July 2022
FY22 Year End
The fiscal year end closeout period is here again. Please submit all FY22 requests for payments by July 31. As in prior years, the Department is required to pay FY22 expenses by the end of August. We need your help to accomplish this important effort. Please review all FY22 grants and contracts, complete any final reports, and prepare requests for payment by July 31. We will be issuing final payments for Title I, Title II, Title VI, nonpublic transportation, Perkins, and Regional Planning Partnership (RPP) within the month, with your help and cooperation.
If you have further questions, please contact Angie James at Angela.James2@iowa.gov or 515-281-3646.
Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) Distributions
On June 17, 2022, Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 2367 into law. Division II of the bill changes SAVE distributions from estimated payments to actual amounts collected each month. As a transition, the first two monthly payments of FY23 (August and September, 2022) will be based on estimates and the remaining 10 monthly payments (October, 2022 through July, 2023) will be based on actual collections.
The reconciliation payment for FY22 that would usually happen in November will be made earlier. The Department of Revenue (IDR) hopes to make the payment by the end of September. This will be the last reconciliation payment before the change to actual distributions.
Even though distributions will no longer be based on estimates, IDR will still publish annual SAVE estimates. Instead of mailing the individual estimates, IDR will continue to post the yearly estimates on the agency’s website: https://tax.iowa.gov and send an email notification when they have been posted.
The Department’s Local Government Services Division of IDR is maintaining a record of the SAVE contact emails. If you have not done so already, contact Barbara Lewison at barbara.lewison@iowa.gov to add your name and email address to the list.
Sales Tax Payments
July The July payment districts will receive for SAVE Statewide Sales and Services Tax (Source/Project 3316) is related to June taxes collected. Accordingly, districts should record this receipt as an intergovernmental receivable (Fund 33, Account 141) and include this in SAVE revenue reported in the FY22 Certified Annual Report (CAR).
August Property tax receipts are not all related to the prior year. Districts need to evaluate what should be accrued as taxes receivable and as FY22 revenues or what should be FY23 revenues. Delinquent property taxes received in August are accrued to FY22. Current mobile home (unless noted as delinquent) and ag land taxes received in August are FY23 revenues.
If you have further questions, please contact Song Luong at Song.Luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259, or Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
SWVPP Increased Enrollment Claims
An email was sent to the field on July 8, 2022 from Kimberly Villotti sharing information on how to submit claims for funds awarded by the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) for costs related to FY22 Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP) increased enrollment. Summary bullet points are provided below.
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Claims submitted by July 21, 2022 will be paid in August. Claims submitted after July 21 will be processed with FY23 Q1 claims.
- Use Program 460 with all expenditures.
- Use Source/Project 4043 (ARP ESSER III - Learning Loss) for costs related to learning loss.
- Use Source/Project 4045 (ARP ESSER III) for costs not related to learning loss.
- Reminder: These funds are only available to those eligible and requesting districts as identified in the original notification from the Department sent on January 13, 2022.
If you have questions regarding the claims process, please contact Eric Gebhart at Eric.Gebhart@iowa.gov.
Local Auditor Access to Prior Year Local Education Agency (LEA) Financial Information
Local auditors are encouraged to access the “Department Warrants” application within the Iowa Education Portal. Payments for all districts are available to the user from the dropdown list. This application has been expanded to include the grant identifying number and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number.
Nonpublic Transportation Reimbursement - Accounting
Reimbursement requests must be collected twice per year by districts (Iowa Code 285.3). Accounting for the various scenarios that a district could encounter may be referenced in the UFA Journal Entries document. Keep in mind all revenues will equal all expenditures for this number.
If you have further questions, please contact Song Luong at Song.Luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259, or Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
Financial Reporting for Pensions (GASB 68)
Districts and auditors will soon be working through the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 68 entries relating to Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS). Districts will only include entries in Fund 09 (Governmental Long-term Liabilities/Debt Summary Accounts) and Proprietary Funds (6X, 7X) on the FY22 Certified Annual Report (CAR). Since pension expenses may be positive or negative after GASB 68 entries have been made in the enterprise funds, districts will continue to use Object 233, “GASB 68 Pension Expense” for GASB 68 entries related to pension expenses. Negative amounts are allowed in this object.
Fund 09 will report the governmental funds share of the net pension liability and debit account 304, “Amount to be provided for retirement of governmental long-term debt” and credit account 593, “Net Pension Liability.” The FY22 CAR includes an edit in Fund 09 and a warning in Proprietary Funds related to GASB 68 Net Pension Liability reporting.
Refer to the State Auditor’s Office website for information regarding GASB 68.
Financial Reporting for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) (GASB 75)
Districts and auditors will continue to work through GASB 75 entries relating to OPEB based on valuations received from the actuary. Districts will only include entries in Fund 09 and Proprietary Funds on the FY22 CAR.
A separate object code for the health benefit expense adjustment has not been assigned at this point since we do not know if this adjustment will result in a negative expense after GASB 75 entries have been made in the Enterprise Funds. The various deferred inflows of resources (Account 64X) and deferred outflows of resources (Account 33X) numbers that may be needed have been assigned. See the Iowa Chart of Account Coding document for the specific account numbers.
Fund 09 will report the governmental funds share of the Total OPEB Liability — debit account 304, “Amount to be provided for retirement of governmental long-term debt” and credit account 59X, “Total OPEB Liability.” Districts can continue to use the 59X account they were already using for the net OPEB liability.
If you have further questions, please contact Song Luong at Song.Luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259, or Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
Fiduciary Activities - Custodial and Scholarship Funds (GASB 84)
Custodial Funds
All districts and Area Education Agencies (AEAs) should have implemented GASB 84, which included changes for Fiduciary Activities. Agency Funds (Fund 9X) were renamed to Custodial Funds, which are used when holding funds for others. Custodial Funds also require additional information in financial statements regarding additions and deductions. We have suggested using the same account codes as used for other funds for revenues and expenditures/expenses. Districts should include all applicable dimensions in the upload files for FY22.
Another change for Custodial Funds is that balances are only reported as a liability if an event has occurred that compels the government to release the funds. This occurs when a demand for the resources has been made or when no further action, approval, or condition is required to be taken. All other balances are reported as net position (account 770 if restricted, or account 780 if unrestricted).
Since all exceptions to edits for the Custodial Funds may not have been considered, please contact Song Luong at Song.Luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259, or Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, if it appears an edit modification is needed.
Scholarship Funds
Scholarship Funds may be impacted from the changes in GASB 84 if the scholarships do not meet the criteria for a trust or if the district has administrative involvement.
Whether these are accounted for in a Special Revenue Fund, Trust Fund, or Custodial Fund will depend on the characteristics of each individual scholarship. Districts should complete the GASB 84 Flowchart (GASB 84, pages 44-46) for each scholarship to help determine how it should be reported and review this with the district’s auditors. We avoided use of the General Fund due to spending authority issues, and anticipate that most scholarships will either remain in Fund 81 (Scholarship Trust Funds) or move to newly added Fund 19 (Non-Fiduciary Scholarship Funds). Following are the possibilities:
- If the Scholarship Fund meets the criteria for a trust and the district does not have administrative involvement, scholarships will remain in Fund 81, Fiduciary Scholarship Trust Funds.
- If the Scholarship Fund does not meet the criteria for a trust and the district does not have administrative involvement, and the funds are held for a separate legal entity, scholarships will be accounted for in a Custodial Fund (Fund 99, Custodial Scholarship Funds). Districts will move balances using upward and downward adjustments.
- If the district does have administrative involvement, regardless of whether or not the scholarship meets the criteria for a trust or custodial fund, scholarships will be accounted for in a Special Revenue Fund (Fund 19, Non-Fiduciary Scholarship Funds). Districts will move balances using upward and downward adjustments.
GASB 84 defines administrative involvement. For purposes of this provision, a government has administrative involvement with the assets if, for example, it (a) monitors compliance with the requirements of the activity that are established by the government or by a resource provider that does not receive the direct benefits of the activity, (b) determines eligible expenditures that are established by the government or by a resource provider that does not receive the direct benefits of the activity, or (c) has the ability to exercise discretion over how assets are allocated. A government has direct financial involvement with the assets if, for example, it provides matching resources for the activities.
GASB 84 (Paragraph 11c (1)) states the criteria for a trust as: the assets are (1) administered through a trust agreement or equivalent arrangement (hereafter jointly referred to as a trust) in which the government itself is not a beneficiary, (2) dedicated to providing benefits to recipients in accordance with the benefit terms, and (3) legally protected from the creditors of the government.
The following entries will be used to move funds from Fund 81, Scholarship Funds to Fund 19 or 99, when applicable. We recommend keeping the same project code currently used for the scholarship.
Fund 81 - Debit Downward Adjustment to Beginning Fund Balance (Function 6900, object 990) and Credit Cash
Fund 19 or 99 - Debit Cash and Credit Upward Adjustment to Beginning Fund Balance (source 5900)
If you have questions, please contact Song Luong at Song.Luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259, or Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
Maximum Tuition Rate - 2022-2023 School Year
District cost per pupil amounts (maximum tuition rates) for the new school year are posted on the Tuition and Fees page of the Department’s website.
If you have questions, please contact Scott Dryer at Scott.Dryer@iowa.gov or 515-402-8700.
Iowa Chart of Account Coding Updates
The Iowa Chart of Account Coding is regularly updated to reflect changes necessary to meet fiscal reporting needs. The most recent update is provided below.
June 2022
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Source/Project 4536
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Invalid (Previously Comprehensive Centers (Tech-Prep Education) (Title II) (FAL/CFDA 84.243)
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Source/Project 4014
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Supply Chain Assistance Funds (FAL/CFDA 10.555)
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Tuition-In Billing: Timeline
Throughout the school year, districts enter students into the Tuition-In Billing (TIB) program and submit bills to other districts. Students who are entered by other districts into the TIB as being a resident of your district, and for whom they will be seeking payment for these services, will appear on your district’s Special Education Supplement (SES) Home Page. Districts were asked to verify the accuracy of the Tuition-Out portion of the Home Page between June 15 and June 30. If errors were noted, you were to contact the other district and work out any issue, with the overall goal being to ensure the correct district was billed and no students were overlooked and omitted. All students should now be entered and any necessary corrections and adjustments completed. If you have any remaining students who are not entered into the TIB, please do so immediately.
As you finalize your work in the TIB, have entered all students, verified accuracy of all student information, uploaded your final comma delimited text file, and reviewed Screen 9 ensuring that this information is accurate, click the “certify” button on Screen 9. Then, print or email the final bills.
The Department will begin processing Foster Care claims, Termination of Rights claims (also called District Court Placed), Nonpublic claims, and High Cost claims after August 2. It is critical that all claims be accurately entered prior to this date.
If you have further questions, please contact Bill Roederer at Bill.Roederer@iowa.gov or 515-281-7972.
Regular Education Foster Care Claim
The Regular Education Foster Care Claim will be open by July 15, 2022. Claims are generated from the fall 2021 and spring 2022 Student Reporting in Iowa (SRI) submissions. This year’s application includes:
- Regular education students who were in foster care (under the responsibility and care of the Department of Human Services) and living in your district only because of the foster care placement.
- Resident students who were in a psychiatric medical institute for children (PMIC) placement or placed in a juvenile psychiatric unit of a hospital and NOT included in your district’s fall 2021 certified enrollment count, regardless of who placed the student in the facility.
The only tasks required from a district are to verify the students and certify. Certification is required only if your district is eligible to receive a reimbursement. Reimbursements are based on the excess days your district served regular education students in foster care above days funded on regular education foster care students in the fall 2021 certified enrollment count. Calculations are based on the number of days of school during the 2021-2022 school year, as reported in the spring 2022 SRI.
The due date for certifying Regular Education Foster Care Claim is Monday, August 1. If you have further questions, please contact Scott Dryer at Scott.Dryer@iowa.gov or 515-402-8700.
AEA Juvenile Home Claims
The new Juvenile Home application is open to AEAs for completion of the claims and certification by August 1. The application can be found on the Iowa Education Portal. The instructions are posted on the Department website at Budgets, Area Education Agencies. Please remember this claim is for regular education students only. Out-of-state students and students served pursuant to an Individualized Education Program (IEP) would be billed to their district of residence. Also, do not include the average daily membership (ADM) of students for whom the AEA is paid tuition.
If you have further questions, please contact Jina Brincks at Jina.Brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
Action Request: Update District Contact Information
The Department sends financial communications to the CFO/Business Manager(s) and Additional Financial Officer contacts from information provided in the School Board Officers application. If your district has a change in personnel, be sure to update the information through the Iowa Education Portal.
The Department's source information that identifies superintendents for school districts is the School Information Update (SIU) application. If your district has a new superintendent and the SIU application in the portal has not been updated to reflect the change, your superintendent will not receive timely notifications.
Please provide updates as needed anytime throughout the year.
2021-2022 Medicaid Review
During FY22, Iowa’s Local Education Agencies (LEAs) were paid $106,811,883 and, following payback of the state share, retained $72,988,118, up 30.14 percent from FY21. Iowa’s AEAs were paid $961,507 and retained $709,963 for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B services, up 4.2 percent from FY21. Iowa’s Infant Toddler IDEA Part C providers were paid $287,135, retaining $196,293, up 10.9 percent.
In total, Iowa’s IDEA Medicaid programs retained $73,894,374, up 28.6 percent from FY21. Please note that many FY22 LEA behavior paraprofessional claims are pending but are expected to be paid by August 31 if not sooner.
If you have further questions, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Enhanced Medicaid Rate May be Extended through December 31, 2022
CARES Act funding included an increase of 6.2 percent in the federal share of state Medicaid programs starting January 2020 and will continue through September 30, 2022. It appears likely that it will continue to December 31, 2022. For claims paid October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022, the enhanced federal share is 69.33 percent. When there is an announcement about federal share starting October 1, 2022, the Department will advise districts through the School Business Alert.
If you have further questions, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Please Continue to Perform Exclusion List Verification Checks
All participating LEA and AEA Medicaid providers are expected to complete checks each month to see if any of their participating staff are on the Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General Exclusion List or the Iowa Medicaid Sanctioned Provider List. Please continue to use the School-Based Provider Search Template posted on the School-Based Medicaid page of the Department’s website. Most Iowa LEAs and AEAs have been performing their checks and submitting quarterly reports to the DE. If your district is having challenges in completing this, please watch the Medicaid Exclusions and Suspensions Check for School-Based Providers webinar posted on the Department's website. It is important that you do not bill for services provided by an excluded individual.
For any questions or assistance with checking the Exclusions databases, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Fall 2022 Inspection Schedules
The fall 2022 school bus inspection schedules for the East and West regions will be posted to the Bus Inspection Schedules page of the Department’s website. Inspection schedules for the Central region will be posted at a later date. Please help ensure that the inspection date for your district is communicated to the transportation staff and added to the district calendar.
If you have further questions, please contact the inspector for your region: Joe Funk (East) at 515-669-4987 and Tom Simpson (West) at 515-326-1022.
Bus Driver Physicals
Department of Transportation (DOT) physicals for school bus drivers must be performed by a certified medical examiner. The federal government has made this a requirement for anyone obtaining a DOT physical. The National Registry for Certified Medical Examiners website includes a search engine showing the location of all certified medical examiners within the state of Iowa and across the nation. It offers a number of options to search for medical examiners in your area. School bus drivers in Iowa must present a copy of their Medical Examiners Certificate to their employer every year. Also, remember that all school bus driver authorizations must be reviewed, updated and renewed by August 15. Access to the Driver Authorization System (DAS) is gained through the Iowa Education Portal. Once each driver’s authorization is reviewed and updated, be sure to print off the new authorizations for your drivers to carry with them.
If you have further questions, please contact Max Christensen at Max.Christensen@iowa.gov or 515-336-3965.
Iowa Education Portal
It is important to maintain at least two portal security officers in each district since a portal security officer cannot give access to himself or herself. To inquire about upcoming fall portal security officer training sessions, email ed.portal@iowa.gov
School Finance Resources
Superintendents and business managers who are new to the state or new to the position may find the following resources located on the Department's website (https://educateiowa.gov/) beneficial:
- The Department Calendar can be filtered to show all events or categories such as deadlines, Department-sponsored meetings and technical assistance, and SBRC deadlines and hearings.
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Special Education Finance provides links to topics such as the Tuition-In Billing application directions, appropriate uses of special education funding, school-based Medicaid, and sample contracts for special education services.
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School Facilities provides information on construction, school safety, disaster recovery, and facilities planning.
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School Transportation provides links to bus inspection schedules, driver trainings and conferences, open enrollment transportation assistance, nonpublic reimbursement claim, and instructions to and results from prior year’s Annual Transportation Report (ATR).
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School Finance Resources provides links to the Department of Management (Aid and Levy worksheet), the Uniform Financial Accounting manual, Uniform Administrative Procedures manual, and Iowa Legislature (Iowa Code and Administrative Code lookups).
For more information on a specific topic listed above, inquiries can be directed to the consultant listed on each webpage. If you have further questions on available resources, please contact Kassandra Cline at Kassandra.Cline@iowa.gov or 515-326-2242.
Due Date
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What's Due
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August 1
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Foster Care Claim Certification Deadline (certification required for acceptance of funds)
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August 1
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Progress Report Toward Reorganization Due to Department/SBRC
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August 1
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Special Education Claims Due – Foster Care, District Court Placed, Nonpublic, High Cost
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August 1
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Juvenile Home Program Claim Due (AEAs only)
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Division of School Finance and Support Services
It is the policy of the Iowa Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, political party affiliation, or actual or potential parental, family or marital status in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by the Iowa Code sections 216.9 and 256.10(2), Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d and 2000e), the Equal Pay Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 206, et seq.), Title IX (Educational Amendments, 20 U.S.C.§§ 1681 – 1688), Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.). If you have questions or complaints related to compliance with this policy by the Iowa Department of Education, please contact the legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, Grimes State Office Building, 400 E. 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0146, telephone number: 515-281-5295, or the Director of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Citigroup Center, 500 W. Madison Street, Suite 1475, Chicago, IL 60661-4544, telephone number: 312-730-1560, FAX number: 312-730-1576, TDD number: 877-521-2172, email: OCR.Chicago@ed.gov.
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