About now, many districts are looking at making revisions to their FY19, FY20, or even FY21 plans. In addition, Title reallocations should be released soon. Revisions can be cumbersome and time consuming. I would like to share with you some hints I’ve discovered over the years that help me complete my revisions and help with preventing returns from MDE for corrections.
- Make sure the budget pages being used for the revisions are correct and up-to-date. You don’t want to move funds that have been expended and/or drawn.
- If working with FY19 or FY20 revisions, I suggest you use the June 30 2019 and June 30, 2020 expenditure pages that reflect the funds expended during that year. These amounts added to your carryover should equal what is in MCAPS and aid you in having the most accurate budget balances.
- If changes are made to set-aside amounts on the district page, make these changes on the set-aside page first. If adding or subtracting from a set-aside amount, add to another set-aside where it can be expended. If at all possible, do not change the set-aside page total amount. If this amount changes, it will impact the PPA amount to schools and require an adjustment to each school page.
- On the budget pages for the schools and district, reduce or add to the budget areas where you know the exact amount you need for the object code. Once all required amounts are completed, then the remaining balance will indicate what needs to be added to or subtracted from an easily expendable object code such as 600s for supplies.
- Confirm the total school budget page and the parent and family engagement set-aside amount matches what is on the MCAPS PPA page.
- Confirm each of the district set-asides match what is on the set-aside page.
- Make any changes to the Plan Overview funding amounts to address the changes made to the funding page. Change any action steps if a new strategy was added or if a strategy was deleted.
- Complete the Revision Letter and upload to the Related Documents section in the funding plan before submitting the plan for approval. Remember to use the revision letter found in the MDE Document Library/Revisions/Revision Procedures. Do not use the revision letter template in the Related Documents section of the funding plan. This letter is not necessary. The revision procedures in the Document Library outline what is necessary and include the pdf fillable template that is to be used. If the plan is in MCAPS, only the one simple form needs to be completed, signed, and uploaded.
A few other revision thoughts to consider:
- Do older grants have unexpended salaries and benefits? Consider moving these dollars into expendable areas such as supplies and/or technology.
- Will you need the travel and registration funds set aside but which haven’t been used due to the pandemic? You may want to consider moving these dollars to areas where they will be used.
- Have the district needs changed due to the pandemic? Consider making changes to the plan to meet these needs. For instance, the district has suspended all outside travel for training, however, virtual or in-person consultant/trainings may fill the need. Move funds from 500s and 800s to 300s.
Good luck in making your revisions. May they be approved quickly!