USBE clarifies how State Online Education Program courses should be reported and when LEAs pay

USBE staff gave step-by-step guidance on how online providers and local education agencies must record State Online Education Program (SOEP) courses in their student information systems and how membership and funding are allocated.

Main points

- School-of-record and membership: SOEP presenters said online providers should mark the school-of-record field as “no” for students taking SOEP-only courses; the primary LEA retains the student’s membership and receives the full funding. Online providers do not claim membership for SOEP students.

- SIS entries and recommended practice: SOEP recommended that LEAs use generic SOEP course codes and placeholder Cactus (teacher) IDs in their SIS schedules until the provider transcript arrives. Once the provider transcript is received the LEA should replace placeholders with actual course codes.

- Dual-enrolled and private/home school students: Presenters clarified two scenarios for students who are dual-enrolled or homeschooled and taking SOEP courses: (1) if a student registers as a homeschool student with an online provider, the LEA is not notified and is not charged; (2) if a student registers for SOEP course through the LEA, the counselor and primary approver receive a notification and must approve the course for it to be added to the student's LEA schedule and count toward membership.

- Private-school students: The presentation noted private-school students are eligible for SOEP only if they are dual-enrolled with an LEA and enroll through the LEA; USBE staff said the vendor responsible for private-school enrollment was not fully ready at the time of this meeting.

- Overenrollment and early-graduation plans: A student may not be counted as more than one full-time enrollment unless they have a formal early-graduation plan. To receive additional membership days for overenrollment tied to early graduation, the student must meet with a counselor and have a documented early-graduation plan; membership-days increases are calculated by dividing the LEA’s full-time enrollment credit-hour baseline by 180 to get days per credit hour (example shown: 23 days per credit hour when 180/8 results in 22.5 rounded to 23).

- Summer and auto-approval notes: USBE staff warned about automatic approvals and summer courses that may create unintended overenrollment for the fall. LEAs may request withdrawal from an auto-approved SOEP course within a 20-day window before funding is charged; if the primary approver approves a course that later is found to be inappropriate, the LEA remains responsible for course fees tied to that approval.

Ending: SOEP staff asked LEAs to follow the recommended generic-code workflow, to be alert to auto approvals over summer, and to contact SOEP coordinators for examples and financial slides if they want deeper funding details.