Voluntary and Temporary Transfer of Funds

Guidance Regarding Voluntary and Temporary Transfer Requests

• Per California Education Code (EC) Section 8256, the California Department of Education (CDE) shall promote full utilization of California state preschool program funds and match available unused funds with identified service needs. The CDE shall arrange interagency adjustments between different contractors with the same type of contract when both agencies mutually agree to a temporary transfer of funds for the balance of the fiscal year. This transfer is known as a Voluntary and Temporary Transfer (VTT) of funds between over-earning contractors and under-earning contractors.
• Local Planning Council (LPC) designees or an LPC subcommittee group may facilitate the transfer of funds between contractors within their assigned county and submit all requests to the CDE. Contractors will self-identify as an over- or under- earner and submit a transfer request to the LPC.
• Alternatively, contractors can send requests directly to the assigned Early Education and Nutrition Fiscal Services (EENFS) fiscal analyst that includes an amount of contract funding they expect to be able to temporarily release or accept.

Requirements

• Participating contractors must be in full compliance with Contract Terms and Conditions, fiscal reporting requirements, regulatory requirements, and statutory requirements.
• Contractors requesting additional funding on a temporary basis must be able to utilize funding immediately to serve additional days of enrollment or are already projected to exceed their contract Maximum Reimbursable Amount (MRA) based on service earnings and net reimbursable expenses.
• Funds accepted by the over-earning contractor cannot be transferred into the Preschool Reserve Account.
• Funds accepted by the over-earning contractor cannot result in an Exceptional Needs/Severely Disabled Service Level Exemption Credit.

Application Process

• VTT requests must be submitted to the CDE within the transfer periods of the same contract year.
  • November 1 – 15
  • January 1 – 15
  • May 1 – 15
• Requests submitted by the LPC designee or LPC subcommittee group
  • Once participating contractors have self-identified, the LPC designee or LPC subcommittee group will collect signed letters of request (Letter B: VTT Contractor Releasing Request or Letter C: VTT Contractor Accepting Request) from the authorized contract representatives indicating their willingness to temporarily release and transfer contract funds (Letter B: VTT Contractor Releasing Request) or accept transferred contract funds (Letter C: VTT Contractor Accepting Request).
  • The LPC designee or LPC subcommittee group will attach a cover letter (Letter A: Voluntary Temporary Transfer LPC Summary) that requests a review of the submitted documents and will forward the completed package which includes all three letters to the EENFS fiscal analyst for the county, for consideration.
    • All VTT requests received by the LPC designee or LPC subcommittee group should be forwarded to CDE, regardless of if there is a match in county or not.
• Requests submitted directly to CDE
  • Contractors will complete Letter B: VTT Contractor Releasing Request or Letter C: VTT Contractor Accepting Request and submit directly to the assigned EENFS fiscal analyst.
• The EENFS Fiscal Analyst Directory is located on the CDE website.
• Additional information regarding the VTT process including all Letters are located on the Local Planning Council Forms web page.

Approval Process

• EENFS will review all VTT requests and determine whether the amount of the transfer corresponds with the contracts’ projected fiscal year service earnings and net reimbursable expenses for all contractors that submitted a transfer request.
  • EENFS may request additional justification for requests.
• The decision to approve or deny voluntary and temporary transfers of contract funds will be made exclusively by CDE; all parties will be notified of the outcome.
• All approved VTT requests will be processed via an Allocation Letter, which does not need to be signed and returned to the CDE.