SACS Forum Meeting Minutes, May 2020

Meeting held via webinar at the California Department of Education (CDE), Sacramento

Meeting Agenda

Announcements and Information

• Local Educational Agency (LEA) Approved Indirect Cost Rates Posted
  

• SACS2020 Budget Software Release

Accounting Update

• Postponement of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 84 (GASB 84) and 87 (GASB 87)
  
  
  • Guidance for LEAs That Have Made Changes Due to GASB 84
    
    
• Special Education Goal 5760 and the Elimination of Goals 5750 and 5770 Reminder
  
  
• Federal Funds Transferability Accounting
  
  
• COVID-19 Related Resource Codes
  
  
  • Resource 6108 – SB 89 COVID-19 Early Learning and Care (ELC) Response Funds
    
    
  • Resource 7388 – SB 117 COVID-19 LEA Response Funds
    
    
  • Resource to be Determined – Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds
    

SACS Software Update

• SACS2020 Certification and Criteria and Standards – Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) Workaround

• SACS2020ALL Software Release

Other Updates

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE) Reporting Update

• Next Meeting

Meeting Minutes

Announcements and Information

• Local Educational Agency (LEA) Approved Indirect Cost Rates Posted

The 2020–21 approved indirect cost rates have been published and can be found on the CDE’s Indirect Cost Rates (ICR) web page.

• SACS2020 Budget Software Release

The SACS2020 budget financial reporting software has been released and is available for download from the CDE’s Financial Reporting software web page.

Accounting Updates

• Postponement of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 84 (GASB 84) and 87 (GASB 87)
  
  GASB Statement 95 (GASB 95), Postponement of the Effective Dates of Certain Authoritative Guidance , was approved on May 7 and issued on May 8. The primary objective of GASB 95 is to provide temporary relief to state and local governments in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. GASB 95 extends the effective dates of certain accounting and financial reporting provisions in statements and implementation guides that were first effective for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2018.
  
  The effective year of GASB 84, Fiduciary Activities , and its Implementation Guide 2019-2, Fiduciary Activities , is postponed from  2019–20 to 2020–21.
  
  The effective year of GASB 87, Leases , and its Implementation Guide 2019–3, Leases , is postponed from FY 2020–21 to FY 2021–22. The CDE will continue the discussion regarding proposed new object codes for GASB 87 implementation at the October SACS Forum.
  
  
  • Guidance for LEAs That Have Made Changes Due to GASB 84
    
    GASB 84 functionality has already been implemented in the SACS financial reporting software for 2019–20 estimated actuals and unaudited actuals reporting. LEAs that have already implemented the provisions of GASB 84 may report 2019–20 financial data with those changes. Note that GASB encouraged early implementation.
    
    As a reminder, when LEAs first establish Fund 08, Student Activity Special Revenue Fund, beginning fund balances, by resource, should be reported using Object 9795, Other Restatements, rather than Object 9791, Beginning Fund Balance, which must be zero. Otherwise, a fatal technical review check (TRC) exception(s) will be generated for the TRC that compares the current year’s beginning fund balance to the prior year’s ending fund balance.
    
    
  Please refer to the February 2020, October 2019, May 2019, February 2019 and October 2018 SACS Forum meetings minutes for GASB 84 background and implementation information. 
  
  Please refer to the February 2020 and October 2019 SACS Forum meeting minutes for GASB 87 background and implementation information
  
• Special Education Goal 5760 and the Elimination of Goals 5750 and 5770 Reminder
  
  CDE reminded LEAs that special education goals 5750, Special Education, Ages 5–22 Severely Disabled, and 5770, Special Education, Ages 5–22 Nonseverely Disabled, will no longer be valid after 2019–20. New special education Goal 5760, Special Education, Ages 5-22, will be effective beginning 2020–21. Special education maintenance of effort (MOE) reports (SEMB and SEMAI) will be modified to include these goal changes in the SACS2020ALL software.
  
  It is important that these goal codes are used in the correct fiscal years, otherwise TRCs will be generated and special education MOE reports may not accurately reflect the MOE level.
  
  
• Federal Funds Transferability Accounting
  
  CDE has received a few questions regarding accounting for the federal funds transfer flexibility provided through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by Every Student Succeeds Act. This flexibility is not new, but LEAs may be considering implementing this flexibility for the first time.
  
  LEAs must apply for transfer authority via the CDE’s Consolidated Application. Refer to CDE’s Consolidated Application web page for more information regarding federal transferability and how to request a revision to previously submitted Consolidated Application pages.
  
  To account for the transfer (assuming the LEA has applied for transfer authority):
  
  • Debit Object 8990, Contributions from Restricted Revenues, in the resource/program from which the transfer is made.
    
    
  • Credit Object 8990 in the resource/program to which the transfer is made.
    
    
• COVID-19 Related Resource Codes
  
  CDE discussed the following resource codes established for funding sources related to COVID-19:
  
  • Resource 6108 – SB 89 COVID-19 Early Learning and Care (ELC) Response Funds
    
    $50 million is provided to support healthy and safe child care and the costs associated with COVID 19. Since these funds are governed by the Child Development Act, they are reported in Fund 12, Child Development Fund.
    
    
  • Resource 7388 – SB 117 COVID-19 LEA Response Funds
    
    The CDE established Resource 7388 in March 2020.
    
    The CDE has received a few questions regarding the use of Resource 7388 in combination with Fund 13, Cafeteria Special Revenue Fund. The CDE clarified that Resource 7388 is not valid in Fund 13 because the funding is not exclusively for nutrition expenditures.
    
    LEAs that want to use this funding to pay for nutrition services should record the applicable expenditures directly to Fund 01, Resource 7388. If LEAs have already recorded expenditures in Fund 13, LEAs may record a direct cost transfer using Object 5750, Transfers of Direct Costs—Interfund, from the applicable resource code in Fund 13 to Fund 01, Resource 7388.
    
    CDE reminded participants the use of contribution object codes 8980, Contributions from Unrestricted Resources, and 8990 are not appropriate for transferring these amounts because contribution object codes should only be used between resources within the same fund.
    
    
  • Resource to be Determined – Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds
    
    The CDE has received inquiries regarding when a resource code will be established for reporting the ESSER funding authorized by the Coronavirus Aid Relief Economic Security (CARES) Act. While California is expected to receive approximately $1.6 billion, the funds are not expected to be appropriated until 2020–21. CDE is working on the correct accounting guidance and will release the resource code as soon as practical.
    
    
  The most up to date information regarding SACS resource codes can be found on the CDE’s SACS Query by Resource web page.
  
  LEAs who would like email notifications of all future validation table updates can subscribe to the sacs-update mailing list by sending a blank message to join-sacs-update@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
  
  NOTE: Subsequent to the meeting, the CDE released a SACS validation table update on May 29, 2020 establishing Resource 3210, Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds, and Resource 6108, SB 89 COVID–19 Early Learning and Care (ELC) Response Fund. A subsequent update was released June 18, 2020 to open Resource 3210 to select object code combinations to allow LEAs to account for expenditures in 2019–20.
  
  The CDE also released ESSER Fund accounting guidance via email and subsequently posted it to the CDE's Accounting Correspondence web page.

SACS Software Update

• SACS2020 Budget Certification (Form CB) and Criteria and Standards (Form 01CS) – Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) Workaround
  
  The recently issued Executive Order N-56-20 in part extends the 2020–21 LCAP adoption deadline, from July 1 to December 15, 2020. The extended LCAP deadline affects the SACS2020 budget software, specifically the Form 01CS, supplemental items S9 and S10, and Form CB.
  
  CDE will not make changes to Form 01CS and Form CB; rather, recommended workarounds are provided. CDE considered changes to the form, including rewording or deactivating supplemental items S9 and S10. However, due to the complexities of the form and receiving feedback from the External Services Subcommittee (ESSCO), Accounting subcommittee group, CDE rejected this option, and opted for a simple solution since it will only be for one year.
  
  Please refer to the CDE’s SACS2020 Software: Known Problems and Fixes web page for detailed information regarding the recommended workarounds.

• SACS2020ALL Software Release

  CDE anticipates releasing the SACS2020ALL financial reporting software during the first week of July.

Other Updates

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE) Reporting Update
  
  Nearly all of the LEAs have submitted their ESSA PPE data to the CDE via the reporting application. The CDE will notify the remaining LEAs that still need to submit their data. Additionally, the CDE will notify LEAs of data submission errors noted. Common submission errors noted by the CDE include:
  
  
  • Entering a total expenditure amount for the per-pupil fields. Total expenditures should be divided by the pupil count, e.g., enrollment, to arrive at a per-pupil amount.
    
    
  • Entering a per-pupil amount for the total excluded expenditures. Note that this data element unlike the other data elements, and should be reported as a total amount rather than divided by the pupil count.
    
    
• Next meeting
  
  The next SACS Forum meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 6, 2020. CDE is again planning on offering the forum via webinar only. Meeting information can be found on the SACS Forum Upcoming Meetings web page.