Summary

Except for the instances of material noncompliance noted in the following paragraph involving four teachers, the School complied with the requirements of the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) regarding the determination and reporting of full-time equivalent (FTE) students for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003.

One teacher was not certified and the parents or guardians of the students assigned to three out-of-field teachers were not notified of those assignments.

Total instances of noncompliance related to FTE resulted in three findings. The resulting audit adjustments to the School's reported, unweighted FTE totaled to zero, but have a potential impact on the School's weighted FTE of a negative .8167.

Weighted FTE adjustments are presented in our report for illustrative purposes only; they do not take special programs caps and allocation factors into account and are not intended to indicate the weighted FTE used to compute the dollar value of audit adjustments, which is the responsibility of the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

However, a rough estimate of the gross dollar effect of our FTE audit adjustments may be made by multiplying the net weighted FTE audit adjustment by the base student allocation amount. For the Florida A & M University Developmental Research School, that gross dollar effect is a negative $2,889 (negative .8167 times $3,537.11).

The ultimate resolution of our FTE audit adjustments and the computation of their financial impact is the responsibility of the FDOE.

The Florida A & M University Developmental Research School

The School was established pursuant to Section 1002.32, Florida Statutes, as a developmental research school on the campus of Florida A & M University. The statute specifies that developmental research schools are to provide “a vehicle for the conduct of research, demonstration, and evaluation regarding management, teaching, and learning.” The statute also states that “the primary goal of a lab school is to enhance instruction and research in such specialized subjects [mathematics, science, computer science, and foreign languages] by using resources available in a state university campus, while also providing an education in nonspecialized subjects.”

The School offers instruction in Basic and Vocational programs for students in the kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The School reported 466.4352 full-time equivalent (FTE) students and received approximately $80,000 in State FEFP funds for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003.

The School is part of the State system of public education under the general direction and control of the State Board of Education and is affiliated with Florida A & M University’s College of Education. General oversight and guidance is provided to each developmental research school by an advisory board, the composition of which is specified by Section 1002.32(8)2., Florida Statute.

Florida Education Finance Program

Florida school districts and developmental research schools receive State funding through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), which was established by the Florida Legislature in 1973. It is the intent of the law to guarantee each student in the Florida public school system the availability of programs and services appropriate to his or her educational needs which are substantially equal to those available to any similar student notwithstanding geographic differences and varying local economic factors.

To provide equal educational opportunity, the FEFP formula recognizes (1) varying local property tax bases, (2) varying program cost factors, (3) district cost differentials, and (4) differences in per student cost for equivalent educational programs due to sparsity and dispersion of student population.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Students

FEFP funding is based on the number of individual students participating in FEFP educational programs. A numerical value is assigned to each student according to the student's hours and days of attendance in those programs. The individual student thus becomes equated to a numerical value known as an FTE (full-time equivalent) student.

For example, one student would be reported as one FTE if the student was enrolled in six classes per day at 50 minutes per class for the full 180-day school year (i.e., six classes at 50 minutes each per day is five hours of class a day or 25 hours per week, which equals one FTE).

The President's written response to the audit findings is included in the audit report which can be viewed in its' entirety on the Auditor General Web site.