SECTION 210:10-1-5. Audits

(a)   Financial audit. All schools are required to make available to personnel of the State Department of Education all records pertaining to Federal programs, state aid appropriations, and expenditures from the general fund of the previous year, making it possible to complete an audit on all funds. Public officials, members of the boards of education, superintendents, principals, and any other persons whose duty it is to make appropriations and/or expenditures in accordance with the provisions of applicable state and federal law, the regulations of the State Department of Education, and the adopted policies of the State Board of Education will be held responsible for any misappropriation or illegal expenditure of such funds.

(b)   Penalty. If it is discovered that a school district is unable to pay its current year's obligations through careless handling of funds by a school administrator, the State Board of Education may require the administrator to show cause why their administrator's certificate should not be revoked.

(c)   Student attendance record audits.

(1)   Regional Accreditation Officers of the State Department of Education are required to audit the student attendance records of all Oklahoma public school districts.

(2)   In addition to the Statistical Report, the official document for student attendance accounting and auditing is the Student Attendance Register. All other student attendance documents, reports, and summaries only support the accuracy of the Student Attendance Register and the Statistical Report.

(3)   A school or program within a district that has a different school year from the district must present a separate Statistical Report and Attendance information reflecting the different school year for that school or program. The school or program will be audited separately from the district.

(4)   Each person who keeps a Student Attendance Register is required to make all entries in ink, record the attendance data for each pupil each day, keep the Register in a safe place and understand that the Register is subject to audit at any time. The Student Attendance Register may be maintained in an electronic format, provided that a school district maintaining its Student Attendance Register in an electronic format implements appropriate strategies for backing up data in the event of a potential system failure or other threat to digital record storage and retention.

(5)   If the attendance records show that school was maintained for less than a full annual term without approval of the State Board of Education, state aid will be reduced accordingly unless it can be shown that the attendance records as originally presented were in error.

(6)   When attendance, membership, or transportation is deducted for any reason by the audit, state aid will be reduced accordingly. Factual information may be presented by the school within ninety (90) calendar days from the date of the audit showing acceptable evidence that indicates the audit is in error.

(d)   Enrollment.

(1)   Enrollment means recording the name of a pupil on a class roll. Total Enrollment for an attendance period or for the year, whether for a class or for an entire school is the number of all enrollments so recorded. If a student is promoted or moves from one district or school to another during a school year, the student's name will be recorded on each class roll concerned. A record of that student's enrollment will be included in the original and every subsequent roll even though the pupil will be dropped from the original roll and every subsequent roll except the current one.

(2)   All students attending any school within a school district shall have their names entered in the attendance register and have their attendance recorded. Students are to be placed on roll the first day that the student actually attends class or participates in their instructional program.

(3)   All Entries and Exits are to be entered in the Student Attendance Register on the day that the transaction occurs. Students are not considered on roll until they actually attend class or participate in instructional activities. Students are always considered on roll until an exit code is entered.

(e)   Entry and exit.

(1)   Entry codes will always be placed on the Student Attendance Register. An entry code indicates where the student is coming from, e.g., another school in the district, another school district in Oklahoma, another state or country, or a private school or other placement. The Basis of Admission will be entered on the date that the student begins school. A Basis of Admission code indicates why a student is enrolling, e.g., because they are a district resident, a transfer student, an out-of-home placement student, or another authorized basis for enrollment applies.

(2)   Entry codes are recorded on the first day the student actually attends class or participates in instructional activities. Each different Basis of Admission must have its own unique code on the Student Attendance Register, and must be reported to the State Department of Education using the appropriate code from the most recent requirements document for the SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework)-compliant statewide student data system, available on the agency website.

(3)   When a pupil enrolls in a public school in this state a second or succeeding time during the current school year, the entry must be reported to the State Department of Education using the appropriate entry code from the most recent requirements document for the SIF-compliant statewide student data system, available on the agency website.

(4)   An exit code is recorded each time a student withdraws from school, and in certain other limited cases such as when a student changes grade level mid-year or changes to a different academic calendar through entrance into an alternative education program. Exit codes are to be recorded on the date when the exit occurred. A student is not considered to be off roll until an exit code is recorded. A student exit must be reported to the State Department of Education using the appropriate exit code from the most recent requirements document for the SIF-compliant statewide student data system, available on the agency website.

(f)   Attendance and absence.

(1)   A student is to be considered present only on those days when in actual attendance in school or when participating in scheduled school activities under the direction and supervision of a regular member of the faculty. A student who is excused from attending school because of sickness or for any other reason shall not be counted in attendance. Students authorized by law to attend a partial school day or partial school week schedule shall not be counted as absent if they are in attendance during their scheduled education program.

(2)   All student attendance, absence and transportation information is compiled on a half-day basis with the exception of attendance, absence, and transportation information for half-day early childhood or kindergarten programs which are recorded on a full-day basis. A student must be in attendance for two-thirds (2/3) of the first half of the school day to be recorded present for one-half day; likewise, a student must be in attendance for two-thirds (2/3) of the second half of the school day to be recorded present for one-half day.

(3)   As a condition of receiving accreditation from the State Board of Education, all students in grades nine (9) through twelve (12) shall enroll in a minimum of six (6) periods, or the equivalent in block scheduling, of rigorous academic and/or rigorous vocational courses each day, which may include arts, vocal and instrumental music, speech classes, and physical education classes.

(4)   A student who is absent from instruction without excuse for ten (10) consecutive days is to be recorded as absent each day. On day eleven (11), the pupil is to be exited from the roll.

(5)   A school day for kindergarten or early childhood can either be a half-day of at least two and one half (2 ½) hours, or the district's standard full school day. However, kindergarten and early childhood absence and attendance is always recorded on a full day basis. Three (3) year old students authorized to attend public school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) should not be indicated as absent if they are in attendance for their scheduled education program, including partial school day or partial school week instructional schedules.

(g)   School activities. School activities may take place either on the school premises or off the school premises. In order for a student to be counted in attendance, the school activity must be under the direction and supervision of a teacher. Students dismissed and not under the direction and supervision of a teacher cannot be considered as participating in a school activity and cannot be counted in attendance. A student serving as a legislative page is to be counted in attendance at the school.

(h)   Parent-teacher conference days. Only students active in membership are to be counted in attendance on parent-teacher conference days. For districts that use a one hundred eighty (180) day academic calendar, only one parent-teacher conference day per semester will be counted for attendance purposes as a regular school day and included as part of the one hundred eighty (180) days of required instruction. Other days are encouraged above the one day per semester for parent-teacher conferences, but will not be counted for attendance purposes as regular school days. For a school district which has implemented a one thousand eighty (1,080) hour school year pursuant to 70 O.S. § 1-109, parent-teacher conferences may be counted as instructional time for no more than six (6) hours per semester, for a total of up to twelve (12) hours per school year.

(i)   Concurrent enrollment. A school district may receive full average daily attendance on a high school student who is participating in concurrent enrollment. In determining a legal school day for a student who is concurrently enrolled the district can use a combination of local school enrollment, college enrollment, and travel time. A student participating in concurrent enrollment is considered present when traveling to or from and while attending the college.

(j)   Professional meeting day.

(1)   The State Board of Education has defined a professional meeting day to be any day on which the faculty of a school district is engaged in the educational planning for improvement of the local school system; or that the faculty engages in a local, county, district or state education planning workshop or teacher's meeting. Such a day shall be identified as a professional day in each attendance register on the day the meeting occurred.

(2)   Days used to work at the beginning or at the end of the school year shall not be counted as professional development activities. Preparing the classroom for instruction, grading papers, recording grades, completing report cards or enrolling students are not examples of professional development activities.

(3)   A school district may not count more than thirty (30) hours each school year that are used for attendance of professional meetings toward the one hundred eighty (180) days or one thousand eighty (1,080) hours of classroom instruction time that school is required to be in session.

(k)   Transportation.

(1)   A student must reside one and one-half (1 ½) miles or more by commonly traveled road from the school attended to be considered transported. Students living less than one-and one-half miles from the school may be transported but shall not be counted as transported pupils on the Transportation Report for state aid purposes.

(2)   Transportation may be provided for early childhood and kindergarten students to and from school during the normally scheduled morning and afternoon bus operation. Districts may also provide additional transportation, at local expense, for either early childhood or kindergarten students at midday. However, the school district is not required to provide midday transportation to either early childhood or kindergarten students. Midday transportation for early childhood and kindergarten pupils shall not be recorded on the Transportation Report.

(3)   A legally transferred or tuition student residing outside of the school district's approved transportation area may be transported to the school provided the student meets the bus within the transporting district's approved transportation area. However, tuition students may not be counted as transported students on the Transportation Report.

(l)   Authority for birth.

(1)   Documentation that can be used to verify school age. Examples of Authority for Birth are:

(A)   Birth certificate

(B)   Attending physician's certificate

(C)   Permanent school record

(D)   Family bible

(E)   Parent statement

(F)   Last year's attendance register

(G)   Other official scholastic record

(2)   Birth certificates, if available, must be provided for early childhood, kindergarten, and first grade students who are first-time enrollees. Each different Authority for Birth must have its own unique code on the Student Attendance Register.

(m)   Career and Technology Center. Students are considered in attendance when traveling to or from and while attending a Career and Technology Center.

(n)   Home-based program. An educational program for special education students who are unable to participate in a full-day educational program at school, or for students who are unable to attend school in person for a period of time due to extended medical or other issues, and who receive education services from the school district at their home or an equivalent non-school site such as a hospital, provided by one or more certified teachers. Home-based pupils are considered on roll and in attendance for the duration of the time period they receive offsite education services from the school district.

(o)   Out-of-home placement. A student who is not a resident of the district but is housed and educated in a residential child facility or a treatment center located in the district. Out-of-home placement students are carried on roll and are considered in attendance if they are present for their scheduled education program, whether at a school site or through offsite services provided by the district.

[Authority: 70 O.S., § 18-118 (Audits)]

[Source: Amended at 13 Ok Reg 71, eff 10-5-95 (emergency); Amended at 13 Ok Reg 1321, eff 5-13-96; Amended at 14 Ok Reg 3312, eff 5-5-97 (emergency); Amended at 15 Ok Reg 2227, eff 6-11-98; Amended at 16 Ok Reg 2069, eff 5-3-99 (emergency); Amended at 17 Ok Reg 2884, eff 7-13-00; Amended at 19 Ok Reg 16, eff 9-12-01 (emergency); Amended at 19 Ok Reg 971, eff 5-13-02; Amended at 25 Ok Reg 629, eff 1-14-08 (emergency); Amended at 25 Ok Reg 1571, eff 6-12-08; Amended at 32 Ok Reg 887, eff 8-27-15; Amended at 35 Ok Reg 1089, eff 9-14-18]