September 11th, 2019

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• Please mute your phone

• We will respond to chat box questions throughout this webinar

• At the end of the webinar we will open up the phones for additional questions and answers

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• Student October Update

• FY18-19 Financial December now Open – due December 31st

• PERA Proportional Share – payments by Gen Assembly to PERA on behalf of Districts

• FY18-19 Accreditation Report

• New State Grant Codes

• Financial Transparency Website Update

• Full Day Kindergarten Coding

• FY19-20 State Share Payments

• FY18-19 Transportation Payments

• FPP Meeting Schedule/New Members

• Web Resources – EG “New Business Manager’s Training”

• Phone Questions

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• Clarification of Public Charge Final Rule

• Applying for free or reduced‐price school meals is not considered a public charge

• Will not affect the probability of household members receiving a green card or visa

• Important to communicate to district staff and households

• Helpful resources:

https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/know-your-rights/

(make sure to copy and paste the above URL)

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Important Dates:

• Mon., Sept. 16: Deadline to request Alternative Count Date/At-Risk Variance Waiver

• Wed., Oct. 2: Pupil Enrollment Count Date

• Tues., Nov. 12: Duplicate count documentation is due to the School Auditing Office

• Fri., Nov. 15: Duplicate count decisions (i.e., which district gets to retain funding for a noted student) will be final

• Wed., Nov. 27: Districts must resubmit final data (with duplicate count adjustments)

• Fri., Dec. 6: Deadline to submit Student October Count signature pages to CDE

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Recommendations:

Prior to finalizing all Student October Count data, districts are encouraged to review, at a minimum, the counts that will be used to determine Total Program funding. This includes:

• FTE counts by grade

• Free lunch counts for all funded students

Comparisons between current year data and prior year data should be made to ensure that districts are accurately reporting these counts. Once the data collection is closed, no additional changes can be made until the School Auditing Office conducts the pupil and at-risk count compliance audit (usually 1-3 years after the data are finalized).

School Auditing Office Website: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/auditunit

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• Submission is Due December 31st

• http://www.cde.state.co.us/idm/datapipeline

• Please submit data and pass 1st Tier edits before your auditor arrives at district• Many auditors now insist their districts pass 1st Tier prior to arrival

• Passwords are controlled at Local Level• Local Access Managers (LAMs)

• Web Resources: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance

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• Significant New Edits for FY18-19• Expenditure accounts tied to Instructional Location Codes MUST have

a Unique School Four Digit Code• Location 100-599, Object 0100-0999, Cannot be Coded with Unique

School Code 0000

• If you have used Location Codes 500-599 for District Wide, and feel that some or all 500-599 accounts are not truly tied to a Unique School, please recode to a Location Code in the 600-699 series

• Colorado Community College System• The amount given to CDE by CCCS will need to be reported by the

district

• On-Behalf Payments by the State to PERA• To be discussed in detail later in webinar

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We recognize that the timing of the recent guidance on this issue after the close of FY18-19 is frustrating.

We apologize for the inconvenience and the extra work that this places on business offices throughout the state.

CDE was initially contacted about this issue on August 26th

immediately began researching the issue. On August 27th we sent an initial communication to districts and provided guidance on September 5th.

CDE will not comment on expenditures in excess of appropriated amounts related to this issue in the data pipeline and audit review letter.

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• What does this mean?• During the 2018 Legislative Session the General Assembly

appropriated $225M to be paid by the State of Colorado directly to PERA – payment made on July 1, 2018

• Based on PERA’s audit presentation - Districts, BOCES and Charter Schools are required to report their share in the FY18-19 Financial December data files and audits.

• School districts should ensure that their charter schools are aware of this information as well

• Please share this information with your external auditor

• This is ongoing – this is not limited to just FY18-19 Financial December – must be budgeted for in FY19-20

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• Chart of Accounts – Retroactive Changes• Object 0280 On Behalf Payments - Payments made by the

State to PERA – The proportionate share of this payment must be reported by districts, charter schools and BOCES as an employee benefit with Grant Code 3898 – the offsetting Source Code is 3010 with Grant 3898. As this is an employee benefit, valid job classification are required as well.

• Grant 3898 State On-Behalf Payment to PERA

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• Edits• "E" - Object 0280, grant 3898, Amount > zero, must be reported by all

districts and BOCES.

• "E" - Source 3010, grant 3898, Amount > zero, must be reported by all districts and BOCES.

• "E" - the sum of Source 3010, grant 3898 must equal the sum of Object 0280, Grant 3898

• "E" – Each Charter School is required to report PERA State Contributions For Districts with Charter Schools - Each instance of Location 900-969 must report: Object 0280, grant 3898, Amount > zero

• "E" – Each Charter School is required to report PERA State Contributions For Districts with Charter Schools - Each instance of Location 900-969 must report: Source 3010, grant 3898, Amount > zero

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• How to Arrive at the Dollar Amounts to Report• CDE does not have the amount to give you – However, detailed instructions

are posted on the CDE website:

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/state_on_behalf_payment

• The District/BOCES/Charter School must log into PERA’s Secure Transfer and Reporting System (STARS) to access the information, on a reporting entity specific basis, on the amounts to use in the calculation, to arrive at the dollar amounts to report for the new edits

• Detailed information on this was also sent on the School Finance list-serve email on September 5th and 6th, 2019

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• No significant changes from FY17-18 to FY18-19

• District Assurances for Accreditation Report• Can include responses relating to charter schools

• Charter School Assurances for Accreditation Report• Can complete their own Accreditation Report

• Charter School Assurances for Accreditation Report

• Questions have arisen related to the statutory requirements to publish budgets in newspapers. We will be looking at appropriate clarification of this requirement.

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/auditreport

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• New State Grants from CDE (Source 3000):

• Complete State and Federal Grant Codes are posted on the CDE website: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/sfcoa

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Ninth Grade Success Grant Program 3251

High School Innovative Learning Pilot Program 3252

Physical Education Instruction Pilot Program 3253

K-5 Social And Emotional Health Act 3254

Workforce Diploma Pilot Program 3255

Automatic Enrollment In Advanced Course Grant Program 3256

Local Accountability Systems 3257

Admin Public School Fin-Cash 3258

MoneyWi$er Financial Innovation Awards 3269

AP Exam Fee Grant 3270

• The FY17-18 Financial Transparency for Colorado Schools Website (BrightBytes website) is Open

https://coloradok12financialtransparency.com/#/• Multi Year Comparisons

• ESSA Compliant

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• Districts can apply for their proportionate share of $25 million in formula-based grants for furniture, fixtures, or equipment (FFE) to conduct a full-day kindergarten or a preschool educational program

• To date, 21 districts have not applied for these funds.

• These districts may still apply for these funds by contacting Tim Kahle at kahle_t@cde.state.co.us

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• Districts can apply for their proportionate share of $25 million in formula-based grants for furniture, fixtures, or equipment (FFE) to conduct a full-day kindergarten or a preschool educational program

• To date, 21 districts have not applied for these funds.

• These districts may still apply for these funds by contacting Tim Kahle at kahle_t@cde.state.co.us

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Grant code: 3250 for revenue and expenditures

Revenue Source Code: 3000

Fund: District Choice (e.g. fund 10, fund 43, etc.)

Object Codes: 0730-0739

• 0730 Equipment. Expenditures for the initial and replacement items of equipment, such as machinery, furniture, fixtures and vehicles. Machinery, furniture and fixtures (including teacher desks, chairs and file cabinets), technology equipment and other equipment that are used for instructional purposes should be charged to appropriate instructional programs.

• 0731 Machinery. Expenditures for equipment usually composed of a complex combination of parts (excluding vehicles). Examples are lathes, drill presses, printing presses, microscopes, etc.

• 0732 Vehicles. Expenditures for vehicles which are licensed that are used to transport persons or objects. Examples are automobiles, trucks, buses, station wagons and vans.

• 0733 Furniture and Fixtures. Expenditures for equipment used for sitting; as a support for writing and work activities; and, a storage space for material items.

• 0734 Technology Equipment. Expenditures for computers and other technology equipment.

• Examples are computers, laser printers, CD ROM equipment, VCRs, Software, etc.

• 0735 Non-Capital Equipment. Expenditures for items classified as equipment, but costing less than the district policy for capital assets inventory. Alternatively, non-capital equipment may be coded as a supply to an object in the 0600 series.

• 0739 Other Equipment. Expenditures for all other equipment not classified elsewhere in the 0730 object series.

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• Questions have arisen related to At-Risk funding calculations for FY19-20.

• At-Risk calculations have not changed. The funding calculations are accurate and reflect the School Finance Act.

• July through November state share payments are calculated based upon projected funded pupil counts and at-risk counts.

• The December/January mid-year true up incorporates actual funded pupil counts and at-risk counts.

• The calculation of Free lunch percent in Grades 1-8 compared to K-12 Free lunch counts is disabled during the projection period (July through November) and enabled with actual counts (December through June).

• The presentation of this calculation is not as clear as possible. We will be revising how this is shown to avoid confusion moving forward.

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• FY18-19 CDE-40 Transportation Reimbursement Claim Forms• Being processed

• Districts with questionable figures reported are being contacted• +/- 20% change from previous year

• Uploaded audit documents being reviewed

• CDE is required to make payments by October 15th, 2019

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• FY2019-2020 FPP Meeting Schedule• Thursday, October 24, 2019• Thursday, January 30, 2020• Thursday March 26, 2020• Thursday, June 4, 2020

• http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/sffpp

• New FPP Members through 2023• Amanda Smith - Poudre R-1 (NC Region)• Jana Schleusner - Douglas County (Metro)• Jodi Poulin District 49 (Pikes Peak)• Dawn Chavez - Crowley County (SE Region) • Wendy Everett - Telluride R-1 (WC Region)

• New BOCES Members through 2021• Eric Dorn - Centennial BOCES

• New Charter School Liaison Members through 2021• Cameron Gehlen - Compass Montessori (Charter Liaison)

• New District Alternate through 2020• Brad Arnold - Cherry Creek 5 (Metro Region)

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Web Resources: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance

• School Finance Main Page• About

• Financial Transparency for Colorado Schools

• School Finance Training's

• Public School Finance Act

• Categorical and Other State Funding

• Mill Levies and Override Revenues

• Reports Provided by Other Agencies

• Financial Policies and Procedures

• Statutory Compliance and Reporting

• Other Resources

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