IDEA Fiscal Risk Self-Assessment
The fiscal risk self-assessment is an annual form included with and completed at the same time as the LEA IDEA Application for funds. This form is intended to alert the LEA to any potential risks in its fiscal practices and to assist ODE in determining the fiscal monitoring level an LEA may need. LEAs scoring medium or high risk and which are not scheduled for enhanced monitoring due to the sequential sample will be included in enhanced monitoring for that cycle.
Risk Categories and Cycle
Based in part on the risk assessment score, each LEA will be classified in three risk categories:
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Low Risk Grantee: 89-99 points
- LEAs falling into this category will be subject to the sequential monitoring schedule for desk monitoring or on-site monitoring every five years as described previously. Depending on the risk level posed by the non-compliance issue, the LEA may be scheduled for training and technical assistance in the months following the annual risk assessment, if deemed necessary.
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Medium Risk Grantee: 69-87 points
- LEAs falling into this category will be subject to a desk monitoring or on-site monitoring every two years until the IDEA Finance team has determined that they meet all the criteria to be removed from this category. Depending on the risk level posed by the non-compliance issue, the LEA may be scheduled for training and technical assistance in the months following the annual risk assessment, if deemed necessary.
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High Risk Grantee: 0-68 points
- LEAs falling into this category will be subject to a desk or field review every year until the IDEA Finance team has determined that they meet all the criteria to be removed from this category.
IDEA Maintenance of Effort (MOE)
General
With only a few exceptions, IDEA Part B funds allocated to districts and LEAs each year cannot be used to reduce the level of expenditures from state funds (general fund maintenance and operations expenditures) for special education made by the LEA below the level from the previous fiscal year (34 CFR §300.203). MOE must be maintained through both eligibility (i.e., budgeted expenditures) and compliance (i.e., actual expenditures) standards.
The Eligibility requirement can be met if the LEA budgets, for the coming fiscal year, at least as much as it expended in the last year it met MOE compliance. The eligibility requirement is collected and reviewed during the IDEA Application process.
The Compliance requirement can be met if the LEA expended in the most recently audited fiscal year an amount equal to or greater than the amount it expended in the last prior fiscal year it met MOE compliance. MOE compliance is collected and reviewed annually between April and October.
MOE Resources
IDEA Excess Cost
Excess costs are those costs for the education of an elementary school or secondary school student with a disability that are in excess of the average annual per student expenditure in an LEA during the preceding school year for an elementary school or secondary school student, as may be appropriate. An LEA must spend at least the average annual per student expenditure on the education of an elementary school or secondary school child with a disability before funds under Part B of the Act are used to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services (34 CFR §300.16).
Data on Excess Cost is reported to the ODE through an annual data collection which opens in January and closes in March.
IDEA Excess Cost Resources
Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS)
CEIS are services provided to students in kindergarten through grade 12 (with a particular emphasis on students in kindergarten through grade three) who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral supports to succeed in a general education environment.
Schools should be aware of the connections between the typical uses of CEIS and the mandatory use of CEIS if a district is found to be significantly disproportionate. Please see
this chart [pdf, 147 KB] developed by the IDEA Data Center (IDC) comparing the primary differences.
The CEIS data collection is managed by the IDEA data team. Details about the collection, including manuals, guides, and frequently asked questions can be found on the
collection's web page.
Private School Proportionate Share
Every year each LEA must expend a proportionate share of federal IDEA funds on equitable services for parentally placed private school children with disabilities. Each LEA must, after timely and meaningful consultation with representatives of parentally placed private school children with disabilities, determine the number of parentally placed private school children with disabilities attending private schools located in the LEA.
Through the Private School Data Collection, LEAs report on the private schools in their area, the number of children enrolled in those schools, and the timely and meaningful consultation the LEA had with those schools. Please see the
Private School Data Collection web page for user guides, overviews, and frequently asked questions.