Students & Families Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

FY 09 Policy Update - Continuation Application

April 5, 2008

Dear Program Directors,

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with policy updates that may impact planning for the provision of services and related budget items in FY 09. This letter addresses policy related to supporting staff salaries within the allowable range of the rates, the addition of a new non-rate based class and increasing service intensity.

Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS) is committed to ensuring that all staff at Community Adult Learning Centers and Adult Basic Education (ABE) for Incarcerated Adults programs are provided with a salary and benefits that attracts and retains qualified staff. To that end, the ABE rates system, which supports baseline salaries and benefits for staff, was developed. In order to assist programs in determining if staff is being compensated within the required range, a salary analysis calculation in SMARTT was created. In FY08, the calculations for the salary analysis changed to assist program staff and ACLS staff to better ensure that the rates of pay meet these requirements.

According to the Guidelines for Effective ABE, programs must pay staff within an allowable range of the rates. This applies to staff hours paid with Direct and Indirect funds as well as hours that are supported using matching funds. In order to assist programs in determining if staff is paid at the approved rate, the salary analysis calculation in SMARTT is as follows:

The Staff Salary Analysis figures indicate the difference between the amounts the program is spending and the amount the rates support. These figures are found on each Staff Salary Analysis screen (Direct, Indirect and Match) in SMARTT. Beginning in FY08 programs must ensure that the Staff Salary Analysis is within an allowable range of +/-3% of the approved rate per staff category (Administrative, Professional, Support).

• If the amount is more than 3% below the allowable range per category (A, P, S) the program is not spending what the ABE rates support for salaries. The grant award will be lowered if programs choose not to use all funds allocated to them according to the rates. ACLS will reduce the amount of grant funds accordingly.

• If the amount is more than 3% above the allowable range per category the program is spending more than what the ABE rates support for salaries. Matching funds (above the minimum required 20%) and/or Unrestricted funds must account for the difference. These matching funds may provide salaries and other rates supported costs and must be documented clearly on the Match Narrative

ACLS had proposed that the calculation would change in FY 09 to shift from an analysis of staff salary by category to an analysis of the rates at which each individual staff member was paid. As a result of feedback from the Directors' Council, ACLS will not implement the policy that was proposed for FY09 but continue to implement the policy that was used in FY08. In order to help us understand the different functions within a program and the commensurate pay for those functions, the drop down list for the Administrative (A), Professional (P) and Support (S) staff categories will be expanded in FY09. Additionally, we will continue to discuss with the Directors' Council, how best to balance our continued commitment to ensuring ABE staff are compensated at the rate based amounts while allowing programs operational flexibility.

In FY 09, ACLS will support a new supplemental non-rates-based class entitled Planning for Next Steps to help facilitate students' transition to post-secondary education and training. The goal of this option is to provide students with a greater awareness of the importance of accessing further education and training in order to build their career paths and to earn family-sustaining wages.

The class might be adapted to a group-counseling format to encourage greater student interaction in exploring future goals and assessing their readiness for next steps. Topics in this class might include examining various education and training options, assessing individual suitability for different occupational areas, learning about employer tuition reimbursement programs and publicly funded training opportunities, identifying support services (tutoring, study skills, counseling, academic advising, etc.), and understanding financial aid availability and the processes to access it. The class also might be supplemented by tours of local community colleges, training programs, and One-Stop Career Centers. Guest speakers from Educational Opportunity Centers, local One-Stop Career Centers, area colleges and training programs, and former GED students who are now enrolled in college might also be utilized to help students better understand their options.

While ACLS understands that not all programs can or should increase intensity, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage programs to work within their communities/regions and with their community planning partnerships to consider making more intensive services available. Please note that your Program Specialist is available to assist you.

The continuation application will be posted soon at http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/Grants/. I strongly recommend that you attend one of the Program Design Trainings in order to review this information with the trainers and ACLS staff.

Please note the name of the Department of Education has been changed to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Our email addresses and phone numbers have not been changed.

As always, I want to thank-you for your hard work and continued commitment to providing high quality adult basic education services to Massachusetts' undereducated and Limited English Proficient adults.

If you have any questions, please contact your Program Specialist.