Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

July 1 Changes Coming to Business & Professional Development Travel Procedures

The Business Office is making several changes related to business travel and professional development that will go into effect on July 1, 2014. Changes include the following: 

• The Out-of-Area Travel & Professional Development Form is being renamed to the Overnight Travel & Professional Development Form. As a result of this change, staff traveling out of our agency’s area, to meetings not requiring overnight lodging and not related to professional development, can now claim the mileage on their monthly online expense claim.

• Staff will use the account code ‘OUTAREA’ when claiming the mileage on their online expenses. If the ‘OUTAREA’ code is not set up in your expense report, contact Mary Heaberlin, Accounting Technician, at mheaberlin@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14818. Travel involving overnight lodging and expenses related to professional development will still be reimbursed using the Overnight Travel & Professional Development form. 

• Hotel reimbursement will still be limited to $55 plus taxes for in-state lodging and $175 plus taxes for out-of-state lodging. However, an exception will be made for conferences that advertise a related hotel rate. The advertised hotel rate will become the new maximum amount of reimbursement even if it exceeds the $175 limit. If the conference hotel is full, the conference hotel rate will be the maximum reimbursed at other area hotels. Staff will be responsible for turning in documentation supporting the conference hotel rate. Staff members are encouraged to double up on occupancy when possible in order to maximize the use of the Agency’s professional development budget. 

• The Agency’s preferred method of payment for registration fees will continue to be via purchase orders. Pre-payment of registration fees may be allowed with Business Office approval. The exceptions for pre-payment include, but are not limited to, high cost fees, fees that must be pre-paid and vendors that do not accept purchase orders. Regardless of whether a registration fee is pre-paid, all registration fees require a purchase order. Staff members are still allowed to personally pay registration fees and be reimbursed after the conference is attended using the Overnight Travel & Professional Development form. 

Please refer to the memo attached to the Overnight Travel & Professional Development Form for detailed information and instructions, or if you have questions, contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at bwhalen@heartlandaea.org or at ext. 14005.

Reminder: Help the Business Office Close out the Fiscal Year

Heartland AEA’s fiscal year will end on June 30, 2014. In order for the Agency to close its books in a timely and accurate manner, the Business Office needs your assistance in returning date-sensitive items.

• For payroll-related work completed on or before June 30, please turn in timesheets and submit addendum online forms with appropriate approvals to the Payroll Department by July 7. 
• Review open Addendum Online assignments. Please close addendum assignments that will not have any additional hours logged. 
• For travel, mileage and purchases occurring on or before June 30, please turn in claim forms, expense claims, invoices for services or professional development/travel forms with appropriate approvals to the Business Office by July 9. 
• Do not put dates from two different fiscal years on the same timesheet, vacation request or in-area travel form. In-area travel forms with two fiscal years will be returned for correction. 

A separate year-end communication was sent directly to budget managers and support staff. If you have any questions about the end of the fiscal year, contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at bwhalen@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14005 or Rebecca McCreary, Accountant, at rmccreary@heartlandaea.org ext. 14325. Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.

Reminder: Leave Balances and Calendar Deadlines

The cutoff date to enter leave requests for the 2013-14 school year is July 3, 2014. 

Supervisors need to approve all 2013-14 leaves by July 9, 2014. This will allow us to calculate and display actual, rather than estimated, leave balances for 2014-15 by the end of July. 

Calendar exchange requests for 2013-14 must be submitted and approved by June 30, 2014. 

July new hires will not see their leave balances displayed until July 15, while August new hires will not see their leave balances until August 31. 

If you have any questions, contact Samantha Perry, Human Resources Specialist, at sperry@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14432.

Web IEP to be Down for Maintenance July 1-3

The Central Processing Center will be shutting the Web IEP system down at 10:00 a.m. on July 1, 2014 until July 3, 2014 to rollover changes made to the program. During this time, IEP users will be locked out of the IEP application. They anticipate this maintenance taking all three days, but if the rollover is complete by 10:00 a.m. on July 2, the message will be removed from the Web IEP log in screen and the application will be available. If you have any questions, contact Misty Christensen, Regional Directory/Assistant Director of Special Education, at mchristensen@heartlandaea.org or ext. 11203.