Date:
To:
From:
Subject:
July 2012
Superintendents of Public School Districts and State Aid Designees
District Superintendents (For Information)
New York City Department of Education
Andrea Hyary, Bureau Chief
Office of State Aid
Collection of 2012-13 State Aid Claims and Projections,
Including the Annual Financial Report Form ST-3, via the
State Aid Management System (SAMS)
Due Tuesday September 4th, 2012
Important Changes from Last Year
Form Set A – Attendance
| Updated Items: | Updated Schedule C- Designation of 2011-12 Textbook, Software, Library Materials
and Hardware Expenses (TSLH) for 2012-13 Instructional Materials Aids. For more information please see: https://stateaid.nysed.gov/tsl/html_docs/amendments_statutes_tsl_2011_12.htm |
Form Set FB – Building and Misc.
| Updated Items: | Updated Schedule N - Security camera expense claimed cannot exceed $35,000 |
Form Set ST-3
The ST-3 Edit Report has undergone significant changes intended to streamline the editing process and focus attention on unusual trends in expenditure and revenue data. Please review the edit report carefully. Feel free to contact the State Aid office if you have any questions or concerns about any edits.
- New Supplemental Schedule SS-9 - Report of Excess EBALR Funds Withdrawn in 2011-12
- General Fund - Expenditures - New Section of Accounts for "School Store" Actual and
Projected,
New Item - Deficiency Notes - Interest - General Fund - Revenues - New Account added for "School Store Sales" Actual and
Projected
Balance Sheets - New Items added to many Balance Sheets related to Deficiency Notes - Special Aid Fund Revenue and Expenditure Schedules - New Sections to account for Tuition for Students Attending State Supported Schools for the Blind & Deaf - 10 month, School Age & Preschool (Section 4201)
For a detailed summary of this and other ST-3 changes for 2012-13 Claim Year see:
http://stateaid.nysed.gov/st3/st3change_fiscal_year_end_063012.htm
Important Reminders
- If you issued debt for buses between 7/1/11 and 6/30/12, please certify Form set F6 by September 1, 2012 even if none of your other SAMS forms are complete.
- It is critical that the e-mail address and phone number including extension on SAMS entity screen are up-to-date so that important communications are not misdirected.
- Some districts are still saving corrections & revisions but not submitting them! Please be
sure to use the submit changes link on the form tree/menu to ensure that revisions are actually
transmitted to SED. Just saving a revision will not transmit it to SED.
Click on the link below for a quick power point training on SAMS Revision Submission.
Link to How to do Revisions in SAMS (
609 KB)
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 lower left of this page).
Districts should use SEDDAS (State Education Department Delegated Account System) to create, disable accounts or reset passwords. Procedures for new superintendents accounts/passwords 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
Separate electronic certification forms 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. 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:
State of New York
Office of the State Comptroller
Division of Municipal
Affairs
Albany, NY 12236
Attn: Anthony J. Dolan
Timely Submission of Claim Data
All SAMS Form Sets must be certified by September 4th, except Schedule F6 which is due September 1st. District superintendents and public school superintendents are requested to supervise the completion and timely submission of the 2012-13 aid claim and projection 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 24th for a payment to be made on or before October 15th in order to ensure that the payment due will be received in October). It is also extremely important that all items receive careful scrutiny in order that misleading or inaccurate information is not ultimately used in State Aid payments or in projections to be released by the Governor and the Legislature.
If all required reports are not received by September 4th, the school district will be reminded 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.
Importance of Submitting Data Revisions By Specific Dates
Throughout the legislative cycle each year the Governor and the Legislature use State Aid claims and projections that have been submitted to the Education Department by school districts and BOCES 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, therefore, should review all data submitted on a regularly scheduled basis and submit identified revisions or corrections to the Education Department. 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 received from school districts and BOCES prior to each of these data updates, school districts and BOCES should submit such revisions and corrections to the Department 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 |
Adjusted State Fiscal Projections or Enacted Budget (If State Budget is late and the Governor and Legislature | April 15 |
*This is a deadline for revisions to already submitted claims, not the deadline for original submission, which is Tuesday, September 4, 2012. 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, 2012 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 changes 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 FSandA133@mail.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, go to SED only form set, Independent Audit Form and confirm that the date independent audit received has been entered by SED Audit Services.
CONTACTS FOR QUESTIONS
State Aid office staff are available to provide any assistance you need with your SAMS submission. Please do not hesitate to call. Questions regarding data collection procedures or the data requested should be directed as follows or to an e-mail address listed on the State Aid Web page:
| Questions Regarding | Please Call or email |
|---|---|
| SAMS/SAMS Problems | David Fedorchak (518) 474-2977/ dfedorch@mail.nysed.gov |
| Form A - Attendance & Schedules | State Aid / Grant Miller (518) 474-2977/ gmiller2@mail.nysed.gov |
| Form FB - Building Items & Schedules | State Aid/Louise Gallerie or Lynn Butler (518) 474-2977/ lgalleri@mail.nysed.gov or lbutler@mail.nysed.gov |
| Form FT - Transportation & Schedules | State Aid / Louise Gallerie (518) 474-2977 lgalleri@mail.nysed.gov |
| ST-3 | State Aid/Jim Hayden (518) 474-2977 jhayden@mail.nysed.gov
Office of State Comptroller at (518) 474-4014 |
| RSU | Rate Setting Unit (518) 474-3227 |
| CPSE | STAC, Special Aids & Medicaid 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 |