Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) Purpose. In accordance with the Texas
Education Code (TEC), Chapter 22, Subchapter D, each year the Texas Education
Agency (TEA) shall distribute staff salary allotment funds to eligible entities
for the purpose of making payments of health care supplementation to eligible
employees, as specified by the provisions delineated in this section.
(b) Definitions. The following words and
terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meaning, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
Eligible entity--An eligible entity is defined as:
(A) a school district or other educational
district whose employees are members of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
(TRS);
(B) a participating
open-enrollment charter school; or
(C) a regional education service
center.
(2) Full-time
employee--An individual is employed as a full-time employee if the individual:
(A) is a participating member of the
TRS;
(B) is employed by an eligible
entity;
(C) is not a retiree
covered under the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group Benefits Act
established under the Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 1575;
(D) is not a minimum-salary-schedule
employee; and
(E) works for an
eligible entity or any combination of eligible entities for 30 or more hours
each week.
(3)
Minimum-salary-schedule employee--A classroom teacher, full-time librarian,
full-time counselor, or full-time nurse subject to the minimum salary schedule
under the TEC, §
21.402.
(4) Part-time employee--An individual is
employed as a part-time employee if the individual:
(A) is a participating member of the
TRS;
(B) is employed by an eligible
entity;
(C) is not a retiree
covered under the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group Benefits Act
established under the Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 1575;
(D) is not a minimum-salary-schedule
employee; and
(E) works for an
eligible entity or any combination of eligible entities for fewer than 30 hours
each week.
(5) Staff
salary allotment--An allotment made up of the health care supplementation
funding an eligible entity is due under the TEC, Chapter 22, Subchapter D,
based on the entity's number of full-time and part-time employees.
(c) Reporting. For each designated
report month, each eligible entity must report to the TEA the number of
full-time and part-time employees eligible to receive health care
supplementation, as determined by the eligible entity in accordance with
requirements established by the TEA in this section. The TEA may dispute, seek
verification of, or conduct an investigation regarding the reported number of
employees and staff at any time after receiving the report.
(d) Eligibility. For the purposes of this
section, an individual is eligible to receive health care supplementation if
the individual:
(1) is employed by an
eligible entity;
(2) is a full-time
employee, as defined in subsection (b)(2) of this section, or a part-time
employee, as defined in subsection (b)(4) of this section;
(3) is not a minimum-salary-schedule
employee, as defined in subsection (b)(3) of this section; and
(4) has provided written election of whether
to designate a portion of the individual's compensation to be used as health
care supplementation, in accordance with the TEC, §22.105.
(e) Funding formula. The funds for
health care supplementation will comprise the staff salary allotment. Funding
for the staff salary allotment is based on the number of employees who are
eligible and the full- or part-time status of those employees. The staff salary
allotment will be paid to the eligible entity as part of its regularly
scheduled payments from the Foundation School Program (FSP). If the eligible
entity is not scheduled or eligible to receive FSP payments, the staff salary
allotment will be paid to the entity in a separate payment.
(1) During the school year, the staff salary
allotment will be based on the sum of:
(A) an
amount equal to the estimated number of full-time employees multiplied by $500;
and
(B) an amount equal to the
estimated number of part-time employees multiplied by $250.
(2) The final staff salary
allotment due to an eligible entity for a school year will be determined by the
reports of eligible employees submitted to the division responsible for state
funding during the settle-up processes as described in subsection (f) of this
section.
(3) The formula for
determining the final staff salary allotment is as follows.
(A) The data submitted by an eligible entity
to the division responsible for state funding is used to calculate the entity's
staff salary allotment.
(B) Each
month, the count of full-time employees is multiplied by $500/12.
(C) Each month, the count of part-time
employees is multiplied by $250/12.
(D) The final staff salary allotment is
determined by summing the monthly amounts for the full-time and part-time staff
for the state fiscal year beginning September 1 and ending August 31.
(f) Settle-up. The TEA
may make adjustments to previously reported numbers and may make a
corresponding increase or decrease in funds that would otherwise be remitted to
an eligible entity at any time after receipt of a report. A final determination
of the staff salary allotment due to an eligible entity will be based on the
reports of eligible employees submitted to the TEA division responsible for
state funding.
(1) Near-final settle-up.
Eligible entities must submit proposed adjustments to reports of eligible
employees for a school year by August 31 of that school year for those
adjustments to be reflected in the near-final settle-up reconciliation.
Additional amounts owed to an eligible entity for health care supplementation
will be added to the staff salary allotment due to the eligible entity in the
subsequent school year. Any reductions in payments will be subtracted from the
staff salary allotment due to the eligible entity in the subsequent school year
until the overpayment has been recovered.
(2) Final settle-up. Eligible entities must
submit proposed adjustments to reports of eligible employees for a school year
by March 31 of the following school year for those adjustments to be reflected
in the final settle-up reconciliation. Additional amounts owed to an eligible
entity for health care supplementation will be added to the staff salary
allotment due to the eligible entity in April and subsequent months of the
current school year. Any overpayments from a prior year that exceed the amount
owed to an eligible entity for health care supplementation by March 31 of the
following school year will be subtracted from other FSP payments owed to that
eligible entity in April and subsequent months until the full amount of
overpayment has been recovered. Any overpayments that cannot be subtracted from
the current staff salary allotment or other FSP payments will be due and
payable on request from the TEA.
(3) Adjustments to allotment. For a period
not to exceed five years after the close of a fiscal year, the TEA may adjust
the amount of an eligible entity's staff salary allotment for that year as a
result of review, investigation, or audit of the eligible entity's reports of
eligible employees and other data related to the staff salary
allotment.
