Act 1687 of 2001 (Act) requires school districts to provide each pre-kindergarten through sixth grade teacher in each fiscal year at least ten dollars ($10) per student or two-hundred and fifty dollars ($250) per classroom to purchase related commodities for use by the teacher for their classrooms or class activities. Districts must adopt reasonable procedures for implementing this requirement. Districts should ensure the accounting for these expenditures is consistent with audit requirements. Districts in fiscal distress may be granted a waiver by the Department of Education (Department) from this requirement.
For audit purposes, the Department has several suggestions districts may want to consider using when accounting for the classroom expenditures related to this Act:
(1) Districts may want to use the school location code and designate a three-digit classroom code for each pre-kindergarten through sixth grade classroom for each school as part of the budget unit coding to identify the district's expenditures for commodities and supplies to these classrooms. The instructional function and supplies and materials account codes will be determined by the item purchased.
(2) Districts may want to assign a source of fund (SOF) code for each designated classroom to identify these expenditures. The district has SOF codes 001 thru 199 for use specific to their district. Districts may want to assign one SOF code for all these transactions and use it in conjunction with the location and classroom coding mentioned above. The instructional function and supplies and materials account codes will be determined by the item purchased.
(3) Districts may use the account code 66110 to identify these pre-kindergarten through sixth grade classroom expenditures. The use of this account code alone will only enable the district to identify these costs as being for classroom expenditures prescribed by this Act. Location and classroom coding will need to be included in the budget unit to enable these expenditures to be identified by classroom.
If you have any questions, please contact Donna Ralph at (501) 682-5128.