Last week, the Department of Public Instruction issued a statement which clarified that school districts anticipating the arrival of ELL students after the third Friday count can request a transfer of service exemption to their revenue limit from the department. After hearing from several districts about the potential problems associated with funding services for late-arriving ELL students, particularly Hmong refugees, the SAA worked behind the scenes with DPI to clarify that the transfer of service exemption could be used to provide much-needed relief to the affected districts. State Superintendent Burmaster and the DPI staff are to be commended for their quick action on this issue.

Please note that the DPI School Finance Team must receive your transfer of service requests related to this issue as soon as possible, and no later than October 1, 2004. I encourage you to contact either David Carlson, DPI School Financial Services Director at (608) 266-6968 or Jerry Landmark, DPI School Financial Services Assistant Director at (608) 266-3464 if you have any questions regarding this issue.

For a copy of the DPI’s email to district administrators on this issue, please see DPI Statement.