Notice: MaineCare Billing For Contracted Services

School administrative units who contract with a provider to provide special education related services for MaineCare eligible students with an IEP/IFSP should be aware of certain requirements concerning billing.

First, the contracted provider must be enrolled as a MaineCare school-based provider. Second, the contracted provider must bill MaineCare according to the MaineCare school-based billing guide specifically indicating that the service was provided at a school location.

All school administrative units who contract with a provider of special education related services have responsibility for the seed portion of the claims. This is handled as a deduction from state subsidy. When contracted service providers are not correctly enrolled in MaineCare as school-based or are not correctly billing for school-based services, the “seed” is not correctly assessed and goes unpaid.

Please direct any questions regarding this matter to Denise.Towers@maine.gov.

Blue Ribbon Commission To Meet Monday, December 12

Augusta – The next meeting of the Commission to Reform Public Education Funding and Improve Student Performance in Maine will be held on Monday, December 12, 2016 at 9:00 AM. The meeting will be held at the Augusta Armory, located at 179 Western Avenue in Augusta.

A copy of the meeting agenda and documents relating to the Commission’s work will be posted here as they are made available.

Additionally, members of the public who wish to submit comments or ideas about public education issues for consideration by the Commission may do so here. Comments submitted through the website will be distributed to members of the Commission.

The Commission to Reform Public Education Funding and Improve Student Performance in Maine was created by LD 1641 which allocated an additional $15 million in education funding for local schools, bringing the State’s contribution to $1,000,961,515 for the 2016-17 school year. Based on the Commission’s work, a report to the Governor and the Legislature will be submitted by Jan. 10, 2017 that includes findings and recommendations for action to reform public education funding and improve student performance in the state.

________________

Contact:

Jamie Logan
Communications Director
624-6747
jamie.e.logan@maine.gov

Notice: MaineCare Seed payment adjustments made, report review by December 23, 2016

MaineCare Seed Adjustments

In consideration of the recent seed recovery issues, the Department will be changing the process of reviewing reports and the recovery of the seed for those reports.

Current Process:

Maine DOE adjusts SAU’s ED 279.
Maine DOE sends notification to SAUs that the quarterly reports are ready for review.
SAUs request corrections; those corrections (after verification) are adjusted in a future quarter.

New Process:

Maine DOE sends notification to SAUs that the quarterly reports are ready for review.
The Department allows approximately 30 days for SAU to review reports.
Any requests for corrections (after verification) will be adjusted.
Maine DOE adjusts SAU’s ED 279.

The new process will allow for a review of data and corrections to be made before the ED 279 is adjusted for seed recovery beginning with the Q416 adjustment scheduled in January.

MaineCare Seed payment adjustments made, report review by December 23, 2016

The 2016-17 subsidy checks for General Purpose Aid for local schools will reflect adjustments for MaineCare Seed payments paid by the Maine DOE on behalf of school administrative units (SAUs) for the following:

2016 Quarter 3 revised MaineCare payment adjustments

Detailed student reports for Quarter 3 are now available in Infinite Campus (State Edition). Instructions for accessing MaineCare Seed Payment Reports in Infinite Campus are available here.

Updated 2016-17 state subsidy printouts (ED279s) reflecting these adjustments are available at www.maine.gov/doe/eps/.

Reporting issues:

To ensure accurate adjustments to subsidy, SAU staff must review student-by-student reports for Quarter 3 and report any issues on these reports no later than December 23, 2016. Any questions regarding these reports should be addressed to denise.towers@maine.gov.

If you disagree that a particular student or time period should be on the report, please provide the reason that you disagree along with supporting evidence and also include the following:

Identify the type of report (Public or Private) and the quarter in which the claims are located
Student’s State Student ID
Service provided dates (to and from)
Total amount of Seed being disputed

Should this inquiry result in a change to the subsidy adjustment, the revision will be reflected in subsequent monthly subsidy checks.

Summer services:

The Department has found that a number of students are provided services during the summer. If the student was a resident of your SAU during those months, your SAU is still fiscally responsible for the MaineCare Seed as this is considered an extended school year for these students. Students in extended school years must be enrolled during these periods to ensure accurate adjustments.

For more information on MaineCare Seed payments, including links to prior communications, accounting instructions and instructions for accessing MaineCare Seed Payment Reports in Infinite Campus, please click here. For more information or technical assistance related to MaineCare Seed, please contact Denise Towers at Denise.towers@maine.gov.

Biddeford Middle School Music Teacher among top 25 semi-finalists nationwide for Music Educator of the Year

Biddeford Middle School Music Teacher Amy Delorge was recently named a top 25 semi-finalist from a field of 2,000 nominees nationwide for Music Educator of the Year. The winner will be named on December 15, 2016 at the Chicago Midwest International Band Clinic.

“It is an honor to be considered among those who make such tremendous contributions to the field of music education in this prestigious group,” stated Delorge, a music teacher for 24 years. “This nomination is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of the Biddeford Middle School Band Program and its consistent growth serving our school and community.”

The eligibility criteria include: current, full-time educators in the U.S. who teach music in public, private or homeschools K-16; five or more years of music education and/or performance experience; demonstrate successful transferring of knowledge and passion to their students in hopes of developing their creative skills; conducted personal research and are experts in music history, theory, processes and techniques; and have devoted a major part of their careers to the advancement of music education.

Certification of superintendent election or reelection

The Maine DOE is reminding administrators and school board members of the approaching deadline for annual certification of employment of Superintendent of Schools and related forms to be completed and submitted to the Department.

School boards must meet by Dec. 31 to elect a superintendent if their superintendent’s contract expires in 2017 and then must submit a report on employment of their superintendent to the Maine DOE by Jan. 31.

Additional information including forms and instructions can be found here.

Please contact Danielle McKay at danielle.mckay@maine.gov or 207-624-6663 with questions.

MEA Alternate Science testing window opens December 1, 2016

The MEA Alternate Science assessment, the Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP) assessment window opens December 1, 2016. At this time teachers administering the alternate science assessment will be able to register and identify the students they will be assessing at: https://profile.measuredprogress.org/paap/login.aspx.

It is highly encouraged that teachers begin this process in December to view the Levels of Complexity available within the Alternate Grade Level Expectations (AGLES) and download tasks to incorporate into their instruction.

The 2016-17 PAAP Handbook, which includes the user guide and AGLES may be found at: http://www.maine.gov/doe/paap/administration/index.html.

For assistance with this task, please contact Maine DOE’s Alternate Assessment Coordinator, Sue Nay, at 622-6774 or sue.nay@maine.gov.

Reminder: annual audits due December 30, 2016

The Department requests all annual audits, requests, and correspondence be submitted electronically to DOE.Audit@maine.gov, or through the direct link on the audit website.

Municipalities are not required to submit, and are kindly requested to withhold from submitting, their municipal annual report/town report to the Department. The municipal annual report cannot be accepted in lieu of the complete municipal annual audit. Municipal school units are required to submit either a combined annual audit or a school department audit and a municipal audit to Maine DOE.

20-A MRSA §6051 (6) states that annual audit reports are due within six months after the end of the audit period; e.g., reports for the fiscal year ending June 30 are due on or before December 30.

Per 20-A MRSA §6051 (1-K), Maine DOE must receive a SEFA (Schedule of Expenditure of Federal Awards), which includes federal award expenditures for all reporting entities, regardless if an A-133 audit is not required to be conducted. The SEFA provides information needed by Maine DOE to conduct sub-recipient monitoring as required by US DOE and is due at the time of the annual audit. In municipal school units where a combined audit is not conducted, this means that Maine DOE receives a SEFA for the School Department and the city/town.

If a management letter is prepared by the auditor, a copy should be submitted to Maine DOE with the annual audit as this letter provides Maine DOE with information needed to conduct sub-recipient monitoring as required by US DOE. Authority to request this is provided to MDOE under 20-A MRSA §6051 (1-F).

20-A MRSA §6051 (1) states that it is the school board’s responsibility to submit the audit unless it is included in the engagement letter that the audit firm will submit the audit to Maine DOE on behalf of the school board.

The auditor shall review the audit with the school board as required under 20-A MRSA §6051 (3).

It is the superintendent’s responsibility to request extensions/exceptions. The forms are available online at www.maine.gov/education/audit.

State and Federal Requirements

State Requirements

20-A MRSA §6051
Title 20-A: Education, part 3: elementary and secondary education, Chapter 221: school records, audits and reports, Subchapter 2: audits

Federal Requirements

2 CFR 200.501 Audit Requirements

Audit required. A non-Federal entity that expends $750,000 or more during the non-Federal entity’s fiscal year in Federal awards must have a single or program-specific audit conducted for that year in accordance with the provisions of this Part.

Maine Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3) To Meet Friday, Dec. 9

The next meeting of the Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children will be held on Friday, Dec. 9 at 9:00 a.m. in room 500 of the Cross Office Building, located at 111 Sewall Street in Augusta.

All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, belong to the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3). Each state appoints a council to oversee the implementation of the Compact at the state level.

States that sign on to the Compact commit to doing what it takes to:

Enroll children of military families at their new schools as quickly and seamlessly as possible, even in the absence of normally required official records and immunizations; and
Ensure that students with parents in the Armed Forces stay on track to graduate on time, even when such students’ academic records don’t comply perfectly with local graduation requirements.

More information about MIC3 is available at http://www.mic3.net/ or http://maine.gov/doe/special/military.html. Interested parties can request copies of the Dec. 9 meeting agenda by contacting Tyler Backus, Maine DOE’s Military Education Liaison, at tyler.backus@maine.gov.

Schools to offer CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) instruction

Schools to offer CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) instruction

The 127^th Maine Legislature passed LD 556, “An Act to Require Public Schools to Offer Instruction Related to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the Use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).” Consequently, Maine Department of Education rule Chapter 41 has been adopted.

All students must now be offered training in how to perform CPR and understand how to use an AED prior to graduation. This includes the current senior class. Details of Chapter Rule 41 are available on the state website, but a few key points to note are:

This rule requires school districts to offer all students training in CPR and the use of AEDs some time prior to graduation. The instruction can happen for students at any time in middle or high school.
The requirement is NOT for certification in CPR or AED use; however a certification course would meet the requirement.
Hands only CPR with a psychomotor skills component will meet the CPR requirement and does not require a certified instructor. The American Heart Association (AHA), the American Red Cross or other nationally-recognized programs offer the most current national evidence-based emergency cardiovascular guidelines. They also incorporate psychomotor skills development into the instruction. There are several online resources available for teachers or other instructors to utilize.
The standards for instruction in AED use may not require the use of an AED but must include an explanation of AED use.
All public schools, including charter schools, are required to comply with this rule.

To support implementation of this new law, the AHA Maine Founders Affiliate and the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance have secured a number of CPR in Schools Training Kits. If you are interested in borrowing a kit, you can click here to download the form or contact kathymwilbur@gmail.com.

For more information on the new requirement contact Susan Berry, Maine DOE’s Health Education & Health Promotion Coordinator, at susan.berry@maine.gov.

Blue Ribbon Commission To Meet Monday, November 28

Augusta – The next meeting of the Commission to Reform Public Education Funding and Improve Student Performance in Maine will be held on Monday, Nov. 28 at 9:00 a.m. in room 103 of the Cross Office Building, located at 111 Sewall Street in Augusta.

A copy of the meeting agenda and documents relating to the Commission’s work will be posted here as they are made available.

________________

Contact:
Jamie Logan
Communications Director
624-6747
jamie.e.logan@maine.gov