Los Posgrados

K12’s OLS is a robust learning management system that gives students the tools to schedule lesson times, plan lessons, and track attendance and progress. There is also a separate interface with a suite of tools for teachers. Student progress and attendance is updated daily.

Learning coaches and teachers can track progress through an account assigned to them and program administration is able to access reports that can be shared with parents.

The following types of reports can be accessed via the K12 Online School or K12’s Expanded Student Information System (TotalView/SAMS):

Progress and Performance – Students, learning coaches and teachers have access to student

Graded). Administrators can also view teacher performance in addition to every student record assigned to the teacher.

Attendance – K12 provides reports that show every active student, every course they’re enrolled in, and the number of attendance hours logged to date for the school year. The attendance reports also include the first and last dates of every learning coach and login and the total number of logins.

Enrollment – K12’s enrollment processing service provides the school with teacher,

administrator, and enrollment advisor accounts to have access to this functionality. This reporting functionality makes managing new applicants much easier.

Communications – Through Kmail, K12’s internal messaging system, school staff, students, and

learning coaches have access to a permanent record of electronic messages and notes regarding phone conversations between the teacher and learning coach or student. Messages sent to any student are automatically visible to the parents/guardians. Full search functionality as well as tagging allows users to quickly find the messages for which they might be searching. K-mails can be personalized for lists of students using a mail merge-like technology. K-mails and notes can all be exported to a printable format permitting a written record of all communications and notes relating to any given student.

Material Shipments – These reports keep track of all course- and technology-related shipments.

The existing hierarchy of accounts within the K12 OLS ensures that students, parents, teachers, and administrators have only the level of access appropriate to their roles in the school/program. Reports can be exported as needed. Administrators and teachers have additional drill-down functionality for quick troubleshooting and issue identification:

Administrator reporting functionality – Administrators have the ability to drill-down from

summary reports on course, classroom and teacher performance to specific student performance data. Administrators are presented with reports that compare overall student performance between courses and classrooms within the school. .

Teacher reporting functionality – Teachers are presented with a summary of the number of

students in each grade. At the K-8 school, teachers are able to access a summary report for each student based on their progress and mastery. At the high school, teachers have a summary of students in each grade and course according to dashboard indicating a “decile” (0-9, 10-19, 20- 29…80-89, 90-100). By clicking on each number, the user is presented with the list of students comprising that number and can contact and/or drill-down into each student’s individual data. All reports are exportable to spreadsheet format.

VI. FINANCE AND OPERATIONS

FINANCE

The current financial situation of COVA can be described as healthy. It reflects a pattern of steady revenue growth, strong fiscal management, solid financial planning, and controlled operating costs. Over the course of its existence, COVA has consistently operated with an annual financial surplus while maintaining adequate reserves for future needs.

Financial Statements

COVA’s fiscal year is July 1 – June 30. Since the limited current year financial results do not contain full expenses (due to the startup phase of a new school year) or actual revenue (due to the funding model that utilizes a single October 1 count date), we have not included a current year financial statement with this application.

The unaudited financial results for 2011-2012 are attached as Appendix 8. The audited financial statements for 2007-2011 are attached as Appendix 9.

Revenue Sources

The school receives revenue from several sources, including state based per pupil funding, state based Special Education funding, federal Title I funding and foundation/grant funding.

State Funding

State-based funding is driven by the combination of the state-determined funding amount and enrollment. Online charter schools receive the same amount of state funding per pupil for each student regardless of the student’s district of residence. Enrollment has increased consistently over the past eleven years although the past several years have leveled out in terms of student count. We anticipate that this year’s total enrollment to be approximately equal to the previous two years.

An enrollment chart is attached as Appendix 10 This chart has detail enrollment by grade level for the past several years.

Special Education Funding

 Less than 10% of Special Education is funded with federal money flowing to the Administrative Units. In most Administrative Units, this small amount of money funds special education staff that is shared across the Unit.

 Less than 20% of Special Education is funded with State funds. This money goes directly to the districts and is often used for staff and specialized materials and resources.

 About 70% of Special Education is funded through the District’s General Fund, which is based on the money coming from the state for all students and any other local revenue sources.

 Charter schools subsidize special education services out of their general fund by at least 70%.

COVA’s special education funding through Adams12 is calculated as follows:

The district’s total IDEA and ECEA allocation is divided by the total number of Special Education students reported in the district’s December count, then multiplied by the number of COVA special Education students reported in the December count. This result is multiplied by 65%.

Title IIA Funding

COVA receives limited Title IIA funding. Title II, Part A is intended to increase student academic achievement by improving teacher and principal quality. This includes increasing the number of Highly Qualified teachers in classrooms, improving the skills of principals and assistant principals in schools, and increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals.

Grant Funding

COVA has applied for certain grants in previous years and received the Colorado Graduation Pathways (CGP) Grant in 2010-2011. This is a five year grant funded as follows:

 FY 11 – FY 13: $28,000

 FY 14: $24,500

 FY 15: $21,350

The goal of the Colorado Graduation Pathways initiative is to develop sustainable, replicable models for dropout prevention and recovery that improve interim indicators (attendance, behavior and course completion), reduce the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate for all students in Colorado’s highest need schools.

COVA intends to pursue other private, state, and federal grants, as appropriate, in the future. It will also seek grant funds to support activities and services above and beyond the primary instructional program.

E-rate Funding

The E-rate program is administered by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the

Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The program was set up in 1997 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Universal Service Order implementing the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Order was designed to ensure that all eligible schools and libraries have affordable access to modern telecommunications and information services. Up to $2.25 billion annually is available to provide eligible schools and libraries with discounts under the E-rate program for authorized services.

The E-rate program provides discounts of 20 percent to 90 percent for eligible telecommunications services, depending on economic need and location (urban or rural). The level of discount is based on the percentage of students eligible for participation the National School Lunch Program or other federally approved alternative mechanisms.

Discounts can be applied to commercially available telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections. Eligible services range from basic local and long distance phone services, and Internet access services, to acquisition and installation of equipment to provide internal connections.

COVA currently receives a 50% E-rate discount on all staff phone and conferencing services, remote staff internet, office internet, and staff cell phones. These expenses are paid in full at time of service and then filed with the E-rate program for 50% reimbursement.

Fiscal Management

The COVA administration, under the guidance of the COVA Board, is accountable for compliance with all local, state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to public schools as well as compliance with the charter provisions. The school utilizes a Finance Manager to manage fiscal responsibilities, safeguard assets, provide reliable financial information, and promote operational efficiency that will ensure compliance with all regulatory guidelines. The COVA Board has established a Finance Committee to work closely with the Finance Manager to meet the fiscal needs of COVA and ensure awareness and compliance with all rules and regulations.

COVA and its Board are currently in the process of revising its financial and contracting policies. The Board will consider the adoption of these policies in the near future.

Please refer to the Draft Financial Policies and Draft Contact Approval Policies attached as