The CARES Act funds are federal funds that are to be accounted for in the General Fund. The revenue code is A4286. OSC issued guidance on this last month:
NYS OSC CARES Act Bulletin: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/sites/default/files/local-government/documents/pdf/2020-06/cares-act-information-guidance.pdf
There have been many questions about why these grants are being accounted for in the General Fund. Please note that the last time we had Federal Fiscal Stabilization Funds; they too were accounted for in the General Fund. Governmental accounting standards require that only revenues that have restrictions on them, be accounted for in a special revenue fund such as the Special Aid Fund. As the CARES Act funds can generally be used to support any expenditure of the district, there is not a reason to account for the funds in the Special Aid fund. In contrast, the grants accounted for in the Special Aid fund are for specific, allowable expenditures and/or eligible for only certain purposes/students. This is what causes them to be accounted for in the Special Aid fund and not because they were applied for on a FS-10 form. As they all are state/federal grants, Grants Finance is overseeing both types of grants and you will be able to monitor the GEER and ESSER grants from their website: http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/.
OSC’s guidance also recommends that districts have separate account codes for both the GEER and the ESSER grants. This will assist the district when the FS-10F forms are due at the end of the grant period. We encourage you to set up these additional account codes and make the necessary budget transfers when the grants are approved.
As we have previously shared, the due date for the CARES Act combined grant application has been extended from August 15, 2020 until August 31, 2020. If additional extensions are needed, please contact SED through the CARESAct@nysed.gov email.
Eligible school districts are required to submit a single CARES Act Combined Funding Application for both ESSER and GEER (if applicable) funding using the online SED Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System. Districts will also be required to file a Form FS-10 for both the GEER and ESSER and submit these forms through the online SED Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System. The grant project numbers are 5890-21-XXXX (ESSER) and 5895-21-XXXX (GEER). The last four digits would be the same district specific numbers used with your Title grants. The grant period would be 3/13/20-9/30/22.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Once approved, the district will receive funding for the standard 20% of the approved budget and FS-10A and FS-25 forms may be submitted to revise the budget or request additional funds during the year.
If you have additional questions, please contact us.
