In this issue:

1. ABSTUDY (School Fees Allowance)

2. Transfer of Student Files to the next school

3. Relief Spreadsheet Upgrade

4. Online Access Centres

5. Correct GST Coding

6. SRP Non-cash Budgets

7. SACS Finance Training

1. ABSTUDY (School Fees Allowance)

The following information is provided following queries raised at the TSAA Conference held in July.  It's taken a little while to gain clarity from the Commonwealth.  Further information is available by phoning the Commonwealth on 1800 076 289 or may be found at:

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/indigenous_education/publications_resources/abstudy/allowances_and_benefits/school_fees_allowance.htm

 85.1  Purpose of School Fees Allowance

The purpose of the School Fees Allowance is to assist Indigenous families to meet the costs of school fees levied by the approved education institution for the student.

 85.6.1  School Fees

For the purposes of School Fees Allowance, school fees are those fees charged by a school for all students enrolled in a particular programme.  This includes:

• fees associated with school subjects, including charges for consumable materials and charges for sporting activities where sport is taken as a school subject and a subject fee is levied;

• general purpose fees for services and amenities;

• tuition fees;

• fees for items such as school magazines, locker hire, book hire, and examinations.

 85.6.2  Not included as school fees

For the purposes of School Fees Allowance, school fees do not include:

• charges for the issue of stationery, or the use or purchase of school clothing including sports clothing or special clothing e.g. aprons for Home Economics or Manual Arts;

• charges to cover incidental expenses incurred by a student during the term e.g. purchases from the school shop;

• charges for laundry/purchase of linen;

• levies on behalf of Parents’ and Citizens’ Association or similar organisations;

• contributions (whether or not compulsory and/or refundable) to school building funds; or

• charges for insurance cover for school-related activities.

ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance should not therefore be used for the purchase of school uniform.

Normally the School Fees Allowance is paid by direct deposit to those schools who have provided information for this to occur.  A remittance advice will be sent to your school to cover direct deposits.  If you would like to check the information held by the ABSTUDY Processing Team please phone them on 1800 076 289.

Schools may keep any excess school fees paid by the allowance, provided it is spent on Indigenous education, for example:

• School excursions, camps or trips;

• Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness (ASSPA) sanctioned projects;

• Indigenous reference material for libraries.

The school cannot pay the excess amount to the parent.

If a student changes school there are no formal procedures in place regarding pro-rata transfer of the allowance between schools, though an informal arrangement may be made between the schools concerned.

Entitlement to the allowance is established when the student commences study during the school year.  If the allowance has been paid to a school at which the student did not commence, the school will be required to refund the full amount to Centrelink.

2.  Transfer of Student Files to the next school

When a student transfers to another Tasmanian state school, the school they left should send on the student's administrative file, with enrolment and validation forms etc.  The file that is passed on should only contain administrative records.  This is to help in maintaining one administrative file for each student from Kindergarten to Year 10 (11 or 12 if applicable) and to manage the tracking of student files & records.
One exception to this is that Early Learning Tasmania student records and other records for students below 4 years of age should remain with the original school or centre.

Records Services Unit have developed Broad Guidelines covering student administrative files.  The guidelines are currently in DRAFT format until a number of issues can be successfully resolved. These issues include:

• whether SACS records meet management/archival requirements;

• avoidance of duplication of records between schools & central office, and

• other issues that may arise from a review to be undertaken of the existing Disposal Schedule for Records of Schools and Colleges.

3.  Relief Spreadsheet Upgrade

The next upgrade for the Relief Spreadsheet has been postponed until 2006. The upgrade was to fix reporting problems with the reports for Clusters using the spreadsheet. It has been decided to leave these reports as they are for 2005 and start afresh next year.

Please be aware if you are a in cluster and you are using the relief spreadsheet that the relief reports show incorrect dollar figures. 

4. Online Access Centres

The Online Access Centres (OAC) management guidelines on our website have been updated to include the procedures for paying OAC Coordinators. The instructions can be found here: http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/trading/procedures/onlineaccesscentresV4.doc

5. Correct GST Coding

It is important to use the correct 'gst trans ref' codes when processing financial transactions in SACS. Incorrect coding causes problems with your Business Activity Statement (BAS) and if not rectified, sends misleading information to the Australian Tax Office.

A quick reference guide that shows the correct codes to use for expenditure and revenue transactions is available on the web at http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/taxgst/procedures/listofgstrefcodes.doc

Viewing your BAS report regularly is a good way to pick up errors as they happen. Information on common coding errors and how to correct them can be found here: http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/taxgst/procedures/gstbaserrors.doc

See if you can identify errors and have a go at fixing them yourself, it's a great way to learn!

6. SRP Non-cash Budgets

Please review your non-cash budgets early this term to ensure you have enough allocated to cover your relief and staffing costs to the end of 2005.

Relief Budgets

If you show a 'variance' total of zero on either of your teaching or non-teaching budgets this means that you have expended your current year's relief budget.

It is recommended you review these figures and if necessary move enough funds from your whole-of-school budget to cover you until the end this year. For example you may have decided that you require another 20 days ($6280) teaching relief to cover term 3. Check that you have enough funds in your current budget and email the change to srp@education.tas.gov.au.

Staffing Budgets (Operational and Admin, and Teaching and Professional Staff)

It is strongly recommended that you use the Salary Calculator to derive these budget figures.

If you currently show an excess budget variance between the 'year to date' amount and the 'budgeted' amount this may be because your fixed term staff will receive a bulk payment for their accrued recreation leave at the end of the year. This will be charged to your SRP.

Therefore we do not recommend reducing your staffing budgets at this stage of the year. If you have used the Salary Calculator and find that you have over-budgeted for your teaching or non-teaching staff please document the reason for the reduction and forward to srp@education.tas.gov.au (a copy of the Salary Calculator will suffice).

Any positive variances that are still showing at the start of the 2006 school year will be included in your 2006 SRP allocation and paid out in full within the 2006 February grant.

Please contact the Budget and Resources Section on 6233 7036 if you have any queries.

7. SACS Finance Training

BSS have reviewed the finance courses we currently run.  We have decided that most topics in the Advanced Finance course are covered adequately by the Intermediate Finance and Finance Update course at present, and subsequently the Advanced Finance course will not be presented this term.  Those who have already applied to attend will be informed by email.

School Administrators who will be involved with managing budgets for this and next year, entering SRP figures, managing staff relief, and performing journals are strongly encouraged to attend the Finance Update course if they have not yet done so.  Book into this course at the following web address:
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/training/coursebookings/bookingsfinupdate.htm

Schools are also strongly encouraged to create levies invoices in SACS using either Bulk Billing (for smaller schools) or Fees Billing (for larger schools).  For schools who have never used Fees Billing, or who need an update, training will be provided in the school on request.  Please contact Michelle Peck directly on 6233 5494 or complete the form at:
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/training/coursebookings/bookingsfeesbill.htm

Bulk Billing is covered in the Intermediate Finance course.  To book into this course, go to:
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/training/coursebookings/bookingsintfin.htm

More courses will be presented this term based on demand.

Past BSS Banters

Want to have a quick look over some of the recent Banter articles?

You can find all past Banters on the website:  http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/ff/banter/default.htm