Curriculum Budget

• Encom Budget - Overages
• Encom Budget - Additional Resource Page
• How does funding work for students in Grade 10, 11 & 12?
• Purchasing Forms
• Resource Vendor Directory
• What can I spend my funding on?
• What types of purchases are considered family expenses?
• Where to find the Curriculum and Recreational Program Order Forms and how to fill them out?
• Where to start when making a curriculum purchase?
• Where to start when making a lesson or activity purchase?

Encom Budget - Overages

When a student enrolls with HCOS, they get a specified amount of funding, as shown in the family's Budget Summary on their additional resource page. This amount will depend on the tuition option they have chosen. With that funding, families are able to purchase curriculum resources and lessons, but they must stay within their allotted budget.

If a family spends more than their budget, an overage will occur. All overages are the financial responsibility of the parents and must be repaid to HCOS. Teachers & parents work together to prevent overages by keeping track of the family's purchases and working within the budget. The HCOS Finance office also has several processes to help families manage their budgets.

HCOS has two ways families can make purchases:

1. Purchasing Department - for purchases you would like to make from a vendor who requires payment at point of sale (for example amazon).
2. Purchase Order system - families make orders directly from approved vendors or Lesson Providers using their PO#.

Purchasing Department:

• The additional resource page in Encom is checked to make sure families have funds available before purchases are approved. 
• If funds are available the purchase will be made and the amount entered into ENCOM once the receipt is received and payment is processed, usually within 3-5 days.
• If funds are not available, an email is sent to parents and teachers explaining the lack of funding, and the order form is deleted.

Purchase Order system:

• Once invoices from a vendor are received by our office, they are posted onto the families additional resource page in Encom, usually within 7 days.
• The HCOS Finance Department will only pay an invoice providing the family has available funding.
• If an invoice cannot be paid in full, an email is sent to the parent and vendor explaining the remaining amount is the financial responsibility of the parent, as stated in the Vendor Agreement.
• If families are over budget and do not wish to pay out of pocket they can contact the vendor and ask about deleting items from their order, returning items (if they have received them already) or cancel the order entirely (Some vendors may charge a restocking fee, such fee would be the financial responsibility of the parent).

It is important to note that the HCOS Finance Department is not aware of any purchases families make, using the PO system, until invoices are received by our office. Vendors have their own timeline on when they send invoices to HCOS, sometimes it can take a few months before our department receives invoices from particular vendors. It is important families keep track of their purchases and look for the posting to be entered in ENCOM.

If parents, teachers and HCOS Finance are all working together to prevent overages, how do they still occur?

• Computer Leases - Computer Lease amounts are over the course of three school years. These entries are put in each year after a family re-enrolls, typically in September or October. If a family has entered into a computer lease agreement, please make sure they are accounting for this charge when they are making purchases. Families will have access to their funding in April, which means there may be 5 or 6 months where the computer lease is not deducted from their funding in ENCOM, giving them a false funding amount.
• Online Courses - When a family adds a K-9 online course to their course load, a $75 fee (per course) is automatically taken from their funding. CC+ courses are also automatically taken from their funding. Before adding a course, please be sure you have the funding to cover the course(s). 
• There can be a significant delay when using the PO system. HCOS Finance only knows about the purchase when the vendor sends us the invoice. Some vendors invoice quarterly, meaning more than a month can go by before we received the invoice.
• When making an order via the purchasing department, please know that the entry will be made in ENCOM within 5 business days from the time we receive the receipt. However, during the months of March, April, August, September, and October (when the purchasing department gets hundreds of orders each day) there can be a much longer delay, even up to two or three weeks. 

Given the above, what are some ways families can prevent overages?

• Keep a record of purchases (include date of purchase, vendor, and amount).
• Check the additional resource page in your Encom account on a regular basis. Compare your records with the entries in Encom to see if all your purchases are posted or if any are expenses yet to be entered.
• Remember exchange rates apply if ordering from outside of Canada.
• Take advantage of the Learning Commons instead of purchasing new items.
• If a student has a computer lease, remember the amount will be deducted from funding.
• If online courses are added, make sure you take a look at your additional resource page in Encom and ensure you have either funding to cover the cost or are okay to pay for the course out of pocket.

Encom Budget - Additional Resource Page

The 'Additional Resource' page in Encom provides a variety of information that will help you track your budget during the school year. Please log in and review this page regularly, to ensure you are aware of your budget and can work within it to avoid going into an overage. 

Additional Resource

• Log into Encom
• Click on the "Additional Resource" button located on the menu bar.

This page gives you information on funding and expenses as a family as well as per student. 

Student Summary

This box will include the following information per student and is located to the left of each students name.

• 
• Budgeted Amount: the amount of funding the student received
• Courses: the amount of funding used that went towards courses
• Course Resources: Resources that were ordered by the parent when adding an online course
• Additional Expenses: the amount of funding used that went towards resources (typically these are purchases parents have made by vendors either using the purchasing department or Purchase Order system)
• Amount: this is the amount of funding remaining or owing

 

 

Beside the summary box you will see the "Additional Resource" box. This box will include a list of expenses or items purchased using this students purchase order number.

• Vendor: name of the vendor 
• Invoice number
• Description of item(s) purchases
  • Curriculum purchases
    • Non-Consumable: Need to be returned or bought out when a student leaves, as per the curriculum agreement
    • Consumable: Do not need to be returned or bought out when a student leaves
  • Lessons
    • Will have the Start/End date, type of lesson, Vendor's CRC Expiry date
• Posted: Date the expense was posted by HCOS Finance staff
• Purchased: Date on the invoice
• Amount: Amount HCOS Paid 

Group Summary

This box will include the following information per family and is located at the top left hand side of the additional resource page

 

• Budgeted Amount: the combined amount of funding the family received
• Courses: the combined amount of funding the family used that went towards courses
• Course Resources: Resources that were ordered by the parent when adding an online course
• Additional Expenses: the combined amount of funding used that went towards resources (typically these are purchases parents have made by vendors either using the purchasing department or Purchase Order system)
• Amount: this is the combined family amount of funding remaining or owing

 

 

How does funding work for students in Grade 10, 11 & 12?

 

Information on Grad funding can be found here:  Grad Program Funding

Purchasing Forms

HCOS forms used by families to purchase curriculum and/or lessons using their Encom funding. 

This is for Encom funding ONLY, please contact the Special Education department if you are needing to make a purchase using Special Education funding or set up a lesson provider. 

1. Curriculum Order Form - use this form to purchase items from a vendor who is not an HCOS approved vendor. 

Go to the Vendors page on the HCOS website to see if the vendor is on the approved vendor list. If the vendor is listed and does accept POs, follow the instructions given to make the purchase.

If the vendor is not on the list, you will need to use the Curriculum Order Form.

Links for this processes:
Information on how to make the order: Where to find the Curriculum and Recreational Program Order Forms and how to fill them out? 
Link to the form: Curriculum Order Form 

2. Recreational Program Form

If the lesson or activity provider will not send HCOS an invoice and requires payment via credit card or if the lesson is through a City, District or Municipality recreation center you will need to use the Recreational Program Order Form

Links for this processes:
Information on how to make the order: Where to find the Curriculum and Recreational Program Order Forms and how to fill them out? 
Information on Lessons: Where to start when making a lesson or activity purchase? 
Link to the form: Recreational Program Order Form

Please read the above links as with lesson and activity purchases, there are a few more steps that need to occur prior to arranging lessons.

3. HCOS Lesson Invoice Submission Form

If the lesson or activity provider will accept HCOS POs and will invoice HCOS, they will need to use this form to submit their invoices. They should already have access to this form as before offering lessons to HCOS students they will need to go through the Criminal Record Check process as well as sign the Lesson Provider Agreement. 

Information on Lessons: Where to start when making a lesson or activity purchase? 
Link to the form: HCOS - Lesson Invoice Submission Form 

Please read the above links as with lesson and activity purchases, there are a few more steps that need to occur prior to arranging lessons.

4. Computer/iPad Lease Form

If you are interested in purchasing a computer or iPad and using your curriculum funding over the course of three years, please fill out this form: Computer/iPad Lease Form 

Resource Vendor Directory

Please see the Resource Vendor Directory page for a list of vendors: Resource Vendor Directory 

What can I spend my funding on?

Resources and Programs provided by HCOS (Internal)

• HCOS Learning Camps 
• HCOS Community Connections
• HCOS Learning Group Co-ops
• HCOS Computer/iPad lease
• HCOS K-9 Online Courses
• HCOS Grad Courses
• HCOS Travel & Outreach Programs

Resources and Programs by 3rd Party providers (External to HCOS) 

• Classes, activities & lessons that are not part of HCOS
  • Lesson provider must Criminal Record Check on file prior to the first lesson
• Educational subscriptions
• Activity books, workbooks, flash cards, educational games, lego, building blocks, etc...
• Kits 
• Curriculum bundles
• PDF's & digital items
• Educational Memberships, such as Science World, Aquarium, Art Museums, etc... 
• Recreational memberships, such as passes to a recreational center
• Art Supplies
• Printer ink and printer paper
• Textbooks
• DVDs
• Physical books and novels 
• Head phones (max $100.00)

Allowable Equipment:

• Eligible “equipment” over $100 needs to have an Equipment Agreement signed by the parent (if under $100 it does NOT need an agreement). 
  • Examples of Eligible Equipment: Printer  (max amt. $300 before taxes and warranty), Laminator, Binding machine (max amt. $100 after taxes), Tablet (max amt. $125.00 before taxes; no warranty) or Kindle
  • Example of Non-Eligible Equipment: We are not able to purchase 3D printers or any printer over $300 (before taxes and warranty) and Binding Machines exceeding $100.00 (after taxes).
  • Example of Eligible Equipment that does not need an Equipment Agreement signed: Printer under $100.00
• Must be approved by HCOS Teacher AND be included in student SLP – IMPORTANT
• Teacher must check and see if the family has sufficient funds in their budget
• Teacher must check and see if the family has all needed curriculum (The purchase should NOT put curriculum needs in jeopardy)
• The item must be a reasonable cost. If unsure, please ask Ted Gerk
• The item must be directly linked to a course they are enrolled in…as per student SLP

Curriculum on Loan Agreement: Agreement between HCOS and parent/guardian - Signed by all parents/guardians during enrollment

• Parents agree that all curriculum purchased and paid for by HCOS is on loan and the property of HCOS, along with the following conditions:
  • All curriculum will be loaned, returned or paid for on a per-student basis.
• If my student ceases to be enrolled with HCOS at any time, including switching to Home School Registered, I will either:      
  • pay the school the cost of the curriculum at fair market value as determined by the school     OR
  • Return the curriculum    
• If the family ceases to be enrolled at HCOS any time during the school year, the curriculum budget allotted to  student(s) will be prorated based on the number of months the student has been enrolled

 

What types of purchases are considered family expenses?

Parent Expense: HCOS is not able to pay for the following items as per Ministry Funding Guidelines and HCOS policy

Musical Instruments	Ministry considers this a family expense; HCOS can pay for lessons, but not instruments
General school supplies	Ministry considers this a family expense. Examples: notebooks, lined paper, pencils, pens, erasers, rulers, scissors, calculators, pencil sharpeners (including electric pencil sharpeners), daily planners, blackboards & whiteboards, etc...
Computer Accessories	Ministry considers this a family expense. Examples: adapters, USB, external storage, DVD drives, speakers, microphones, keyboards, mouse, etc...
Video games	HCOS considers this a family expense. Examples: Nintendo switch games, PS4 games, Xbox games etc...
Equipment & Costumes needed for activities and lessons	Ministry considers this a family expense; HCOS can pay for lessons, but not equipment or costumes. Examples: household appliances, workshop tools/equipment, sports equipment, greenhouse equipment, incubators, etc...
Cameras, microscopes & telescopes	Available on loan from HCOS Learning Commons
Rentals & Deposits	Ministry considers this a family expense
Furniture	Ministry considers this a family expense. Examples: desks, chairs, carpets, lamps,. shelves, blackboards & whiteboards, etc...
Duty	HCOS considers this a family expense

Tuition

Ministry considers this a family expense; Funding cannot be used to pay tuition

Summer Activities

HCOS does not pay for summer programing, day camps, trips, lessons or activities.

If unclear about an item, please contact your teacher or the office for clarity before making the purchase. 

ALL purchases must be made with approval from the teacher

Where to find the Curriculum and Recreational Program Order Forms and how to fill them out?

The first step is to go to the Vendors page on the HCOS website to see if the vendor is on the Vendors Accepting HCOS PO Numbers list. Vendors on this list do not require a curriculum order form as you can contact them directly to make your curriculum purchase. 

If the vendor is not on that list, the next step is to sign into Encom where an option on the tool bar called Curriculum Resources is available. Click this link to fill out an order form for Curriculum purchases whose vendor will not accept an HCOS PO number.

Click on the    to start a curriculum order on the order form. Each form submission allows a family to order up to 10 items from a single vendor. The template will not allow more, but there is a note section on the order form to indicate if the order will be continued on another form.

If purchases will be made from a variety of vendors, each vendor will require a different order form. 

When the “I’m Done!” box is clicked, a prompt will appear asking for the Support Teacher’s email address. (For those who may not have a teacher as yet, please use the email address of the Regional Administrator who accepted your application to HCOS.)

Please do not try to enter a password .. that is for teacher use only.  A link to the order form will then go to the Support Teacher indicated who will verify the order before purchases can be made. Verification includes making sure that that item/lesson is in the Student Learning Plan (SLP), that there is sufficient funding for the purchase and that there is an equipment agreement or CRC, if necessary.

Once the Support Teacher has verified the order form, an email similar to the one below will be generated and sent to the family, which indicates the order has been approved and gone through to the purchasing department:

OR .. an email like the one following which indicates that the Support Teacher cannot approve the items requested. If the following email is received, the family should get in touch with the Support Teacher to discover the reason.

Upon receipt of the verified order form, the purchasing department will either make the purchase within 3 – 5 days of receiving it or will be in touch with the family to work out any complications with the order.

As per HCOS policy, lessons will not be available for purchase until October. Close to the time that funding is released for lesson purchases, a link to the lessons order form will be made available alongside the Curriculum order form in Encom. 

For further information about purchasing, please contact the purchasing office.

Purchasing Office
Phone: (250) 862-2376
Toll Free 1 (877) 862-2375
Email Albana Nicka, Lead Purchaser: albana.nicka@onlineschool.ca 

Video Instructions

Video- a short video showing how to use the curriculum special order form.

Lesson Purchasing Procedures

As per HCOS policy, lessons and activities will not be available for purchase until October. Close to the time that funding is released for lesson and activity purchases, a link to the Recreational Program order form will be made available alongside the Curriculum order form in Encom.

New * Lessons through a City, District or Municipality recreation center MUST be purchased using the online recreational program order form.

Most of the other lesson/service providers WILL “invoice” (3rd party bill) HCOS for payment by cheque.

Some guidelines that may be helpful:

1. Many sports clubs (hockey, soccer, gymnastics, dance, etc.) are also willing to 3rd party bill as long as they are informed that there is a 3rd party (HCOS) potentially paying even a portion of the fees.
2. Finally…regardless of whether paid by cheque or credit card the government requires that HCOS have criminal record check (CRC) confirmation/clearance before paying for any 3rd party lessons. Therefore, it is recommended that parents call the HCOS Head Office to make a quick check in our extensive database to make sure the lesson provider is “approved” or whether that process still needs to be completed.

All lesson providers must supply copies of their Criminal Record Check (CRC) policy before payment can be made. CRC policies need to be in compliance with Ministry guidelines.

The recreational program order form will only be for those vendors who will not third party invoice HCOS and require credit card payment  (exception: City and Municipality Recreational Centers which must use the recreational program order form).

For further information, contact the purchasing office:
Email Albana Nicka, Lead Purchaser: albana.nicka@onlineschool.ca 

Where to start when making a curriculum purchase?

There are two ways to make a curriculum purchase with HCOS

Option 1. Purchase Order Number:

• Purchase curriculum directly from an approved vendor using your student Purchase Order number
  • A list of approved vendors, who accept HCOS Purchase Orders (POs) along with instructions on how to make each order, can be found on our website under Resources Vendors

Option 2. Purchasing Department:

• Purchase curriculum from vendors, who do not accept our Purchase Order numbers, using the Purchasing Department (example: Amazon) and the Curriculum Order Form.
  • Instructions on how to make a purchase using the curriculum order form can be found on our web site on the New Curriculum Purchasing Procedure page as well as in SOPHIE under the title Purchasing Process for Families

Parents who order from US vendors to Canada are personally responsible for any customs or brokerages fees.

Parents CANNOT ship to a US address, even with cheaper postage, as HCOS, as the legal owner of the curriculum, would be liable for brokerage and customs fees.

Please note the following curriculum vendors who have specific and unique instructions listed below

Please note: As per the Ministry of Education, HCOS cannot reimburse families for any reason. Please do not make purchases using your personal funds with the intent of HCOS reimbursing you. 

Name of Vendor	Unique Instructions
Teachers Pay Teachers	List the items you want on the curriculum order form. The purchasing department will then purchase a gift card to cover those items and send you the gift card. Once you have used the gift card, the receipt from the purchase needs to be forwarded to albana.nicka@onlineschool.ca.
Abeka Curriculum	* Please Note: Due to difficulties connecting with customer service and the inability to ship directly to a families (when we use our HCOS account), HCOS can no longer purchase Abeka Curriculum directly from Abeka.    If a family requires Abeka curriculum, they can fill out a curriculum order form and purchase the items from Christianbook.com.   The purchasing department will place the order and make payment for that.
Abeka Academy	* Please Note:   The purchase must be set up in the parent’s Abeka account with parents choosing the 10 month payment plan.  Once the order is placed, the parent will need to email their Abeka account login information along with their Abeka sales order number to the purchasing department.  The purchasing department will then go into the parent account and pay the amount available for the year.  The parent will  then pay the remaining portion of the payment.   A specific amount is set up each year as the max that will go toward Abeka Academy depending upon the exchange rate at the beginning of the school year.
Homeschool Buyer's Co-op	There are a number of vendors whose curriculum is at a lower price through the HSBC.  Orders for those vendors are placed on the curriculum order form. Here is the link to the various vendors who give discounts:                   https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/heritage_christian_online_school   In order for us to make these purchases, the parent must have a Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op account and include the email they use to set up that account in the note section of the curriculum order form.

 

Where to start when making a lesson or activity purchase?

Please Note: HCOS does not begin accepting and/or paying invoices for lessons and activities until October 1st of the school year.

HCOS is not able to pay for any item (curriculum) or lesson that has been previously paid for by the family. HCOS does not reimburse providers, who in turn reimburse families. We can only pay an unpaid invoice. 

Step One: Determine if the Lesson or Activity Provider has a Criminal Record Check (CRC) on file with HCOS

• Making a purchase for a lesson or activity begins by contacting the HCOS office to determine whether or not a lesson provider has a CRC on file with HCOS
  • HCOS Office: Contact Information

    Local: 250-862-2376              

    Toll Free: 1-877-862-2375

    office@onlineschool.ca

• If the Lesson or Activity provider does not have a CRC on file with HCOS, the office will help guide the provider in the process of obtaining one.  This CRC will then be held on file for 5 years. To start this process, the office will need the following information:
  • a contact name of the lesson provider
  • a contact email
• Once you have determined a CRC is place with HCOS, you are ready for the next step

All lesson and activity providers, must have a CRC on file with HCOS prior to lessons begin, in order for HCOS to process payment

Step Two: Determine how the Lesson or Activity provider needs to be paid 

There are two payment options:

Payment Option One -  Purchase Order/ Invoice: Most Lesson and Activity providers (music lessons, sports associations, choir, gymnastics, dance, etc...) will invoice HCOS and get paid via cheque. This is the preferred process for the lesson providers as well as HCOS.

All lesson and activity invoices must be submitted via the new HCOS Lesson Invoice Submission form. HCOS will no longer be accepting lesson invoices via email.

1. *New Lesson Providers will now send their invoices directly to the HCOS Payable department via the HCOS - Lesson Invoice Submission form
   
   • Their submission will never be blocked by our servers (thinking it is spam)
   • Their submission will be processed quicker
     • Reduced back and form between the HCOS finance office and Lesson Providers - All information needed to successfully process will be available to the finance office
     •  Will go directly to the person processing Lesson and Activity invoices

Important things to know regarding Lesson and Activity purchases and invoicing:

1. HCOS will accept invoices in October for lessons occurring until the end of January (Term One)
2. HCOS will accept invoices at the end of January for lessons occurring Feb - the end of June (Term Two)
3. If a Lesson or Activity Provider does not have an invoice, a template has been provided that they can use on the  HCOS - Lesson Invoice Submission form

Lesson and Activity providers are given a Lesson Provider Agreement to sign during the CRC process. This document outlines how to invoice HCOS successfully.

Payment Option Two -  Recreational Program Online Form: This form is for all City and Municipality Recreational Center purchases (all City Rec center purchases MUST go through this form; do not ask them to invoice HCOS).

City and Municipality Recreational Centers

• Families will need to set up an online registration account with the recreational center they are wanting to purchase from
• Families will then need to complete the Recreational Program Online Form found in ENCOM
  • If unsure of how to fill out the Recreational Program Order form, please click here for instruction
• For HCOS to register the student for lessons, families must include the following information on the Recreational Program form
  • Their username as well as a temporary password to their recreational center online account 
    • HCOS will email you once the payment is processed, letting you know you can go in and change the password to your account
  • A link to the specific course they are hoping to register in or the program number
    • the course must be accepting registrations and active for HCOS to make the purchase
    • if the lesson is a Homeschool program, not available online, please enter that information in the note section of the lesson order form
      

The Recreational Program Online form will be available October 1st - April 15th of each school year