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August 19, 2025

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

Storme Sing-Wai
Bureau Chief

Release of 2025-2026 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 2nd, 2025.



Significant Changes for the 2025-2026 SAMS Claim Year Reporting



Form Set A & 180 Days Calendar – Attendance

  • Form A – Per §3602(10)(b), selected grades for Occupational Education Program Enrollment Counts now include grade 9. Form A now includes new entry boxes in Part VI, sections C, lines G9 65 through G9 68, Actual values. Additional boxes have been added in the prior year column to both section C & D, lines G9 65 through G9 70d.
  • Lines 7-10 relating to UPK counts have been removed.

Form Set FB – Building and Miscellaneous

  • Building Condition Survey (BCS): BCS actual and projected square footage & expenditure data should be reported on Form FB Lines 138 & 139. Please note the following restrictions:

    • Only districts on SED Office of Facilities Planning 2024 and 2025 BCS assignment list and NYC can apply for 2025-2026 BCS aid.

    • Only districts on SED Office of Facilities Planning 2025 and 2026 BCS assignment lists and NYC can report 2025-2026 projections.

  • Form FB Interest Rate Reduction Waiver Application Form: The information requested on this form regards the provision reducing interest rates after ten years. Data will impact waivers for your projected and actual 2026-2027 aid. Please be sure to complete this form and put in the READY state, selecting Yes or No for waiver eligibility for each project listed.

  • Capital Outlay Exception Aid (COEA) projects: For Emergency and/or $100,000 or less COEA projects reported on ST3 Schedule G3, please be sure to submit a SA-139 or Final Cost Report to State Aid. These claims cannot be processed unless these forms are on file. Please contact Facilities Planning at emscfp@nysed.gov with questions regarding approval of COEA projects.

  • Form FB Schedule N: Security camera expenses claimed on this form cannot exceed $35,000. For additional information see https://p12.nysed.gov/facplan/SecurityCameraMCA051711.html . To avoid aid ineligibility, contact Facilities Planning now if security camera purchase/installation planned for the upcoming school year may exceed a total of $35,000.

Form Set FT – Transportation

  • Form BP:
    • Bus Purchase form, Line 24a, has been changed to NYSBIP School Bus Voucher.
    • The Bus Purchase Ceiling Max was updated by a factor of the CPI for buses with a purchase order date on or after 7/1/2024.

  • Schedule F6: Bus Amortization:
    • A new dropdown exclusively for BANs - “Bus Amortization – BANs” and “Bus Amortization – Bonds”.

  • Schedule G:
    • Dropdown options for specific ST-3 code.

  • Schedule H:
    • Dropdown options for specific ST-3 code.

  • Schedule I:
    • Dropdown options for specific ST-3 code.

Form Set ST-3

All changes to the 2025-2026 SAMS ST-3 can be found at https://stateaid.nysed.gov/st3/.

Below are some of the significant changes:
  • Purchase of Zero-Emission Buses: Schedule A4c line 331a, Schedule B3 line 247a, and Schedule G3 lines 3a and 15b were all added to record purchases of Zero-Emission Buses. Whichever fund (General, Special Aid, or Capital, respectively) the purchase was made out of should determine the correct line to report the purchase on.

  • Schedule G2: A Zero-Emissions Buses section has been added, encompassing lines 46-66. All sections below have had their line numbers changed to fit in this new section but remain the same otherwise.

  • Schedule F2: Added near the end of the 2024-2025 Claim Year, on Schedule F2, lines 20a and 53a have been added to record the Principal and Interest Expense incurred during a Current Refunding of Bonds. 20a is for reporting the Principal, and 53a is for reporting the Interest.

  • No new ST-3 Edits.

Reminders for the Upcoming Claim Season
  • Specify Box Edits
    • Please fill out the specify boxes in the form on which they appear.
    • Do not fill out the information on the edit report.
    • If the edit appears with all zeros, then the zeros were loaded.

  • If a significant delay in receiving the Independent Audit prevents the district from submitting audited ST-3 data in time for the November database, please notify the State Aid Unit with a summary of the outstanding issues and the expected completion date of the audit. In the meantime, submit unaudited ST-3 data, which will be automatically flagged as Clean with Issues in the November database. After the November database is finalized, the district should promptly provide an update on the anticipated audit completion date. The claim will remain as Clean with Issues until the data has been updated with audited data and the Independent Audit has been submitted to NYSED’s Office of Audit Services.

  • If you issued debt between 7/1/24 and 6/30/25 for purchasing school buses, please complete and certify Form set F6 by September 1, 2025 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.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 2017-2018 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 sent to their office. 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:

    Email:AFRfile@osc.ny.gov
    OR
    Office of the State Comptroller
    Local Government and School Accountability Data Management Unit
    12-8-C 110 State Street
    Albany, NY 12236-0001
    Attention: Mary Berghela

    Timely Submission of Claim Data: INITIAL CERTIFIED SUBMISSION

    • All SAMS Form Sets must be certified by September 2nd. 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 2nd, 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 2nd, 2025. 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, 2025 for districts other than the five large dependent city school districts and by January 1st, 2026 for 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: OMSSAMS@nysed.gov
    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 OMSSAMS@nysed.gov
    Last Updated: August 19, 2025