The Professional Education Program as outlined in rule 5101:9-9-14 of the Ohio Administrative Code aligns training cost with federal funding so county agencies can access Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for administration of approved job-related training. This program is designed to assist county agencies as they address the training and educational needs of Ohio's county job and family services, child support enforcement, workforce development, and children services, employees.

• County agency directors or designees must establish county participation guidelines, policy, and application processing procedures compliant with state and federal rules/regulations;
• Courses must be provided by institutions approved by the Ohio Board of Regents and accredited by the North Central Association of College and Schools;
• Employees may be required to provide evidence of institutional accreditation;
• Only county agency approved work-related courses are eligible for reimbursement;
• County employees enrolled in courses approved for tuition reimbursement may be responsible for payment of tuition to eligible colleges/universities;
• Employees will be reimbursed by the county after successful course completion;
• County agencies will provide the required non-federal share cash match for county employees.
• The county will be reimbursed the FFP rate of tuition and cost of course required books based on the worker type;
• The county agency will report tuition reimbursement by financial code;
• ODJFS will process reimbursements on a quarterly basis;
• All reimbursements will be deposited to the appropriate county fund where the original expenditure for tuition was incurred;

The federal reimbursement rate for approved courses that have been successfully completed is based on caseworker type and is as follows:

Public Asst. (IM) workers - 50% federal reimbursement/ODJFS will charge the county's IM Control Allocation for the match requirement.

Child Welfare workers - 50% federal reimbursement/ODJFS will charge the county's State Children Protective Allocation for the match requirement.

Social Service workers - 80% federal reimbursement/ODJFS will charge the county's Social Service Operating Allocation for the match requirement.

Child Support workers - 66% federal reimbursement/ODJFS will charge the county's Match Allocation for the match requirement.

When the county has exhausted the available state funded allocations, the remaining tuition reimbursement match requirement will become a local obligation.

One-time work related courses, continuing education, and training not associated with the pursuit of a degree or formal certification is allowable/reimbursable through cost pool distribution.

The Federal Financial Participation Rate will be posted annually on the ODJFS website:

state.oh.us/Ofs/bcfta/bulletin_board.pdf

As a result of a review of the tuition reimbursement process for education and training classes, rule 5101-9-13 of the Administrative Code has been rescinded. ODJFS is required to monitor state and federal funds it distributes.

Questions regarding financial codes and federal financial participation (FFP) should be directed to the Bureau of County Finance and Technical Assistance (614) 752-9194.

Instructions:

Remove entire Chapter 9000 Outline of Contents and replace with attached corresponding sections dated July 15, 2004.

Remove sections 9119. through 9199. and replace with corresponding sections dated July 15, 2004. (APM.9120., APM.9212.)