ESA/Voucher Management

Spark's ESA/Voucher Funding Requests feature helps schools track and manage payments that are expected from Education Savings Account (ESA) or school voucher programs. Rather than billing the guardian directly for eligible expenses, you can create funding requests tied to posted charges, specify which student and fees are covered, and schedule when requests should be submitted and when payment is expected.

Depending on your state's requirements, funding requests can be submitted either by the school or by the guardian. Spark generates downloadable Funding Request PDFs, tracks submission and payment statuses, and provides a central place to monitor all pending, submitted, and received funding requests.

Getting Started with ESA/Voucher Funding Requests

To use the ESA/Voucher feature, you must

• First create a posted charge on the billing account
• Then create an ESA/Voucher funding request for a student on their account statement

Create a Posted Charge

1. Go to Billing → Accounts.
2. Open the desired account.
3. Select the Statements tab.
4. Click + Add Posted Charge.
5. In the Create Charge window, build the charge using one or more line items.
   • Create a single line item for the entire charge, or multiple line items for individual fees.
   • Select line items from your saved prices on the Prices & Categories page.
   • Assign each line item to a specific student within the account, if applicable.
   • Optionally assign the entire charge to a billing period.
6. Click Post Charge.

Once the charge has been posted, you're ready to create an ESA or voucher funding request.

Create a Funding Request

To create an ESA or voucher funding request:

1. In the account's Expected Funding section, click ESA/Voucher.
2. Select whether the school or the parent will submit the claim to the state.
3. Select the student the funding applies to.

Note: Each funding request can only be assigned to one student.

1. Select the charge(s) and line items the funding will cover.
2. Enter the expected funding amount and click Continue.
3. In the ESA/Voucher Funding Request window, configure the funding schedule, including:
   • Submission dates
   • Expected payment dates
4. If the funding must be submitted at several intervals, click Recast Expected Installments.
   • Choose the number of installments.
   • Select the starting date.
5. Click Save.

When guardians are responsible for submitting funding requests, the Funding Request PDF will be available in their portal, where they can download it and mark it as submitted. Guardians can also enter the amount they expect the state will cover if it differs from the amount expected by the school.

Managing ESA/Voucher Funding Requests

Submitting Funding Requests as the School

If your school is responsible for submitting funding requests to your state's ESA or voucher program, Spark helps you track which requests are due and manage their submission status.

When a funding request becomes due, you can:

• Download the entire funding request.
• Download individual installments as they become due.

To submit funding requests:

1. Go to Billing → ESA/Voucher → Submissions Due.
2. Review:
   • Funding requests due within the next 30 days.
   • Overdue funding requests.
3. Open the funding request you want to submit.
4. Click View Invoice PDF and choose to download either the entire request or a specific installment.
5. Save or print the PDF and submit it to your state's ESA or voucher program.
6. After submitting the request, update its status to Submitted.
7. When payment is received from the state, update the status to Received.

Submitting Funding Requests as the Guardian (Feature coming soon)

If guardians are responsible for submitting funding requests, they can do so directly from the Guardian Portal.

To submit a funding request:

1. Log in to the Guardian Portal and go to Billing.
2. Open the funding request that is due.
3. Click Download Invoice PDF to download the funding request.
4. Submit the PDF to your state's ESA or voucher program.
5. After submitting the request, click Mark as Submitted.

If the guardian expects the state to cover a different amount than the school has estimated, they can update the Expected State Coverage amount before marking the request as submitted.

Viewing Funding Requests

To view all ESA and voucher funding requests:

• Go to Billing → ESA/Voucher → Funding Requests.

This page displays every funding request, including those that are:

• Pending
• Submitted
• Received

You can also view funding requests for an individual family by opening the billing account and selecting the Funding Requests tab.