All Aboard for Federal Reporting

1. All Aboard for Federal Reporting 2009 Fall ASBO Conference September, 2009

2. Presenters • Deene Dayton, Dept. of Legislative Audit • Susan Woodmansey, Dept. of Education • Bobbi Leiferman, Dept. of Education • Rob Huffman, Dept. of Education

3. New Guidance on Title I Per School Expenditure Reporting • School level expenditure data for 2008-2009 • Focus on expenditures related to instruction and support functions. • Will not include expenditures such as facilities operation and maintenance, transportation and food service. • Will not include employee benefit costs. • Will not include expenditures from federal programs. • Will not include special education expenditures.

4. New Guidance on Title I Per School Expenditure Reporting • Data reported and available to DOE: • Total expenditures for salaries of instructional staff (teachers), guidance counselors, librarians, Office of the Principal (school admin) by fund, function, object • PRF – districts reported contracted salaries for certified staff by attendance center • Assistance that may be needed from districts: • Above staff paid with federal funds • Allocation between middle (1121) and high school (1131) if all reported in 1131. • Reporting Timelines: • If supplemental data needed from districts – by early January, 2010 • Reports to USDOE – must be submitted by March 31, 2010

5. Special Education Maintenance of Effort • Districts are required to file an MOE worksheet that compares FY08 to FY09. • Blank MOE forms will be posted to the website. DOE will assist school districts by providing a summary of the financial data reported on the annual report to use in completing the MOE form. • Both a protected and unprotected worksheets are available based on the needs of the district reporting. • Audited financial data should be used, if available. • Deadline to submit MOE form is October 23, 2009. • PREFERRED, may be submitted electronically (email attachment) • Bobbi Leiferman decadata@state.sd.us • Paper copy mailed, please no faxed copies

6. State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, FY2010 • Funds will be paid to districts in September. • Only one expenditure report must be submitted to DOE in FY2010 • Cash management policies of the federal government require district to have spent or to spend within 3 days of receiving the revenue. • General journal entries are still acceptable for FY2010. • Same prohibitions on utilization of funds as outlined in FY09. • An expenditure report must be submitted by October 5th.

7. A District may not use Education Stabilization funds for – • Payment of maintenance costs; • Stadiums or other facilities primarily used for athletic contests or exhibitions or other events for which admission is charged to the general public; • Purchase or upgrade of vehicles; • Improvement of stand-alone facilities whose purpose is not the education of children, including central office administration or operations or logistical support facilities; • Financial assistance for students to attend private elementary or secondary schools, unless the funds are used to provide special education and related services to students with disabilities, as authorized by the IDEA; • School modernization, renovation, or repair that is inconsistent with State law; or • Restoring or supplementing a “rainy day” fund.

8. Coding/Uses/Expenditures of SFSF • SFSF Revenue code = 4199, may be receipted to “any” K-12 fund. If used to purchase equipment – additional reporting may be necessary regarding vendor paid. • Expenditures tracked separately by use of accounting operational unit (recommend using 3rd level of Software Unlimited). • Permissible to use GJ entry to record expenditures • GJ entry such as the below for elementary teacher salaries: • CREDIT 10-1111-000-110-000-000 (local expenditure) • DEBIT 10-1111-001-110-000-000 (SFSF expenditure)

9. ARRA Revenue Codes

10. Federal Accountability (tracking federal expenditures with software) • Accountability on expenditure of funds is mandated. • District software provides coding to allow easy tracking of revenues and expenditures. • Each ARRA grant award must be tracked separately from regular allocations of IDEA and Title I. • IDEA ARRA funds must be expended in the Special Education Fund. • When authorized - if using the allowance to transfer state & local funds not in excess of 50% of increase in IDEA funding – these funds must be tracked too. Suggestion is to use software to track – use of operational code. • Budgets will include a much greater level of detail.

11. Delinquent School Audits • School districts are required to have at least bi-annual audits (SDCL 4-11-7.1). • Responsible fiscal management of public funds requires DOE to ensure compliance to auditing requirement. • Lack of fiscal oversight in this area may allow for mismanagement of public funds. • DOE is discussing policies that will prompt action of school districts that are delinquent. • Ultimately the responsibility to complete and file an audit lies with the school district. • How can a school district ensure timely submissions by auditors? • Write specific timelines in the contract with auditor. • Frequent communication with auditor on status of audit.

12. Misc. Topics • Needed ASAP - Workgroup to update Records Management Manual • Last updated in 1985 • No mention of electronic data file retention • No mention of E-rate records retention (requirement for this federal funding) • Need other school administrators to participate • First half ECF needed? Please contact DOE if it would be a financial hardship to wait for 2nd half funding. • Annual Data Reporting • Allocation of SE administration and other costs • Reconcile debt service payments to Schedule of Long Term Debt • Appropriate coding for Capital Leases • Late filers – each year more and more districts wait to file until the last few days before August 15th. • Depreciation expense in Food Service Fund • Buying instructional computers from function 2227 • Allocation of Title I expenditures