FUNDING

SB 6 requires the legislature to appropriate 50% of the State Board of Education’s designated distribution from the Permanent School Fund (PSF) to the Available School Fund (ASF) into the Instructional Materials Allotment. Due to the budget crises, the legislature did not appropriate 50% of the distribution of the PSF; instead they appropriated $792 million to be distributed over two school years (2011-2012 and 2012-2013). The commissioner has the responsibility of determining the exact amount of money that will be deposited in a school district’s IMA account. Before the allotment is distributed there are some expenses that must be subtracted from the total that will impact the allocations for each district. These costs are accounted for at the state level thus not impacting each district’s IMA. These expenses include:

• Braille and large type books
• Intra-state freight
• Insurance (flood/natural disasters)
• Technology Lending Program
• State-development open-source materials
• Calculations for districts with a fast-growth enrollment. These districts receive more per student because they could potentially have to purchase each new student a whole set of instructional materials.

TEA's List of School District's IMA Allotment

IMA funds located in the EMAT system

Once the commissioner decides the annual per-pupil funding, the district’s IMA will be disbursed through the EMAT system. The EMAT system will be used to requisition instructional materials that are on the State Board of Education’s list of adopted materials, or the commissioner’s list of electronic materials and/or to request TEA to disburse funds to the school district to purchase instructional materials that are not on either of these two lists or to purchase technological equipment or pay the salaries of technology personnel.

CONTACT US

Questions regarding Advocacy:
Jennifer Bergland
512 450 5448

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