§ 222.37 How does the Secretary calculate the average daily attendance of federally connected children?

(a) This section describes how the Secretary computes the ADA of federally connected children for each category in section 8003 to determine an applicant's payment.

(b)

(1) For purposes of this section, actual ADA means raw ADA data that have not been weighted or adjusted to reflect higher costs for specific types of students for purposes of distributing State aid for education.

(2) If an LEA provides a program of free public summer school, attendance data for the summer session are included in the LEA's ADA figure in accordance with State law or practice.

(3) An LEA's ADA count includes attendance data for children who do not attend the LEA's schools, but for whom it makes tuition arrangements with other educational entities.

(4) Data are not counted for any child—

(i) Who is not physically present at school for the daily minimum time period required by the State, unless the child is—

(A) Participating via telecommunication or correspondence course programs that meet State standards; or

(B) Being served by a State-approved homebound instruction program for the daily minimum time period appropriate for the child; or

(ii) Attending the applicant's schools under a tuition arrangement with another LEA.

(c) An LEA may determine its average daily attendance calculation in one of the following ways:

(1) If an LEA is in a State that collects actual ADA data for purposes of distributing State aid for education, the Secretary calculates the ADA of that LEA's federally connected children for the current fiscal year payment as follows:

(i) By dividing the ADA of all the LEA's children for the second preceding fiscal year by the LEA's total membership on its survey date for the second preceding fiscal year (or, in the case of an LEA that conducted two membership counts in the second preceding fiscal year, by the average of the LEA's total membership on the two survey dates); and

(ii) By multiplying the figure determined in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section by the LEA's total membership of federally connected children in each subcategory described in section 7003 and claimed in the LEA's application for the current fiscal year payment.

(2) An LEA may submit its total preceding year ADA data. The Secretary uses these data to calculate the ADA of the LEA's federally connected children by—

(i) Dividing the LEA's preceding year's total ADA data by the preceding year's total membership data; and

(ii) Multiplying the figure determined in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section by the LEA's total membership of federally connected children as described in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section.

(3) An LEA may submit attendance data based on sampling conducted during the previous fiscal year.

(i) The sampling must include attendance data for all children for at least 30 school days.

(ii) The data must be collected during at least three periods evenly distributed throughout the school year.

(iii) Each collection period must consist of at least five consecutive school days.

(iv) The Secretary uses these data to calculate the ADA of the LEA's federally connected children by—

(A) Determining the ADA of all children in the sample;

(B) Dividing the figure obtained in paragraph (c)(3)(iv)(A) of this section by the LEA's total membership for the previous fiscal year; and

(C) Multiplying the figure determined in paragraph (c)(3)(iv)(B) of this section by the LEA's total membership of federally connected children for the current fiscal year, as described in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section.

(d) An SEA may submit data to calculate the average daily attendance calculation for the LEAs in that State in one of the following ways:

(1) If the SEA distributes State aid for education based on data similar to attendance data, the SEA may request that the Secretary use those data to calculate the ADA of each LEA's federally connected children. If the Secretary determines that those data are, in effect, equivalent to attendance data, the Secretary allows use of the requested data and determines the method by which the ADA for all of the LEA's federally connected children will be calculated.

(2) An SEA may submit data necessary for the Secretary to calculate a State average attendance ratio for all LEAs in the State by submitting the total ADA and total membership data for the State for each of the last three most recent fiscal years that ADA data were collected. The Secretary uses these data to calculate the ADA of the federally connected children for each LEA in the State by—

(i)

(A) Dividing the total ADA data by the total membership data for each of the three fiscal years and averaging the results; and

(B) Multiplying the average determined in paragraph (d)(2)(i)(A) of this section by the LEA's total membership of federally connected children as described in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section.

(e) The Secretary may calculate a State average attendance ratio in States with LEAs that would benefit from such calculation by using the methodology in paragraph (d)(2)(i) of this section.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1810–0036)

[81 FR 64742, Sept. 20, 2016]