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Subject: Assurance Statement Procedures for FY
08
Source: Margaret Strecker, Director, Compliance and Linda Sneller, Director,
Funds Management
Intended Audience: All agencies serving children with disabilities, ages
3-21
Date: April 17, 2007
Each responsible public agency in the state that provides services to
students with disabilities must submit an annual assurance to DESE regarding
their compliance with the provision of those services. The Division of
Special Education is presently in the process of finalizing state
regulations based on the final federal regulations under IDEA published in
August 2004. The assurance statement will require districts to affirm that
they will implement all provisions of the federal statute, as amended, as
well as all state and federal regulations that do not conflict with the
federal statute, throughout the period of the grant award.
The responsible public agency's governing board must approve the assurance
before DESE can release federal funds to the agency. This approval may be
done anytime prior to submission of the budget application. The assurance
statement must be dated July 1, 2007, or later. If the agency's assurance
documents are approved by the governing board prior to July 1, 2007, use
July 1, 2007, as the approval date. This will indicate that the Assurance
Statement was approved on or before July 1. If the Assurance Statement is
approved after July 1, 2007, use the actual date of approval. For most
agencies, at the time they submit an ECSE or Part B budget application, the
individual submitting the application will need to confirm that the
assurance documents have been approved by the agency's governing board.
Agencies that do not submit special education budget applications to the
Division of Special Education (DSE) will need to provide a hardcopy of the
approved assurances to the DSE.
For agencies that do not open an ECSE or Part B budget with the Funds
Management Section, the assurance statement to be approved by the governing
board will be mailed by May 1, 2007, to each agency's chief administrative
officer and special education contact person. This includes state board
operated programs (SSSH, MSD, and MSB), other state agencies (DYS, DOC, and
DMH), St. Louis charter schools, and component districts of special school
districts (St. Louis and Pemiscot Counties).
Component districts in St. Louis County that manage their own ECSE programs
must submit an assurance statement to St. Louis County SSD for their K-12
programs and maintain the assurance statement for the ECSE program on file
in their district.
The assurance statements and instructions for completing them are posted on
the following webpage
http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/Compliance/IDEA_ReAu2004/Assurances.html. |
