FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
S
TATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
T. WILLARD FAIR,
Chairman
Members
PETER BOULWARE
AKSHAY DESAI
ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ
PHOEBE RAULERSON
KATHLEEN SHANAHAN
LINDA K. TAYLOR
Eric J. Smith
Commissioner of Education
INCREASING THE QUANTITY AND IMPROVING THE
QUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS
January 5, 200
9
M E M O R A N D U M
TO:
District Superintendents
FROM:
Lavan Dukes, Chief
Bureau of Education Information and Accountability Services
Michael Kooi, Executive Director
Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice
Enrollment Verification of McKay Scholarship Students – February 2009 Payment
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Department of Education issues payments for the McKay Scholarship Program four times per year
on September 1, November 1, February 1, and April 1. Section 1002.39(6)(e), Florida Statutes, requires
the Department of Education to cross-check the list of participating scholarship students with the public
school enrollment lists prior to each scholarship payment to avoid duplication.
The following verification process has been established to ensure that scholarship payments are not
issued to students enrolled in public school, and your assistance is needed in order to complete the
verification.
Prior to each payment period, a file is posted at the Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC) identifying
the students in your district for whom scholarship payments will be issued. Each district must compare
this file to the district’s student enrollment and attendance records and indicate whether or not each
student is enrolled in a public school in the district.
•
If the student is currently enrolled in a public school in your district, provide the date the
student was enrolled or re-enrolled in your school district.
•
If the student is not currently enrolled in a public school in your district but was enrolled in the
past, provide the student’s withdrawal date from your school district.
•
If the student was never enrolled in your school district, place all nines in both the
Enrollment/Re-enrollment Date and Withdrawal Date fields.
MICHAEL KOOI, ESQ.
Executive Director
Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice
325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 522 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0502 • Fax (850) 245-0875
Enrollment Verification
Page Two
The file for the February 1 scholarship payments will be available at NWRDC on January 5, 2009
.
This file must be completed and returned to NWRDC no later than 4:00 p.m., Thursday, January
15, 2009.
The dataset name for this prepayment verification file is
DPSxx.GQ.F70561.Y08093
(where xx is your
district number) and the file format is attached. Students participating in the McKay Scholarship Program
have a School Code of 3518.
Dates should be entered as MMDDYYYY. Each student record should have either an enrollment/re-
enrollment date or a withdrawal date unless the student was never enrolled in your school district. After
all dates have been entered, submit the file to NWRDC under the filename
DPSxx.GQ.F70571.Y08093
(where xx is your district number).
The attached form letter, which certifies the attendance/nonattendance information contained in the
submitted file, must be signed by the superintendent or designee and submitted no later than 5:00 p.m.,
January 15, 2009, after all students are verified.
Any students identified as being enrolled in public school will be removed from the payment file. The
September scholarship payment period covers January 1, 2009 – February 28, 2009.
If you have any questions regarding the file, please contact Harold McLeod, Education Information
Services, at (850) 245-0400 or harold.mcleod@fldoe.org. If you have questions regarding scholarship
payments or payment periods, please contact the School Choice information hotline at 1-800-447-1636.
Thank you for your continued support in improving the accountability of the scholarship programs.
LD/MK/tt
cc: District MIS Directors
District McKay Scholarship Contacts
