AUGUST 2016 - A monthly update from the State

Department of Education's (SCDE) Office of Finance to

local school district business officials. If you have any

questions about information in this issue, contact Sue

Martinez at 803-734-8145, Felicia Poston at 803-734-8488

or Melissa Myers at 803-734-8453.

Please use the newly established e-mail for submitting

information to Financial Services at

financesvcs@ed.sc.gov.

New Payments for August

Revenue Subfund Description

3511 311 Professional Development

3512 312 Technology Professional

Development

3538 338 Students at Risk

3550 350 Teacher Salary Supplement

3555 355 Fringe Teacher Salary

3558 358 Reading

Office of Finance Contacts:

Financial Services – Sue Martinez and Ann Castro

Grants Accounting – Felicia Poston

General Budget and Finance Questions – Grant Gibson,

Nancy Williams, and Kim Moss

Grants Accounting Staff Listing

For questions regarding specific grants, please refer to

the grants accounting staff listing located on the Grants

Accounting Section’s web page,

http://ed.sc.gov/finance/grants-accounting/contact-

information/grants-accounting-staff-assignment-list/

Proviso Billing Rate

The daily rate for FY 2016-17 is $3.92.

Recently Posted Correspondence/Data

State-Funded Reading Coaches

FY 16-17 Signature Authorization Form for the

Submission of Financial Documents

Requirements to Employ Retired Individuals –

Revised Form

FY 16-17 State Minimum Salary Schedule - Final

FY 16-17 Final Financial Requirements

Staff Announcements

After much thought and prayer, Grant Gibson has made

the difficult decision to return to his former position at the

South Carolina Senate. Grant’s primary interest is in

education finance policy as opposed to the

implementation issues that we face at the SCDE. We

have all enjoyed working with Grant and wish him well.

We are excited to announce that Nancy Williams has

accepted the position of CFO. Nancy is a CPA with a

Master’s in Accounting from USC. After almost six

years in rural development with USDA, she began

working in state government in 2006, and came to SCDE

in 2011. As director of the Office of Auditing Services,

Nancy has acquired information both about the finances

of the school districts and about the internal operations of

the agency. She will be working with Grant to ensure a

smooth transition between now and when he leaves on

August 26.

Finally, congratulations to Melissa Myers who has been

named Director for the Office of Auditing Services.

Recent Data Request

Please refer to email dated August 18, requesting

your district’s salary schedule. We are asking that

the salary schedule be submitted in Excel format.

Please submit to kmoss@ed.sc.gov by Friday,

September 9, 2016.

Flexibility FY 16-17

Funding flexibility form and procedures for FY 2016-2017

have been posted to the website at the following link: FY

2016-2017 Funding Flexibility.

GAPS Update

There was an update made to GAPS that will

change the language on expenditure reports. Where

the word “Approved” used to show up, you will

now see a more detailed Status reference. Such as,

“SCEIS Document Number” will replace the word

“Approved” when an item actually has been

submitted to the State’s Accounting System

(SCEIS). The submission for payments is usually

done on Monday morning. Then, as the item

processes through the payment process, the status

will change to show “SCEIS Check # (Paid)”. This

status means that the actual payment has been

processed (usually on Wednesday of that same

week). Also, even though these items have made it

all the way through the approval process, the color

is showing in blue. This isn’t correct and we will be

working to change this back to green.

Most importantly, please know that if the item is

showing a status with the reference to SCEIS, they

have made it all the way through the approval

process and you should receive payment that week

or have received it previously.

Please direct any questions or concerns to the Grants

Accounting box at Grantsaccounting@ed.sc.gov.

Bus Driver Salaries

Bus drivers must be given a 3.25% pay increase (same as

state employees) according to Proviso 117.118.

Reports Menu

Under GAPS, after the final report date has passed,

the sub grant award details won’t be accessible

through the Finance Tab. They will only be

available through the Reports Menu.

Updates for PCS Users

Please note that the PCS User Manual has been revised and

is posted at: PCS User Manual.

Updated PCS Position Code List for 2016-2017 is available

at http://ed.sc.gov/finance/financial-services/pcs-

information/.

Payments to Counties

Payments to county reports are currently available at

the following link: Payments to Counties and will be

available through September 30, 2016. Please inform

your CPAs of this information.

National Board

Listings of NBC teachers have been sent to your district.

One listing depicts those eligible for $7,500 and the other

listing for $5,000. Please note any changes on these

listings.

All funding for FY 17 will be paid from EIA, Revenue

3532, Fund 332.

A due date of August 26, 2016, is needed in order to begin

regular monthly payments in September. You may mail

this form to: financesvcs@ed.scv.gov.

Reading Coaches

Listings of reading coaches need to be returned to Sue

Martinez. You may email the listings to

smartine@ed.sc.gov. Deadline is Thursday, September 8.

Please return the signed Memorandum of Agreement and

Specific Parties Agreements to Mrs. Jennifer Anderson,

Director of Early Learning and Literacy, South Carolina

Department of Education, 1429 Senate Street, Room 902-

A, Columbia, SC 29201.

TRAINING TUTORIALS FOR GAPS

Budget Decrease Workflow

How to Run Reports

Budget Decrease Functionality

• Rolled out in February 2016

• Only available when an allocation is decreased.

Examples:

-De-obligation of previously awarded grant fund

* -Title I amount carried forward to next year

*NOTE:

This will be a requirement in FY 16-17 after final

expenditures have been submitted in FY 2016 and balances

have been carried forward to FY 2017 Title I Regular.

PLEASE REVIEW BUDGET AND EXPENDITURE

STATUS REPORTS TO ENSURE THAT ALL ITEMS

HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE SCDE. ITEMS

MUST BE SUBMITTED TO SCDE, OFFICE OF

FINANCE, BEFORE PAYMENTS CAN BE

PROCESSED.

GAPS Reports

All GAPS Reports are now available for active and

inactive grants.

To access a Budget Report on inactive grants, click the

icon “List Inactivated Sub Grants”.

LEA Indirect Cost Rates

Verification of the calculation of LEA indirect cost

rates are due to the Office of Auditing Services. If

you haven’t yet verified your data, please do so

immediately and return to the

auditingservices@ed.sc.gov.

GAPS Role for External Auditors

Please request that your Web Access Coordinator assign the

“Grants Acct External Auditor” role to your team of external

auditors when they begin your audit. This will provide them

full access to the reports related to your sub grant awards in

lieu of the old project masters that were mailed each year.

FY 2015-16 Annual Audit Guide

The FY 2015-16 Annual Audit Guide has been

posted to the website at

https://ed.sc.gov/finance/auditing/manuals-

handbooks-and-guidelines/fy-2015-2016-annual-

audit-guide1/. The LEA Audit Reporting System

(LARS) is not yet open for uploading of FY 2015-

16 audited data. Wait for a notice from the Office

of Auditing Services before uploading any data to

LARS.

Heads of Organizational Units

The SC Department of Education has established

new object codes to charge expenditures related to

the heads of certain organizational units reporting

directly to the District Superintendent. These

changes are a result of the most current review of

our LEA indirect cost methodology by the USDE

Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

Employees that should be charged to these new

object codes include the Chief Financial Officer,

Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Audit

Director, and the heads of any other organizational

units charged to the function 260 series which

consists of 262 Planning, 263 Information

Services, 264 Staff Services, and 266 Technology

and Data Processing Services.

Our current indirect cost methodology already

reports the heads of other organizational units

reporting directly to the Superintendent as being

charged in a manner directed by the USDE.

Time and Effort Clarification for Food Service Employees

Food Service employees are exempt from the requirement to

prepare personnel activity reports or certifications. However, if

the food service employee also works on another federal cost

objective, the employee must complete the required time and

effort reporting.

Request for Proposal for Audit Services

Section 200.509 of the Uniform Grant

Guidance requires the auditee to include in

the RFP a request for a copy of an

organization’s peer review report which the

auditor is required to provide under

Generally Accepted Governmental Auditing

Standards.

Time and Effort Requirements

The SCDE Terms and Conditions and Assurances require

employees whose salary is charged in whole or in part to a federal

cost objective must complete either the monthly personnel activity

report (PAR) or the semi‐annual certification. Certifications are

required for those whose salary is charged 100% to a federal cost

objective. The PAR is required for any employee whose salary is

charged less than 100% to a federal cost objective or to multiple

federal cost objectives.

For federal awards made after December 26, 2014, please adhere

to the requirements in the Uniform Grant Guidance and 2 CFR

Part 200.

The link to the electronic Code of Federal Regulations is

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-

idx?SID=51fe36054afd11b20bac5931e4e104e5&node=pt2.1.200

&rgn=div5

An example of a PAR and certification are now located on our

website at http://ed.sc.gov/finance/auditing/information-memos-

and-forms/memos-and-forms/sample-personnel-activity-report/

and http://ed.sc.gov/finance/auditing/information-memos-and-

forms/memos-and-forms/sample-certification/ respectively.

Heads of Organizational Units (continued)

Exclude a Deputy Superintendent who serves as the Chief

Operating Officer and the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction.

Charge expenditures for the heads of the organizational units stated

above to the following object codes with the correct function code

classification. (Ex. Salaries for the CFO would be charged to 252-

180). Please refer to correspondence that was distributed to all

SBO’s on December 10, 2015. This memo rescinds the previous

memo dated February 4, 2015 instructing LEAs to charge

expenditures to the head of a component unit to function 261. All

other new classifications in the February 4, 2015 memo are still

valid.

Substitute System for PAR’s

The USDE established guidance allowing an

SEA to permit an LEA to use substitute

documentation such as a teacher’s course

schedule as adequate documentation for the

time and effort of an individual who works

on multiple activities or cost objectives but

does so on a predetermined schedule.

An individual documenting time and effort

under the substitute system would be

permitted to certify time and effort on a

semiannual basis, provided the LEA's

substitute system meets requirements.

In order to use the substitute system, the

LEA must certify to the SEA that only

eligible employees will participate in the

substitute system and that the system used to

document employee work schedules

includes sufficient controls to ensure that the

schedules are accurate.

Additionally, the certification must include a

full disclosure of any known deficiencies

with the system or known challenges with

implementing the substitute system.

To review this guidance in full along with

examples of acceptable substitute system,

see

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/gposb

ul/time-and-effort-reporting.html.

Miscellaneous Revenue Codes and Subfunds

Source of Fund Revenue

Code

Subfund

Misc. State

Restricted

3199 800 series *

Misc. EIA 3599 399

Misc. State 3999 General Fund (100)

Misc. Lottery 3699 969

Misc. Federal 4999 800 series *

*Districts choose any subfund available for use in

the 800 series.

Financial Manuals

FY 2016-2017 PCS User Manual

FY 2015-2016 Funding Manual

Accounting Handbook

FY 2015 - 2016 Financial Accounting Handbook - South

Carolina Department of Education

Student Accountability

http://ed.sc.gov/agency/cfo/finance/Financial-

Services/documents/studentaccountabilitymanual.pdf

Audit Guide

FY 2015-2016 Annual Audit Guide - South Carolina

Department of Education

Miscellaneous Revenue Codes and Subfunds

When allocations to school districts exceed $500,000

from a single source of funds, a unique revenue code and

subfund are assigned to those funds and guidelines for

those funds will appear in the Funding Manual produced

by the Office of Finance.

If total allocations do not exceed $500,000, miscellaneous

revenue codes and sub funds will be used as follows:

EFA/State Funding

Release Dates

2016-2017

August 22 February 22

September 22 March 22

October 21 April 21

November - TBD May 22

December - TBD June 22

January 20

Due Dates for SCDE Reports 2016-2017 Listed below are reports required by the Office of Finance and their due dates for 2016-17. Reports listed below

that are identified by a dollar sign ($) indicate that allocations are based on the information submitted in these

reports. To avoid delays in the distribution of the allocations, please ensure that all reports are received in the

Chief Financial Office by the specified due date.

November 2 DEADLINE FOR PCS STAFF UPDATES (THIS IS A DUE DATE FOR FEDERAL

REPORTS AND ACCREDITATION REPORTS)

November 2 INITIAL MEMBERSHIP/ATTENDANCE 45 DAY REPORT

INITIAL STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY 45 DAY REPORT

December 1 2015-16 AUDITS AND IN$ITE

December 2 MEMBERSHIP/ATTENDANCE CERTIFY 45 DAY REPORT ($)

STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY CERTIFY 45 DAY REPORT ($)

April 4 INITIAL MEMBERSHIP/ATTENDANCE 135 DAY REPORT

INITIAL STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY 135 DAY REPORT

April 28 PCS UPDATES FOR 135 DAY FUNDING ($)

April 28 MEMBERSHIP/ATTENDANCE CERTIFY 135 DAY REPORT ($)

STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY CERTIFY 135 DAY REPORT ($)

HOME INSTRUCTION REPORT ($)

June 30 FINAL CHANGES TO PCS FY 2016-17 TECHNOLOGY PROFICIENCY

June 30 FLEXIBILITY REQUEST 2016-17

Kimberly Moss

Financial Newsletter Editor