On Friday, December 6 Paul Ferrin of MDE Sped Finance sent an email out to special education directors with the following requirements to be instituted when Special Ed contractors provide virtual/remote services:
Supporting documentation for invoices must include
Date of Service
Clock in for service
Clock out for service
Description of service
In addition (not required….until it is):
SPED Directors – When the total hours across all districts exceed 1.45 FTE all schools will need to submit supporting time and effort documentation to show detailed hours.
All other SPED Contractors – When the total hours across all districts exceed 2200 hours all school will need to submit supporting time and effort documentation to show detailed hours.
MDE “encourages all LEAs to create policies and procedures for verifying actual hours worked, especially for remote/virtual staff/contractors.” This reads that while the requirement only applies to remote/virtual work performed, it is a good control to put in place for all SPED vendors.
Procedures may include, among other steps:
Report from vendor software detailing work completed and including on or off-site.
Some vendors do this already, some do not
School staff compares on-site dates with the check-in list at front desk of school.
SPED Coordinator/SPED Director/knowledgeable SPED staff sign off on all expenses that are identified as SPED.
This is in addition to your regular accounts payable process
Heavily scrutinize any offsite billing.
EdFinMN would encourage all our clients to tighten up procedures related to Mr. Ferrin’s communication so as to ensure that billing is accurate and that the school doesn’t over pay for services received.
