July 24, 2017 – Message from Adam Emerson, Charter Schools Director at the Florida Department of Education
By now, all charter school principals should have completed the 2017-18 Charter School Capital Outlay Plan.
Because any change to the charter school capital outlay application requires rule development and, ultimately, the approval of the State Board of Education, the 2017-18 Charter School Capital Outlay Plan that was released in the days following the signing of House Bill 7069 into law did not reflect some of these changes to section 1013.62, Florida Statutes.
Those changes, however, are in effect, and they have an impact on the eligibility criteria for the funding and its allowable uses. Specifically, House Bill 7069 removed a paragraph from section 1013.62, F.S., that declared an allowable use for capital outlay.
The following is no longer allowed:
Effective July 1, 2008, purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of new and replacement equipment, and enterprise resource software applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are used to support schoolwide administration or state-mandated reporting requirements.
House Bill 7069 did add two new paragraphs governing the allowable use of charter school capital outlay. The first new paragraph reads similarly to the deleted paragraph above.
Allowable use of capital outlay:
Purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of computer and device hardware and operating system software necessary for gaining access to or enhancing the use of electronic and digital instructional content and resources; and enterprise resource software applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are used to support schoolwide administration or state-mandated reporting requirements. Enterprise resource software may be acquired by annual license fees, maintenance fees, or lease agreement.
Also allowable now is “the payment of the cost of the opening day collection for the library media center of a new school.”
These changes in statute are in effect and they will apply to all schools that receive charter school capital outlay in the upcoming fiscal year (2017-2018).
If you choose to use capital outlay for any of the new allowable uses, you should inform your district sponsor.
Click here to access the Florida Department of Education recently updated the Charter School Revenue Estimate Worksheet.
Here’s the link to the capital outlay plan.
If you have any questions about the above information, please contact LaCrest Reed at the Florida Department of Education: (850) 245-0502 or lacrest.reed@fldoe.org.