Duties of the Department of Education.

The duties of the department shall include:

(1) Administration of this part and rules adopted by the State Board of Education.

(2) Administration of federal funding, insurance, or reinsurance in full compliance with applicable federal laws and regulations.

(3) Development of written administrative procedures and controls for the administration of each financial aid program conducted by the office, maintenance of program records and documents, timely collection and remittance of insurance premiums, and timely assignment of defaulted loans to collection agencies.

(4) Annual compilation of sources of financial aid available to students in this state.

(5) Biennial analysis of the amount of available financial aid moneys and the effect of such moneys on student access to postsecondary institutions.

(6) Biennial internal evaluation of the administrative efficiency and effectiveness of the office.

(7) Annual assessment of the accuracy of eligibility information from a random sample of award recipients.

(8) Annual review of procedures for the distribution of state financial aid funds.

(9) Development and submission of a report, annually, to the State Board of Education, the Board of Governors, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which shall include, but not be limited to, recommendations for the distribution of state financial aid funds.

(10) Development and evaluation of a comprehensive, long-range program of all sources of student financial aid.

(11) Dissemination of information on available financial aid programs to district school superintendents and other persons who request such information.

(12) Calculation of the amount of need-based student financial aid required to offset fee increases recommended by the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors and inclusion of such amount within the legislative budget request for student assistance grant programs.

(13) The department shall have a system to track all school bond referenda and debt incurred by a school district via referendum for capital outlay or operational purposes. The department shall have a database of bonds not yet retired, present bonds in effect, as well as any future referendum being considered by a school district. At a minimum, the database system must keep ballot language from bond referenda and project lists, be updated in near real-time, provide support services, and provide data reporting and customizable alerts to the department on all school bond issued debt.