Common+Questions+about+Fee-Structure+Changes+for+AEA+PD+Online+Training+System

Note: This email was sent out on June 4, 2011, in response to the changes in the fee structure that took place on April 28.

__**What changes are taking place to the system?**__ The Chief Administrators approved a new funding structure for the online training system on April 28. There are two parts. 1) All employees will need to pay $25 to complete the Mandatory Reporting training. That cost is paid via credit card when taking the training. 2) Districts will need to pay an annual fee of 50 cents per enrolled K-12 student (based on certified enrollment) to have access to ALL the other trainings. That billing takes place through the respective business offices and is explained below.

Also, the system will be adding a new local district administration feature, meaning a chosen person from a district will now be able to: • Check/reset passwords/usernames from district personnel • Schedule trainings to be completed • Send out notifications to employees • Run reports on completion of trainings • Upload your own .pdfs to serve as your own trainings (like a staff handbook or acceptable use policy)

The fee changes take place July 1. The district administrative features will be ready Aug 1.

__**How will districts be billed?**__ The process was decided by the AEA business directors at their May meeting. Heartland AEA will determine the total cost to each of the AEAs for their respective LEAs, billing them in June. This will be sent out the week of June 6. On the bill will be itemized the costs per each district. It is up to the AEA to then bill their districts for the cost of the service. All billing services will be directed through the AEA business offices.

__**What happens if a district decides not to pay?**__ If a district chooses not to pay the annual fee, the local AEA has a choice of either footing the bill for that district or notifying Heartland AEA of the district's non-payment. At that time (if the second option is chosen), Heartland AEA will give a full reimbursement to the AEA for that district and disable that district's password.

__**Will a district lose access on July 1 if they have not had a chance to have the billing approved and turned back into their local AEA?**__ No. While we have set a July 1 date for the changes to the system, we understand given the quick turnaround time that it will not be possible for many districts to have their payment turned in by then. Access will not be "turned off" until Heartland AEA is notified by the local AEA that the district is not paying for the courses.

__**Can districts pay for their participants to complete the Mandatory Reporter training?**__ The AEA system is not set up to handle a district payment. If a district would like to, they will need to reimburse their own employees after they have paid up front.

__**Do AEAs have to pay?**__ AEAs do not have to pay the 50 cents per student cost for the menu of trainings. However, AEA employees do need to personally pay for the $25 fee for the Mandatory Reporter training.

__**What communication of this has gone out to districts?**__ The AEA communication directors developed and sent out communication to LEA contacts on May 10. That information was to be shared with employees of the district as well. In addition, the changes to the fees were placed on the training website last week.

__**What will happen to passwords?**__ The password system will change. Starting in July, each district will have one password that will be used for all of the trainings (except Mandatory Reporter of course). This replaces the separate password for each training that we have presently. We will be setting up the password table in the database the week of June 6 and send to each AEA local contact person the table of their districts' passwords.

__**What is the local AEA's role in this setup?**__ Local AEAs have the same role as before, to serve as the point of contact for districts and teachers. The policy of "a local contact from each AEA" was originally setup to reaffirm to districts that this is a service the local AEA is providing. Local contacts have done an excellent job in the past answering questions from their districts.

The local contact will send out training password information to each district during July of each year, and will send out informational updates when a new training goes live on the system. In addition, the local contact's email and phone is listed on the training site for participants to call if they are having technical difficulties. The most common call is usually for a missing training password, or forgetting one's username. While local AEA contacts will still have the ability to distribute this information, a local district's administrator of the test system will also have those abilities. Therefore, AEAs can work with their local districts to handle these questions. It is recommended that the local district administrator be the first point of contact for teachers.

If local AEA contacts receive technical questions that they are unable to answer (e.g. "My certificate cannot print" or "I accidentally put down I was a pay customer when I should have been with a district"), they should contact Carol Naylor (cnaylor@aea11.k12.ia.us) or Shelley Christensen (schristensen@aea11.k12.ia.us) for assistance.

__**How can I get trained to help districts in this support role?**__ We would like to work with you to meet your needs. Before, when we released the new system, we created step-by-step screencast videos to show the processes. We did the same when we rolled out the AEA "topdog" administrator privileges. We will do so again with the new district administrative features. These should be available in mid-July, and would also be available for the local district administrator of the system to watch as well.

We will also conduct Q&A webinars for groups to see the new system in early August as well. These will be conducted via Adobe Connect Pro.