Compliance Specialist Message
Greetings and welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!
In this quarterly newsletter, you will find information meant to aid LEAs and schools in compliantly meeting the requirements of the School LAND Trust (SLT) Program. Additional (almost) monthly training newsletters will be sent by Marcus, our Training Specialist.
Whether you've been participating for many years, or you are brand new, I hope you find the information in this supplemental resource to be valuable in implementing the Program locally. On behalf of the entire School Children's Trust (SCT) team, thank you for your support!
Warmest Regards, Kira Bennett
kira.bennett@schools.utah.gov | 801-538-7533
Fall Due Dates
Fall
- Council Elections
- Plan Annual Training - for board, directors/principals, reviewers, and councils
- LEAs set SLT Due Dates for Principals
October 1
- District Reallocation Requests Due
- LEAs Notify schools of final FY25 SLT Totals -distribution + FY24 carry-over
October 20
Principals complete the following & LEAs review for each school:
- Council Membership
- Principal Assurance
- Website Updates - including Election Procedures and Rules of Order & Procedure
Law Changes
R277-477
R277-477 will be emerging from it's cocoon after some updates that were approved by the Utah State Board in August. Highlight of the changes:
Charter Council Election Procedures - Clarified instructions to governing boards on the creation, content, and posting of Election Procedures.
Charter Due Date- A charter school's SLT plan due date for the business administrator's review has been extended to May 1, annually.
Charter Exemptions - Governing Boards serving as the council are now exempt from a Council Signature Form.
New Unallowable Expense - Using SLT funds to purchase any item for "storage of personal student property" is a new unallowable expense.
Unused SLT Money - Definition on a cutoff date for changes to the distribution calculation has been set for March 1.
Compliance Monitoring
Laws for School LAND Trust
Utah State Code and Administrative Rule for the program can be found at the link below:
The major focus for compliance monitoring for FY25 will be on council seating and council election documentation.
Council election documentation is the Election Procedures for charters, and the Rules of Order & Procedure for districts. Please take measures to correct any compliance issues prior to a review.
Charters
Election Procedures
Election Procedures have new requirements and must be posted to the school's website with the other website requirements. The governing board creates and posts the Election Procedures.
Council Membership Form
When filling out the Council Membership Form:
Charters should NOT select the "principal" member type unless the director or principal is a voting member of the council.
Charters should also NOT use the option for a "licensed parent". This option is for districts only and does not apply to charters.
Districts
School Community Council (SCC) Seating 101
SCC requirements are well-defined in 53G-7-1202 and R277-491.
Key Points:
- The principal serves as an automatic voting school employee member.
- There is a 2-parent majority over school employees.
- Two separate elections happen annually, replacing about half of each membership type: parents and school employees.
- A council must determine exact membership before an election occurs. Seating is documented in Rules of Order & Procedure (bylaws) and must be posted to the school's website. Ambiguous language (e.g. we will seat up to _ parent members) is NOT allowed.
Although the intention is understood, it is a non-compliant practice to invite as many members to serve as are willing. An election with (prior) defined seating must occur.
Closed School Carry-Over
Carry-over balances from schools that closed after 2023-2024 should be transferred to an active school. The money should follow the students from the closed school to their new school.
What's the process?
- Reach out to SCT by email and notify us of the FY24 carry-over amount of the closed school/s.
- Explain how the carry-over is to be reassigned to active schools.
- SCT will update the receiving school's FY25 plan with the new total.
- The closed school will need to submit a Final Report in January of 2025 to close out the 2023-2024 school year. At this time, SCT will correct the carry-over balance in the Final Report.
LEAs must notify schools of their individual SLT totals for FY25 by October 1.
Depending on the school or governing board's preference, the school may spend the extra funds on things that were already approved in their FY25 plan, or they may submit an FY25 Amendment to outline additional uses of the funds.
School Children's Trust Team
The School Children's Trust section of the Utah State Board of Education administers, provides training, and performs compliance on the School LAND Trust program, which serves k-12 public education beneficiaries across Utah. Communicate with the team by email at schoollandtrust@schools.utah.gov.
Introducing the Team
Paula Plant | Director | paula.plant@schools.utah.gov | 801-538-7555
Kira Bennett | Compliance Specialist| kira.bennett@schools.utah.gov | 801-538-7533
Marcus Chen | Training Specialist| marcus.chen@schools.utah.gov | 801-538-7764
Welcome, Marcus!
Marcus Chen is joining us as our new Training Specialist after the departure of Holly Korous. Marcus comes to us from a school classroom where he was a beloved science teacher. We are excited for you all to meet him as he provides resources and trainings for the SLT program.
Training Newsletters
Here are links to the training newsletters from August:
USBE Website
Use the link below to access School LAND Trust Program information.
Public Pages
Only people who submit or review program requirements should have access to the Reporting Website. Everyone else should access information about a school's participation in the SLT program through the Public Report pages. No username or password is required.
Newsletter Distribution
This newsletter is sent to contacts lists generated by the SLT Reporting Website active users. The contact list includes people who submit or review requirements on behalf of the SLT program.
Please feel free to also share the newsletter with other appropriate SLT program stakeholders within your LEA, such as your governing or school board members. You may also share with your councils, if you feel the information is appropriate.