Date:
To:
From:
Subject:
August 6, 2018
School District State Aid Designees
BOCES District Superintendents (For Information)
Director of Education Finance
Release of 2018-19 State Aid Management System (SAMS), including the ST-3 Annual Financial Report
Pursuant to NYS Education Law §3601, the ST-3 Annual Financial Report and State Aid Claim Form Sets A, FT and FB are due Tuesday, September 4th, 2018.
Please note that an attestation was added to the 2017-18 SAMS ST-3 certification Affidavit of Superintendent or Chancellor: The certification affidavit now includes an attestation that the reported expenditures on ST-3 Supplemental Schedule SS-8 (Community Schools Set-aside Expenditures) will be, with the exception of CSGI Cohort 1 funds, used to supplement and not supplant district expenditures for eligible programs and services.
The Office of the State Comptroller also requires the ST-3 Annual Financial Report certification page to be completed and mailed to the address shown below. Please do not send this form to the Education Department. This form should be signed by the treasurer and returned to the Office of the State Comptroller at the following address:
Office of the State Comptroller
Local Government and School Accountability
Data Management Unit 12-8-C
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12236-0001
Attention: Edward Burgess
Important Changes for the 2018-19 SAMS Claim Year Reporting
Form Set A – Attendance
- On Form A, new edits have been added to Section C for Grade 9 Occupational Education Program Enrollment (Big 5 + Non-Cmp). For lines G9 65 through G9 68, an exception will appear if the entered value differs from prior year values by 25% or >30; and for lines G9 69 through G9 70d, an exception will appear if the entered value differs from prior year values by 30% or >30,000.
- Attendance data reported on Schedules A-1 through A-5, and on Schedule A-8 for Extraordinary Condition Days is now collected for individual grade levels. SAMS will calculate the K-3, 4-6, 7-8 & 9-12 ADA & ADM 17-18 SY values at the bottom of Schedule A-4 based on the data input, but projected values will still need to be entered for the 18-19 SY.
Form Set FB – Building and Misc.
- Form FB Schedule W: The form for claiming aid on water testing and remediation expenditures was substantially modified in 2017-18 SAMS.
- Form FB Interest Rate Reduction Waiver Application Form: After several years of deferred implementation, the provision reducing interest rates after ten years was put in effect in 2017-18 SAMS. The information requested on this form will impact waivers for your projected and actual 2019-20 aid. Please be sure to complete this form.
Form Set FT – Transportation
- The new automated Bus Purchase Approval system was added to 2017-18 SAMS last summer. Please do not submit any paper SA-16 forms to SED for buses purchased after 6/30/17. SED will not process these as districts will be entering them into the new SAMS bus purchase form during the 18-19 school year.
Form Set ST-3
- Click below for information regarding the ST-3 changes for the upcoming claim year:
http://stateaid.nysed.gov/st3/st3change_fiscal_year_end_063018.htm - Schedule SS-8 for reporting Community Schools Set aside expenditures was significantly modified in 2017-18 SAMS.
- Due to GASB 75, Part II of the Statement of Non-Current Governmental Liabilities (Supplemental Schedule SS-2) was removed SS-2 and districts will no longer need to report these details on their Other Post-Employment Benefits.
- The following new revenue and expenditures codes for Local Government Records Management Improvement Grant were added in the Special Aid Fund:
- Special Aid Fund Revenues - Schedule B2:
- Line 7a F3060 Records Management (Local Government Records Management Improvement Grant)
- Special Aid Fund Expenditures - Schedule B3:
- Records Management Officer
Line 1a F1460.15 Instructional Salaries
Line 1b F1460.16 Noninstructional Salaries
LIne 1c F1460.2 Equipment
Line 1d F1460.4 Contractual and Other
Line 1e F1460.45 Materials and Supplies
Line 1f F1460.49 BOCES Services
Line 1g FT1460.0 Total Records Management Officer
- Records Management Officer
- Special Aid Fund Revenues - Schedule B2:
- Two new edits were added for Medicaid Assistance-School Age-School Year Programs (A4601) revenues on General Fund Schedule A3 - Grant Revenues: one that compares prior to current year and one that compares current year to projected.
- In 2017-18 SAMS, the following edits were added:
- Comparing reported charter school payments to the total reported charter school resident FTE enrollment on Form A Schedule U multiplied by the charter school basic tuition rates.
- Confirming that debt service items reported in “Other” items on Schedule F2 should not be reported in the predefined debt service items.
- Ensuring that districts do not report principal payments that result in a negative ending balance for Other Debt Principal on the SS-1.
- For the Community Schools Set-Aside form (SS-8), two new edits for the actual column ensure that expenditure data is reported when there is a Community Schools Set-aside amount, and ensure that total expenditures reported are equal to or greater than the Community Schools Set-aside amount.]
- Prior year data was added for the following funds:
- Schedule B2 - Special Aid Fund Revenues
- Schedule B3 - Special Aid Fund Expenditures
- Schedule C2 - School Food Service Programs Revenues
- Schedule C3 - School Food Service Programs Expenditures
- Schedule E2 - Public Library Fund Revenues
- Schedule E3 - Public Library Fund Expenditures
- Schedule G2 - Capital Funds Revenues by Project
- Schedule G3 - Capital Funds - Expenditures by Project and by Control Account
- Schedule I2 - Permanent Fund Revenues and Expenditures
- Schedule J2 - Misc Special Revenue Fund Revenues and Expenditures
- Schedule K2 - Private Purpose Trust Fund Statement of Activities
Important Reminders
- If you issued debt between 7/1/17 and 6/30/18 for purchasing school buses, please complete and certify Form set F6 by Tuesday, September 4, 2018 even if none of your other SAMS forms are complete.
- Please check that all contact information on the SAMS entity screen is up-to-date, including extension numbers and email addresses.
Less than Eight Teacher Districts
If your district is currently classified as a "less than eight teacher" district but you anticipate the possibility of claiming State Aid and/or becoming a "major district" at any time in the near future you should begin submitting state aid claim forms now. This is because many aid calculations depend upon data from two to three prior years.SAMS General Instructions & Passwords
SAMS can be accessed from the State Aid Web site at http://stateaid.nysed.gov or from the main New York State Education Department home page at http://www.nysed.gov (look for the Portal Login at the upper right of this page).Districts should use SEDDAS (State Education Department Delegated Account System) to create, disable accounts or reset passwords. For procedures for a new superintendent's account/password go to http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/sedrefupdate.htmFor detailed SAMS operating instructions/training materials go to the SAMS Information Tab on the State Aid web site. The SAMS Training Manual, Frequently Asked Questions about SAMS, "Introduction to State Aid Management System" slide show and other important tips for working in SAMS can be found there.Certification Requirements
An electronic certification form for each form set must be completed by the Superintendent to submit State Aid claim forms. By certifying a form set, the Superintendent’s action constitutes his or her official submission of that data to SED. The electronic signature is the legal equivalent of a handwritten signature.Please note that an attestation was added to the 2017-18 SAMS ST-3 certification Affidavit of Superintendent or Chancellor: The certification affidavit now includes an attestation that the reported expenditures on ST-3 Supplemental Schedule SS-8 (Community Schools Set-aside Expenditures) will be, with the exception of CSGI Cohort 1 funds, used to supplement and not supplant district expenditures for eligible programs and services.
The Office of the State Comptroller also requires the ST-3 Annual Financial Report certification page to be completed and mailed to the address shown below. Please do not send this form to the Education Department. This form should be signed by the treasurer and returned to the Office of the State Comptroller at the following address:
Office of the State Comptroller
Local Government and School Accountability
Data Management Unit 12-8-C
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12236-0001
Attention: Edward Burgess
Timely Submission of Claim Data: INITIAL CERTIFIED SUBMISSION
- All SAMS Form Sets must be certified by September 4th. District superintendents and public school superintendents are requested to supervise the completion and timely submission of the aid claim and projections by the school districts for which each is responsible. Since late filing of required forms will delay payment of State Aid, every effort should be made to meet the specified due date.
- Payments can take a week to prepare and are required to be submitted to the Office of the State Comptroller
two weeks prior to the mandated payment date. Therefore, claims should be submitted three weeks prior to a
mandated payment date (e.g., claim data must be submitted by September 25th for a payment to be made on or
before October 16th in order to ensure that the payment due will be received in October).
- If all required reports are not received by September 4th, the school district will receive automated reminders that State Aid apportionments payable to the school district, other than payments to the Teachers Retirement System on the district's behalf, will be withheld pursuant to Section 3604(11) of the Education Law pending receipt of all reports due. Automated reminders will be sent to the State Aid Designee first. Subsequent reminders will also include the school superintendent, the district superintendent, and the president of the board of education.
- Please do not wait for completion of your independent audit in order to submit your ST-3 and other claim forms! All form sets can be submitted separately, and all data can be revised multiple times after submission.
Timely Submission of Claim Data: REVISIONS AFTER CERTIFICATION
Throughout the legislative cycle each year the Governor and the Legislature use districts and BOCES State Aid claims and projections to predict the fiscal impact of various legislative proposals affecting school aid formulas. The resulting predictions of fiscal impact are only as accurate as the data that has been filed with the Education Department.School districts and BOCES should review and revise SAMS data as necessary. Review should be timed to be consistent with Section 305(21)(b) of the Education Law which requires the Commissioner of Education to update that data used by the Governor and the Legislature on November 15, February 15 and May 15. In order for the Education Department to process all data revisions and corrections prior to each of these data updates, revisions and corrections should be submitted no later than the following specified dates.| Date of Electronic Data File Update for the Governor and Legislature | Principal Purpose of the Data File |
Revisions in the Education Department by: |
|---|---|---|
| November 15 | Executive Budget Proposal | November 1 * |
| February 15 | Budget Negotiations and Enacted Budget | January 15 |
May 15 |
Updated Enacted Budget projections and June current year aid payments. | April 15 |
*This is a deadline for revisions to already submitted claims, not the deadline for original
submission, which pursuant to NYS Education Law is Tuesday, September 4th, 2018. In addition, due to
lengthier processing time, revisions to capital project costs, SA-139 forms and STAC data should be
submitted by mid-October to affect the November 15th data file.
Submission of the Independent Audit Report
The report of the annual audit of the school district's records by an independent certified public accountant or an independent public accountant (Independent Audit Report) is due in the Department on October 15, 2018 for districts other than the five large dependent city school districts. Please note that upon receipt of the Independent Audit Report, the district must reconcile its financial reports and implement any audit recommendations. Any resulting revisions to the ST-3 or the State Aid forms must be submitted via SAMS to the State Education Department. The Independent Audit Report should be sent to the following address or Electronic submission of financial statements to FSandSingleAudit@nysed.gov:
New York State Education Department
Office of Audit Services
89 Washington Avenue, Room 524 EB
Albany, NY 12234
To verify that receipt of the independent audit has been logged into SAMS, select the
"SED Only" form set from the menu, choose the Independent Audit Form and confirm
that the date independent audit received has been entered by SED Audit Services.
| Questions Regarding | Please Call or email |
|---|---|
| SAMS/SAMS Problems | State Aid Office: (518) 474-2977 |
| RSU | Rate Setting Unit (518) 474-3227 |
| CPSE | STAC Unit (518) 474-7116 |
| Login/User Id Help | SEDDAS Help Desk (518) 473-8832 |
| Other Questions |
State Aid Staff Assignments Functional Directory State Aid Unit at (518) 474-2977 |
Last Updated:
August 12, 2019