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August 12, 2019

School District State Aid Designees
BOCES District Superintendents (For Information)

Storme Sing-Wai
Bureau Chief

Release of 2019-20 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 3rd, 2019.

Important Changes for the 2019-20 SAMS Claim Year Reporting

Form Set A – Attendance

  • Form A itself did not change from last year, but there have been many changes made to the Superintendent certification. Please be sure to read through it for compliance prio to certifying.
  • NEW FORM COMING SOON. SAMS will in a subsequent release update have a new Form "180 days calendar" to facilitate assessment of the new minimum instruction requirement, which amended the previous requirement of a daily minimum number of hours for each of the 180 days (5.0/5.5 hours) to an annual aggregate number of hours over the period of 180 days in total (900/990 hours).

    The Board of Regents has adopted an emergency amendment to the minimum instructional time requirement regulations instituting a waiver for school districts that cannot meet the minimum instructional hours because of safety and/or scheduling issues. The SAMS release update will include a certification waiver form.

    More information on this process will be forthcoming from the State Aid Office later this summer. In the meantime, school districts should continue to complete the model calendars for the 2018-19 school year for each separate school (and grade level, where appropriate). The SAMS release update will include upload capabilities for these calendar(s).

Form Set FB – Building and Misc.

  • Building Condition Survey: 2019-20 expenditure projection data should be reported on Form FB Line 139.
  • Form FB Schedule W: The form for claiming aid on water testing and remediation Line 7 projection amount should only include water testing expenditures in 2019-20 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 2020-21 aid. Please be sure to complete this form.
  • Prior year Form FB form ST-3 related lines have been moved to the ST-3 this year. Therefore, Form FB lines 159,160,161,168,169,170,171,172 & 173 are not used as these line items are now included in the ST-3 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

All changes to the 2019-20 SAMS ST-3 can be found on the ST-3 Information page.

Below are some of the significant changes:

  • New accounts:
    • Exhibit A (Line 45a): A688 ‘Other Liabilities’.
    • Exhibit A (Line 59a): A828 ‘Reserve for Teachers' Retirement System Contributions’.
    • Schedule A3 (Line 30k): A2307 ‘Transportation for Foster Students’ (current year and projected).
    • Schedule A4a, under new section ‘Security of Plant’ (current year and projected):
      • Line 95a. Noninstructional Salaries    A1622.16
      • Line 95b. Equipment    A1622.2
      • Line 95c. Contractual and Other    A1622.4
      • Line 95d. Total Security of Plant    A1622.0
    • Schedule A4b, under new section ‘Programs for English Language Learners (ELL)’ (current year and projected):
      • Line 191a. Instructional Salaries    A2259.15
      • Line 191b. Noninstructional Salaries    A2259.16
      • Line 191c. Equipment    A2259.2
      • Line 191d. Contractual and Other    A2259.4
      • Line 191e. BOCES Services    A2259.49 *
      • Line 191f. Total Programs for ELL    A2259.
        • * Account A2259.49 replaces account A2110.49 (Line 179.). Therefore, only the prior year amount for Line 179 will be displayed. In 2020-21 SAMS, this line will be changed to ‘Not Used’.
    • Exhibit B under new section ‘Nonspendable’, Line 54 ‘Not in Spendable Form’.
    • Schedule B3, under ‘Records Management Officer’, Line 1g was changed to F1460.8 (‘Employee Benefits’) (current year and projected). Line 1g was moved to Line 1h.
    • Schedule B3, under new section ‘Security of Plant’ (current year and projected):
      • Line 14a. Noninstructional Salaries    F1622.16
      • Line 14b. Equipment    F1622.2
      • Line 14c. Contractual and Other    F1622.4
      • Line 14d. Employee Benefits    F1622.8
      • Line 14e. Total Security of Plant    F1622.0
    • Schedule B3, under new section ‘Programs for English Language Learners (ELL)’ (current year and projected):
      • Line 110e. Instructional Salaries    F2259.15
      • Line 110f. Noninstructional Salaries    F2259.16
      • Line 110g. Equipment    F2259.2
      • Line 110h. Contractual and Other    F2259.4
      • Line 110i. BOCES Services    F2259.49
      • Line 110j. Employee Benefits    F2259.8
      • Line 110k. Total Programs for ELL    F2259.0
    • Schedule G2 (Line 2a): H2710 ‘Premium on Obligations’.
    • Schedule G3, under new section ‘Security of Plant’ (current year only):
      • Line 1a. Noninstructional Salaries H1622.16
      • Line 1b. Equipment H1622.2
      • Line 1c. Contractual and Other H1622.4
      • Line 1d. Employee Benefits H1622.8
      • Line 1e. Total Security of Plant H1622.0
  • Prior year data added for Exhibit A.
  • Two new lines were added to Exhibit A at the bottom of the form:
    • Line 86 ‘Total Unexpended Surplus Funds in excess of 4% limit’.
      Current year is a calculated amount and projected amount must be entered by the district. This information was previously reported on Form FB Line 171.
    • Line 87 ‘Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance (A914)’.
      Current year is carried from Line 73 and projected amount must be entered by the district. This information was previously reported on Form FB Line 172.
  • On Schedule A3, Line 32 (A2350) ‘Youth Services, Other Governments’ has been the wording been changed to ‘Youth Services, Other Governments (DO NOT include Transportation Services Revenues)’.
  • Schedule A3, for Line 70 ‘Other Unclassified Revenue’ (A2770), a description of the ‘Other Unclassified Revenue’ must be entered.
  • Projected year user entered fields added for both Special Aid Fund Schedules B2 (revenues) and B3 (expenditures).
  • Schedule B2, for Line 8 ‘Other Local Revenues’ (F2770), a description of the ‘Other Local Revenues’ must be entered.
  • Community Schools Set Aside Supplemental Schedule SS-8:
    • The following note was added to the ‘Important’ section at the top of the form:
      ‘Any district whose 2017-18 Community Schools increase amount exceeded one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall continue to use an amount equal to the greater of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or ten percent of that increase to support Community Schools transformation at schools with extraordinary high levels of student need, as designated by the Commissioner of Education, including at least $100,000 specifically in such designated schools. For a list of designated schools, please see Appendix A.
    • Line 2 was changed from ‘Allowable Academic Services 2016-17’ to ‘Not Used’. No data will be displayed or entered for this Line
    • For Line 3, ‘Allowable Academic Services 2017-18 (Allowable Programs for English Language Learners should be reported below)’ will be changed to ‘Allowable Academic Services (Allowable Programs for English Language Learners should be reported below)’ and projected data now will have to be entered if applicable
    • For Line 4, ‘Allowable Health, Mental Health and Counseling, and Dental Care Services’, the following additional data will now be collected for actual and projected:
      • 4a. School-Based Health Centers
      • 4b. Other Health Services
      • 4c. School-Based Mental Health Clinics
      • 4d. Other Mental Health and Counseling Services
      • 4e. Dental Care Services
      Line 4 is now a formula that sums Lines 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, and 4e.
    • Line 7 ‘Other Allowable Services 2016-17’ was changed to ‘Not Used’. No data will be displayed or entered for this Line.
    • Line 8 was changed form ‘Other Allowable Services 2017-18 (Extended Day Programs should be reported in After School Programs below)’ to ‘Other Allowable Services (Extended Day Programs should be reported in After School Programs below)’ and projected data now will have to be entered if applicable.
    • Line 12 was changed from ‘After School Programs 2017-18’ to ‘After School Programs’.
    • Line 13 was changed from ‘Allowable Programs for English Language Learners (ELLs) 2017-18’ to ‘Allowable Programs for English Language Learners (ELLs)’.
  • Schedule A5: General Fund Expenditures for the Microsoft Settlement NYS school Technology Voucher Program (STVP)’ has been removed
  • New ST-3 Edits:
    • Edit 18c - When district entered data for Exhibit A, A913 ‘Committed Fund Balance’, the district will have to provide an explanation of what the ‘Committed Fund Balance’ is for
    • Edit 18d - This was previously Form FB Edit 46 and relates to changes from prior to current year for ‘Total Unexpended Surplus Funds PLUS Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance’ (Exhibit A Line 86).
    • Edit 18e - This was previously Form FB Edit 47 and relates to changes from current year to projected for ‘Total Unexpended Surplus Funds PLUS Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance’ (Exhibit A Line 86).
    • Edit 18f - This was previously Form FB Edit 48 and relates to changes from prior year to current for ‘Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance’ (Exhibit A Line 87).
    • Edit 18g - This was previously Form FB Edit 49 and relates to changes form current year to projected for ‘Assigned Appropriated Fund Balance’ (Exhibit A Line 87).
    • Edit 86a - This was previously Form FB Edit 50 and relates to changes from prior year to current for Account F1988.4 (Special Items - Indirect Cost (Undistributed), Line 15) on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86b - This was previously Form FB Edit 51 and relates to changes from current year to projected for Account F1988.4 (Special Items - Indirect Cost (Undistributed), Line 15) on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86c - This was previously Form FB Edit 40 and relates to changes from prior year to current for Account FT3999 (Total State Aid, Line 15) on Schedule B2.
    • Edit 86d - This was previously Form FB Edit 41 and relates to changes from current year to projected for Account FT3999 (Total State Aid, Line 15) on Schedule B2.
    • Edit 86e - This was previously Form FB Edit 42 and relates to changes from prior year to current for Account FT4999 (Total Federal Aid, Line 25) on Schedule B2.
    • Edit 86f - This was previously Form FB Edit 43 and relates to changes from current year to projected for Account FT4999 (Total Federal Aid, Line 25) on Schedule B2.
    • Edit 86g - This was previously Form FB Edit 44 and relates to changes from prior year to current for the sum of account FT2999 (Total Revenues from Local Sources, Line 10), FT3999 (Total State Aid, Line 15), and FT4999 (Total Federal Aid, Line 25) on Schedule B2 and FT5059 on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86h - This was previously Form FB Edit 45 and relates to changes from current year to projected for the sum of account FT2999 (Total Revenues from Local Sources, Line 10), FT3999 (Total State Aid, Line 15), and FT4999 (Total Federal Aid, Line 25) on Schedule B2 and FT5059 on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86i - This was previously Form FB Edit 26 and relates to changes from prior year to current for Account FT9999 (TOTAL SPECIAL AID FUND EXPENDITURES AND INTERFUND TRANSFERS, Line 266) on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86j - This relates to changes from current year to projected for Account FT9999 (TOTAL SPECIAL AID FUND EXPENDITURES AND INTERFUND TRANSFERS, Line 266) on Schedule B3.
    • Edit 86k - This was previously Form FB Edit 52 and relates to changes from current year to projected for total tuition paid to other public school districts in NYS excluding Special Act School Districts (total of accounts A2110.471 (Line 174), A2250.471 (Line 186), A2280.471 (Line 197) and A2330.471 (Line 207) from General Fund - Schedule A4b plus the total of accounts F2250.471 (Line 71), F2251.471 (Line 83), F2252.471 (Line 94) and F2253.471 (Line 105) from Special Aid Fund - Schedule B3).
    • Edit 86l - This was previously Form FB Edit 53 and relates to changes from current year to projected for total transportation (total of accounts AT5599.0 (Line 318) from General Fund - Schedule A4c plus the total of accounts F5599.0 (Line 230) from Special Aid Fund - Schedule B3)).

Important Reminders

  1. If you issued debt between 7/1/18 and 6/30/19 for purchasing school buses, please complete and certify Form set F6 by Tuesday, September 3, 2019 even if none of your other SAMS forms are complete.
  2. 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.htm

For 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.

As a reminder, an attestation was added to the SAMS ST-3 certification Affidavit of Superintendent or Chancellor: As of 2017-18 SAMS, the certification affidavit 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 3rd. 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 3rd, 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

Table of Dates for Electronic Data File Updates
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 3rd, 2019. 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, 2019 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 submitted using the NYSED Portal (NYSED Portal Tutorial). For more information on submission of the Independent Audit Report see the Office of Audit Service’s website.

Any questions related to submissions of the Independent Audit should be submitted to FSandSingleAudit@nysed.gov.

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.

CONTACTS FOR QUESTIONS
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