HD42 - State Administration of Project Discovery

  • Published: 1990
  • Author: Secretary of Education
  • Enabling Authority: Chapter 668 (Regular Session, 1989)

Executive Summary:
Item 134 of Chapter 668 of the 1989 Acts of Assembly directs as follows:

"After review of the February 1989 report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission on Community Action programs in Virginia, the Secretary of Education shall recommend to the 1990 General Assembly the appropriate administrative structure for Project Discovery to support a statewide focus for this program."

In 1989 the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission had this to say about Project Discovery:

"In response to a Virginia Department of Education directive, Project Discovery recently developed a formula for distribution of funds to subcontracting [Community Action Agencies] CAAs. The components of the formula appear to have been developed to justify the amounts which had already been allocated to the various CAAs for operating Project Discovery programs.

In the past, programs were told to 'think how much it would take to run a program and then ask for that amount.' FY 1989 allocation decisions had already been made on this basis. The new formula serves to allocate the same amount of funds to the CAAs that they were receiving under the previous disbursement policy.

The formula assigns arbitrary dollar amounts loosely derived from the estimated number of staff hours spent with each student. Some of the estimates, however, do not appear justifiable. Various options exist for more equitable disbursement of the statewide organization's funds. For example, the formula could be based at least in part on the number of students eligible for the program in each service area.

Another consideration is the establishment of a maximum number of students with which each program conducts follow-up. The number of students requiring follow-up should be determined as a percentage of the total number of students who have enrolled in each local program. The resulting figure would then be used in determining the allocation to each program.

Determination of an adequate funding distribution should not be conducted by the executive committee of Project Discovery's Board of Directors. The executive committee is composed of directors of CAAs with Project Discovery programs. Therefore, these individuals have vested interests in the funding decisions.

Development of a funding formula should be made by individuals who will not gain or lose from the funding decisions. The possible appearance of partiality is sufficient to warrant having a third party determine local program allocations. Therefore, the Department of Education should require that CAAs use a funding formula developed by the Department in conjunction with Project Discovery. Further, the Department should monitor the distribution to ensure that the formula is implemented.

The Department of Education should work with Project Discovery to design and implement an equitable funding formula. This formula should be used to allocate any future State funds to be disseminated from Project Discovery."

The Commission's report further stated that:

"The General Assembly may wish to amend § 2.1-595 of the Code of Virginia to require that membership of community action statewide organization boards of directors conform to the membership requirements for community action agency boards."