FINISHING OUT THE YEAR: FEDERAL PROGRAMS

By Kathy Dunn, Director of Professional Learning for State and Federal Programs, CCOSA

Imagine your team in a championship battle that has been hard-fought since the tip-off. Time expires with the score tied at the end of the third quarter, and all the players raise their hands to show four fingers signifying they will finish strong in the 4th quarter! So it goes with Federal Programs in FY22. Everything you do in the 4th quarter sets you up for success in the new season FY23. Let’s Go!

As you close FY22, Assess, Engage, and Plan!

U. S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has shared his priorities for using ESSER money to support students through the pandemic response and recovery. How will we establish priorities for the final two seasons of ESSER funding?

ASSESS students’ needs for academic progress, health and well-being; assess your teachers’ needs for professional learning, instructional resources, and health and well-being; and assess the comprehensive needs of your district in staffing, facilities, and programs to build strong learners, teachers, and school culture.

■ Who is in need of academic enrichment or intervention?

■ Do all students have a connection at school, such as an extracurricular activity, to motivate attendance and engagement?

■ What facilities upgrades and staffing are needed to expand the reach of our programs to engage all students in academic and extracurricular pursuits?

U. S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has released the U. S. Department of Education’s Priorities to Support Students Through Pandemic Response And Recovery.

ENGAGE stakeholders to study the assessment results and to prioritize the critical needs that your district will address within the budgets of your Federal Programs for FY23. To make significant changes to ARP ESSER III Plan activities, you will need to meet with the stakeholders as prescribed in the American Rescue Plan and denoted in the chart below.

PLAN for intervention and enrichment opportunities during the summer and for next school year. Plan for professional learning experiences to target specific instructional strategies and to motivate and inspire your staff. Plan your Federal Programs budgets to support your goals.

■ Are we addressing the needs for student success, PreK-12 and beyond?

■ Will additional staff be hired, and what training is needed to address student needs?

■ Will facilities upgrades and equipment purchases require pre-approval and/or a Construction Application?

■ As you plan to START new programs and strategies, you should also evaluate which former plans and practices you will CONTINUE because they support your goals and which you will STOP to make room for the new.

PROFESSIONAL NETWORK: Don’t do the work alone!

Join CCOSA, receive all the benefits of the organization. (https://www.ccosa.org/membership)

Join our Professional Learning Network in the CCOSA consortium group that best matches your work:

■ Federal Programs and English Learners Network

■ Student Accounting Network

■ Indian Education Collaboration

■ Virtual Education Network

■ Facilities and Operations Network

FEDERAL PROGRAMS 4TH QUARTER: Timeline of the Work to Finish FY22

FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2022

Needs Assessments and Consultation Teams are required for:

■ Title I, V

■ Title II and IV – At least two consultation meetings per year

■ Title III – Ongoing (more than one per year) parent and family engagement activities could include Planning Committees

■ Title VI – Tribal Consultation, including representation from all federal programs, tribes of students in your district, and parents

■ Homeless/McKinney Vento

■ ESSER Projects

MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY 2022

Fiscal Responsibility

■ Many districts require all site spending in federal programs to be completed by late March.

■ Ensure ALL funds are obligated with spending finalized by June 30, 2022 for these expiring projects: 721, 723, 788, 789, and 561 – all expiring June 30, 2022

■ Check balances in each Federal grant program to reconcile any discrepancies

■ Finalize any purchases that have not been ordered or received, including Summer School

■ Complete all open Purchase Orders and close them out

■ Contact any Private Schools that have not expended their funds

■ Be aware of any funds that will be going into Second Year Carryover funds that will need to be expended now or no later than September 30

■ Be certain the remaining carryover in Title IA is less than 15 percent of the allocation

■ Have an “in case” file of desired items that could be ordered and quickly closed out, in case you have projected wrong on final balances and find that you need to spend remaining balances quickly. This is particularly important for Title VI, Indian Education, and other programs in which no funds are carried over to the next fiscal year.

Monitoring Status

■ If your district is to be monitored in the coming year, download the Federal Programs Monitoring Toolkit found here: https://sde.ok.gov/consolidatedmonitoring. The three-year Monitoring Cycle document at the same website will tell you if your district is going to be monitored in the coming year.

■ Review all required elements in the Monitoring Tool, particularly required Board Policies.

■ If your district will need to develop policies and gain Board approval to satisfy elements of the monitoring checklist, begin that process now!

Continue to use your district’s Needs Assessments to develop your:

■ Title I Site Plans. Use the needs assessment data to work with Site Title I Committees to develop the Site Title I Plans for the coming school year.

■ Follow the same process for other Title programs (II, III, IV, V, VI, IX). Always plan based on identified needs, program guidance, and collaborative committee planning.

MAY AND JUNE 2022

Performance Reports due (many data points pulling from the WAVE). Be sure your Student Information System is up to date.

■ Title I, Part A: Single Sign On

■ Title I, Part D: Single Sign On (Title IA N & D no longer reports)

■ Title V, Part B: Single Sign On

■ Title III, Part A: Single Sign On > Grants Management and Expenditure Reporting

■ Migrant Credit Accrual Report: https://sde.ok.gov/ title-i-part-c

■ CARES Incentive Grant Project 789, End of Year Report, due July 15

■ Homeless Census Report (will be pulled from the WAVE late in May): keep homeless data in your Student Information Systems up to date for both active and inactive students

■ If your Title I Comparability Report caused you to add a temporary employee to create required equity, evaluate that situation to see if the same position will still be needed in the coming year before renewing the contract for that position

■ Prepare new Purchase Orders for all contracts and materials that can be held in queue and released July 1 for expenditures from the new fiscal year’s funds

■ Certify District Assurances for FY23 in Single Sign On/ Grants Management

■ Watch for other evaluation reports for COVID Relief projects

JULY AND AUGUST 2022

Setting Up FY23 for Success

■ Begin to set up financial systems for the new fiscal year.

■ If adding a new Title I program, complete the application tab within Grants Management for Intent to Establish New Schoolwide or Targeted Programs by September 30.

■ By July 15 for CARES Incentive Grants, Project 789 and CDC Grant, Project 723 – file the End of Year Report and Final Claim.

■ Begin the Federal Programs applications for FY23

■ Around July 1, 2022, once an LEA has completely finished expending funds in FY22 and received reimbursement for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the LEA will need to perform the closeout process in the Grants Management System (GMS).

■ Follow Close-Out procedures for each Federal Program. Title programs that receive transferred/ contribution funds (i.e., REAP, CAC, and Schoolwide Consolidated for Funds etc.) must be closed first before closing out the Title programs where those funds originated. Example: an LEA transfers Title I and Title II funds to Consolidated Administrative Costs (CAC). CAC would need to be closed out before Title I and Title II. More information at: https://sde. ok.gov/federal-programs

Once you reach this point in the year, keep your hand extended in the air just as it was to signify we were entering the 4th quarter. Now, make a fist and pump the air because, my Oklahoma educator friends, you will have made it! You will have stayed strong and weathered the storm that we will all remember as one of the “times that tried our souls!”

CCOSA Contact for Federal Programs Support: Kathy Dunn, CCOSA Director of Professional Learning for State and Federal Programs dunn@CCOSA.org • Cell: (405)-615-0844

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