Date:
To:
From:
Subject:
July 2016
School District State Aid Designees
BOCES District Superintendents (For Information)
Andrea Hyary, Bureau Chief
Office of State Aid, STAC & Medicaid
Release of 2016-17 State Aid Management System (SAMS),
including the ST-3 Annual Financial Report
Important Changes for the 2016-17 SAMS Claim Year Reporting
Form Set A – Attendance
- Added Form A entries G9 65 through G9 70d for required reporting of grade 9 occupational education enrollment and attendance data for programs operated by the five large dependent city school districts (Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, Syracuse and Yonkers) and the non-components of BOCES districts (Albany, Newburgh, Hoosick Falls and Mamaroneck).
Form Set FB – Building and Misc.
No data collection changes.
Form Set FT – Transportation
- Expanded Form FT Entry 134 to request additional information regarding shared transportation services with other districts.
- Revised Form FT Schedules G (Transportation Equipment), H (Transportation Supplies & Materials) & I (Contractual Transportation Expenses for District Operated Programs) for districts to now report only aidable expenditures from the applicable ST-3 account code line items on these schedules.
- Removed Schedule L (Expenditures for Equipment for Transportation Supervisor’s Office); these expenses should now be reported on Schedule G.
- For NYC Only: Added new Form FT Ent 176a for reporting expenditures for transportation after 4:00 p.m. pursuant to NYS Education Law §3627.
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_063016.htm - Added a new attestation to the Superintendent/Chancellor ST-3 Certification Affidavit stating 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.
- Added an ST-3 edit to notify the district if they have not completed the CPSE Administrative Forms/Schedules.
Form Set CPSE
- Added edits to the CPSE Forms/Schedules.
Important Reminders
- If you issued debt between 7/1/15 and 6/30/16, for purchasing school buses, please complete and certify Form set F6 by September 1, 2016 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 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.
Please note that an attestation was added to the 2016-17 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 CERTIFICATION 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 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).
- 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.
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 is Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015. 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, 2016 for districts other than the five large dependent city school districts (or the first Monday after October 15th if the 15th falls on a weekend). 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 FSandA133@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 |