Date:

To:
 


From:

Subject:

September 2021

District Superintendents of BOCES
BOCES State Aid Designees

 

Office of State Aid

Release of 2021-2022 BOCES State Aid Management System (SAMS)

SAMS BOCES Aid Claim is due Tuesday October 1st, 2021

SAMS Changes for 2020-2021 Claim Year Reporting

  1. Removed Schedules in SAMS
    a. Schedule 1
    b. Schedule 2
    c. Schedule 3
  1. Edits removed from the Edit Report
    a. Schedule 1, Edit 1
    b. Schedule 1, Edit 2
  1. New Edits added to the Edit Report
    a. Excess Salary Edit 91
    1. Comparison of the excess salary amounts reported by provider BOCES to the purchasing BOCES.

    b. Unapproved Services Edit 4
    1. Comparison of the unapproved service expense amounts reported provider BOCES to the purchasing BOCES.
Please note: If you are reporting and another BOCES has not reported their figures; there will be a difference in both new edits. If this occurs; please provide a comment on the difference.

Important Reporting Instructions & Reminders

  1. Pursuant to NYS General Municipal Law 6-p (11), NYS Education Law 1950 (5), and previous SED direction to impacted BOCES, excess OPEB funds returned to school districts by BOCES, where such funds generated BOCES Aid at the time they were originally collected, must be deducted from allocated expenses for current year BOCES Aid to avoid overpayment of State Aid.
  1. District expenses funded with Smart School Bond Act SSBA) funds are not BOCES aidable. BOCES should include any component expenses funded by SSBA in the MISC_DED_REV_CMP data area, along with any other deductible grants/funds.
  1. District expenses funded with Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act; Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act; and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act are not BOCES aidable. BOCES should include any component expenses funded by SSBA in the MISC_DED_REV_CMP data area, along with any other deductible grants/funds.
  1. District expenses for Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) – related services funded with P-TECH grant funds are not BOCES aidable. BOCES must ask all districts that purchased P-TECH - related services in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, from their own or another BOCES, whether P-TECH grant funds supported some or all of those purchases. BOCES should include any component P-TECH grant amounts used to purchase P-TECH services in the MISC_DED_REV_CMP data area, along with any other deductible grants/funds. (P-TECH funds may be used to support the unreimbursed local share of BOCES costs. A local school district may pay BOCES tuition charged for a P-TECH grant out of district general fund expenditures in the first year, then the non-aided portion of the first tuition can be received in grant funds (during the period of the grant) in the following year.)
  1. District projected 2020-2021 expenses to be funded with Community Schools Set-aside funds are BOCES aidable, as long as the expenditures are for eligible community schools purposes, and supplement but not supplant the district’s previous community schools expenditures.

SAMS General Instructions & Passwords

BOCES SAMS can be accessed from the State Aid Web site or from the main New York State Education Department home page (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 BOCES district superintendent's account/password go to http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sedrefupdate.htm

For detailed SAMS operating instructions/training materials go to the SAMS/Training Material Tab on the State Aid web site where you will find the BOCES SAMS Training Manual and MS PowerPoint presentations from past training sessions.

Certification Requirements

An electronic certification form must be completed by the BOCES District Superintendent to submit the BOCES State Aid claim via SAMS. By certifying the claim, 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 check well in advance of certification that the District Superintendent’s password has not expired.

Timely Submission of Claim Data: INITIAL CERTIFIED SUBMISSION

A complete BOCES SAMS State Aid claim must be certified by October 1st. Assistant Superintendent’s for Business and BOCES superintendents are requested to supervise the completion and timely submission of the aid claim and projections. Since late, incomplete and/or inaccurate submission will affect your components’ projections of BOCES Aid in the Executive budget proposal, every effort should be made to meet the specified due date and provide accurate and comprehensive data.

If all required reports are not received by October 1st, the BOCES will receive reminders that the aid claim is due. Reminders will be sent to the State Aid Designee first. Subsequent reminders will also include the BOCES district superintendent, and the president of the Board of Education.

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.

BOCES should review and revise SAMS data as necessary following initial certification, especially to update projected expense and deductions as additional contracts are added. 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 1* Executive Budget Proposal November 15
January 15 Budget Negotiations and Enacted Budget February 15

April 15
Updated Enacted Budget projections and June current year aid payments.
Mayl 15

*This is a deadline for revisions to already submitted claims, not the deadline for original submission, which is Tuesday, October 1st, 2021.

Please report problems and questions via email at BOCES@nysed.gov. This link is available on the top right of the SAMS screen. Please include your phone number and extension in the e-mail, and please list your 6-digit BOCES code at the beginning of the subject line. Email Ashley Weil or call at: 518-474-2977.

Last Updated: October 5, 2021