SACS Forum Meeting Minutes, November 2025
Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) November 5, 2025, meeting minutes.Meeting held via webinar
Meeting Agenda
Announcements and Information
Accounting Updates
SACS Financial Reporting
Next Meeting
Meeting Minutes
Announcements and Information
2024–25 Unaudited Actuals (UA) Submissions – CDE Review
In November CDE will begin the process of reviewing the 2024–25 Unaudited Actuals (UA) data submissions.
CDE’s review of the UA data submissions includes indirect cost rate calculations to ensure the rates calculated are in accordance with the CDE’s delegation agreement with the United States Department of Education; exceptions to Technical Review Checks, Form GANN data, Charter School Alternative Forms, and other items.
The CDE staff may contact local educational agency (LEA) staff with questions regarding the indirect cost rate calculation or any other financial reporting questions. CDE appreciates LEA staff’s timely assistance with these questions to ensure the statewide financial data will be published in a timely manner.
Federal Uniform Guidance Threshold Increases
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Guidance (2 Code of Federal Regulations Part 200) threshold changes for federal grant awards was effective starting July 1, 2025. These higher threshold amounts would also apply to state grant awards.
- Single Audit Threshold: Increased from $750,000 to $1,000,000
- Subagreement Exclusion Threshold: Increased from $25,000 to $50,000
- Equipment Definition Threshold: Increased from $5,000 to $10,000
SACS Web System 2025 Interim Release
Interim reporting periods functionality was released October 29, and included all three interim reporting periods, 2025–26 First Interim, Second Interim, and End of Year Projection financial reporting, unlike previous years’ releases where End of Year Projection was released later than First and Second Interims. The release also included a validation table update.
Fund forms and supplemental form updates at the Interims release were consistent with 2025–26 Budget updates.
California School Accounting Manual (CSAM) Updates
The most recent CSAM edition is dated November 2024, with the next update planned for 2026, pending availability of resources. In the meantime, any additional guidance made available is posted on the CDE’s Accounting Correspondence and/or Indirect Cost Rate web pages. The CSAM web page has been updated to include links to these pages to ensure that any additional guidance issued in-between CSAM Editions is properly referenced as valid guidance.
The CDE is planning to add new letters of guidance on the change to inventory threshold and new SACS Object codes, pursuant to recent legislation.
SACS Data Viewer
On October 13, 2025, the CDE published 1,405 datasets for the 2025–26 Budget reporting period to the SACS Data Viewer. Thank you to the County Office of Education (COEs) for promoting these datasets to their final state in the SACS Web System.
In early December, the CDE will republish the 2025–26 Budget datasets to capture any additional or revised submissions. The COEs should promote any additional publishable datasets to the LEA Oversight Review Completed state by November 28, 2025.
Every Student Succeeds Act (EESA) Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE) and School Level Finance Survey (SLFS) Reporting Updates
The CDE received over 92 percent of the expected ESSA-PPE and SLFS submissions. The CDE collects this survey data on behalf of LEAs. If there are questions associated with the data submitted, the CDE will forward questions to the corresponding LEA.
The next data collection window will collect 2024–25 UA data. It is anticipated that the ESSA-PPE and SLFS Reporting System will be available for data collection starting January 1, 2026, and will close on March 17, 2026. Access code letters to be sent in late December 2025. If an LEA does not receive the letter by the beginning of January, email ESSAPPE@cde.ca.gov requesting a copy.
The annual ESSA-PPE and SLFS webinar is scheduled for January 20, 2026. Sign-up link will be posted on the ESSA-PPE web page by late December 2025.
The upcoming SLFS data collection will include three new categories of current operating expenditures, in addition to Instruction, and three exhibits (data subsets). Current operating expenditures will now include Instruction, Student Support Services, Instructional Staff Support Services, and School Administration. The three exhibits (data subsets) will be Salaries Paid to Teachers, Salaries Paid to Instruction Staff or Assistants, and Books and Periodicals.
Accounting Updates
Validation Table Updates
The CDE released a validation table update dated October 29, 2025. All code combinations contained in the table update were included in the October 29 interim reporting period release of the SACS Web System.
The update included the following:
- New Resource 6019, Student Support and Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant
- Resource 1100, Lottery: Unrestricted opened to Object 8974, Proceeds from Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements (SBITAs)
- Resource 6266, Educator Effectiveness, ends June 30,2026
The CDE addressed questions received from LEAs regarding the inability to use new Resource 6019 in their local systems prior to the release and posting of the validation tables to CDE’s Valid Codes and Combinations web page. LEAs were reminded this is a limitation of their local accounting systems and while not ideal, does happen periodically. The standard guidance given to inquiring LEAs is to set up a locally defined resource code to record transactions, then once the validation tables are posted, reclass the transactions to the appropriate resource code.
For more information on validation table updates or to join the distribution list to receive email notifications of future updates, visit CDE’s Valid Codes and Combinations web page.
Education Code (EC) 41011.1: Separate Accounting for AB 218 & AB 452 Claims
EC Section 41011.1 requires that the accounting systems used by LEAs to record financial data must include a separate accounting of expenditures for actual payments related to legal settlements, judgments, or special assessments made through a joint pooling arrangement, resulting from claims pursuant to Assembly Bills (AB) 218 and 452. CDE presented the following proposals for new SACS Object codes:
- Object 5880 – actual payments of legal settlements or judgments resulting from claims pursuant to AB 218/452
- Object 5890 – actual payments of legal settlements or judgments resulting from civil claims that are not captured pursuant to AB 218/452
- Object 5480 – special assessments by a joint pooling arrangement to address liabilities resulting from claims pursuant to AB 218/452
- Object 5490 – special assessments by a joint pooling arrangement to address liabilities resulting from civil claims that are not captured pursuant to AB 218/452
The CDE addressed questions regarding the timing of the new object codes; impact on the indirect cost rate calculations, and the existing use of Object 5880 for other types of expenditures. CDE strongly recommends for LEAs to use only the dedicated locally defined object code ranges, as other object code ranges are reserved for CDE use, such as, in this case, the new coding required by statute.
The CDE plans to issue a separate letter to announce the establishment of the new object codes and address the related questions. CDE also asked that any invoices that the LEAs are inquiring about be forwarded to SACSINFO@cde.ca.gov to provide CDE with examples of the types of liabilities encountered by the LEAs.
SACS Financial Reporting
SACS Web Form Redesign Project
The SACS Web System is undergoing redesign to ensure that all of the SACS forms and reports are brought into compliance with standards for accessible design. The work began in July 2025 by a dedicated team of developers, with work estimated to go through June 2027. SACS Web users will see existing forms and reports in a redesigned format during this time period.
The CDE will release simpler forms following more complex ones. There will be multiple impacts of changes impacting all the following:
- User Interface – improved navigation and user experience
- Export to Excel – improved formatting, larger font, some fonts are considered for elimination in Excel format – see the survey sent out to SACS Web users
- Export to PDF – larger font, longer documents, options for printing
PDF format is the most difficult to reformat and will result in longer documents. Any wording or other changes that occur during redesign will be included in the What’s New documentation for the applicable SACS Web system releases.
The CDE answered questions about consideration for the Charter School Alternative Form to be provided at Budget and Interim reporting periods, as well as Form CEA (Current Expense of Education) to be available during First and Second Interim reporting periods.
Next Meeting
The next SACS Forum is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2026. The CDE is planning on offering the forum via webinar only.
To receive email notification of future meetings, meeting handouts, and notice when meeting minutes and recordings are posted to the web, please send a blank message to join-sacs-forum@mlist.cde.ca.gov to subscribe to the sacs-forum mailing list.