds for the purpose of the provision of four-year-old
preschool programming while the child is being served by the program. Such preschool
programming includes but is not limited to child development assistance programs provided
under chapter 256A, special education programs provided under section 256B.9, school
ready children grant programs and other programs provided under chapter 256I, and
federal head start programs and the services funded by Tit. I of the federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965.