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Session #1�September 22, 2022��Please click here to sign in. �Participants who are actively engaged in the online learning can earn renewal credits towards recertification.

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AGENDA

  • Professional Norms for Online Learning
  • Get to Know Each Other Activity
  • Intro to Federal Grants/Beginning of Year Requirements for Each Grant
  • Epicenter Due Dates, Samples and Resources
  • Intro to Monitoring and Support
  • Finance: Reimbursements/Amendments
  • Finance: Timelines for Spending and Claiming (Claiming Criteria)

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PROFESSIONAL NORMS FOR ONLINE LEARNING

In the context of teamwork and collaboration, norms are agreed-upon definitions of productive behaviors and mindsets that should be usual, or “the norm,” whenever a group is working together.

Click here to access padlet.

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Getting to Know Each Other

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GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

Pretend you won the lottery for $25 million! In the next 3 minutes, list all the things you would do with the money.

  • Breakout groups
    • Introduce yourself: Name, School, Position
    • How many years have you worked with federal programs?
    • Share 3 things from your lottery list.
    • Share 2 hopes for this course.
    • Share 1 fear of working with federal programs.

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Intro to Federal Grants

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PURPOSE OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

  • Title I:  Improving Student Achievement (Includes support for students experiencing homelessness and students in foster care)
  • Title II: Improve Quality and Effectiveness of Teachers and Administrators
  • Title III:  Ensuring Multilingual Learners (MLs) Attain EL Proficiency and Meet State Academic Standards
  • Title IV:  Student Support and Academic Enrichment (Well-Rounded, Safe/Healthy, Technology)
  • ATSI and CSI:  Additional Federal Funds for Priority Schools

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PURPOSE OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

  • IDEA : Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures access to a Free Appropriate Public Education for students with disabilities.  
  • CTE:  Career Technology Education 
  • ESSER II: Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
  • ESSER III: American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
  • ARP Homeless II: American Rescue Plan (ARP) Homeless II

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Federal Compliance Documents due in Epicenter

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COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTATION DUE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

Click here to access Federal Epicenter Submissions Due.

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Website Location: Federal and State Programs – Federal Programs Monitoring and Support – Federal Epicenter Submissions Due from Schools

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Browser: Type in kahoot.it

Enter the pin showing on the screen.

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Monitoring & Support

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MONITORING & SUPPORT

  • Purpose

To provide professional development and technical assistance to school leaders and coordinators in the area of federal compliance through the development of a three-tiered system of support to schools.

  • Expectations

All schools are expected to follow the rules and regulations as set forth by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 and the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR, 4th edition). The Director of Federal Programs will monitor schools throughout the year using Epicenter to collect compliance documentation and through on-site monitoring visits. Schools are expected to use the SCDE’s Monitoring Instrument and the SCPCSD’s Federal Programs Checklist as a guide to ensure compliance with Title I, II, and IV.

  • Support

The district will use a three-tiered level of support system, which is determined by the previous year’s monitoring reported by the SC Department of Education and/or the SCPCSD. The three-tiered levels of support and responsibilities are outlined as follows:

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MONITORING & SUPPORT� �SELF ASSESSMENT

Independent Self-Assessment

  • Review Rubrics
  • Compare 2020-2021 results to 2021-2022 results
  • Take Notes: What are the school’s strengths? Improvements?
  • Take Notes: What are the school’s areas of concern?

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MONITORING & SUPPORT� �SELF ASSESSMENT

Independent Self-Assessment

  • Review Reimbursements
    1. Review rejections – see next slide for instructions
    2. Look for trends, common errors, note why the submission was rejected
    3. Breakout groups of 2 –
      • Discuss discoveries with your partner.
      • Discuss solutions with your partner.

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HOW TO REVIEW SUBMISSIONS IN EPICENTER

  1. Search for rejected claims in Epicenter
    • Document Center – Search Icon
    • Submission Types – Click on all federal grant reimbursements and click APPLY
    • Timeframe – August 16, 2021 – August 1, 2022
    • Submission Status – Unclick ALL, then click Rejected
    • Click on a rejected submission to open
  2. Review reasons for rejections
  3. Comment under School Leader or School Level Federal Program Coordinator Comments on last page of rubric

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Reimbursements/ Amendments

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  • All reimbursement requests are submitted through Epicenter.
  • Epicenter Link:

https://my.epicenternow.org/Home.aspx

  • Two ways to upload:
    • Directly from the task in your que
    • Document Center

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1. Click on Document Center (file cabinet icon).

Uploading from Document Center

Document Center

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2. Click on upload icon located in right hand corner.

Uploading from Document Center

Upload Icon

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3. Select Entity Type, Submission Type, & Entities.

Uploading from Document Center

Select “School”

Select Submission Type

Select School Name

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Epicenter - Select the Correct Grant Year

Be sure that the School Year selected in Epicenter is the same as the Grant Year selected on the cover sheet.

Month of Submission

Year of Grant Claiming From

Attach File

Submit

Grant Year

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Please upload one document with documentation in the following order:

  1. Cover Sheet
  2. Journal Entry Page
  3. Supporting Financial Documentation
  4. Programmatic Documentation

Reimbursement Packet

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Epicenter - Upload Documents as One PDF

It is recommended that each activity’s documentation is uploaded as one PDF document. Note: We understand that it’s not always possible.

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HUGE TIME SAVER!

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Reimbursement Request Cover Sheet

The cover sheet was created to ensure that the reimbursement process runs smoothly, schools receive timely reimbursements, and to ensure compliance.

  1. Complete a separate cover sheet for each activity (one exception - salary and benefits).
  2. Attach the cover sheet to all supporting evidence in the Epicenter submission.
  3. If the cover sheet is missing information, not provided, and/or does not match the evidence submitted, it will be rejected.

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EPICENTER�REIMBURSEMENT �REJECTIONS

  • Pay close attention to rejection emails
  • Recommend you review rejections in Epicenter often to ensure that all rejections are resubmitted
  • Directions:
    • Go to Document Center
    • Click on search icon on the right side of screen
    • Click on Submission Types, open Schools folder, open folder for the grant submissions you want to view, then check the box of all reimbursement types
    • Under Submission Status, click on All to uncheck the box, then select Rejected, and then select Apply
  • The district is not responsible for rejections that are not resubmitted by schools.

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Perfecting the Reimbursement Process

Presented by Susan Howard & Tracie Sweet

Programs/Finance Kick-Off

August 2022

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Reimbursement Deadlines

  • July 10, 2023: Last day to submit claims for expiring grants and all expenditures for the current fiscal year for other federal grants (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022)
      • Don’t forget that schools can submit for those June salaries paid in July. Those can be accrued back to the FY22 fiscal year.
  • Current Fiscal Year: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023
  • June 30, 2023: Last day to expend federal funds for expiring grants
  • June 30, 2023: Goods and services must be received by June 30th

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Amendment Deadlines

  • September 15, 2022 was the LAST opportunity to amend FY22 grants and ESSER II.
  • Schools will have two opportunities to amend grants each year.
      • September 15th
      • February 15th

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Quick Reference Guide:

  • Links to samples
  • More specific information
  • Additional notes to help avoid rejections

Click here to access Quick Reference Guide.

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Top 3 Tips for Quick

Reimbursement Approvals

  1. Timely Claiming
  2. Organizing Documentation
  3. Collaborating with Stakeholders

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Graffiti Wall

  • Directions for Breakout Rooms: Discuss best practices for ensuring success in the area assigned to your group and list in Google Drive.

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Timely Claiming

  • Claim monthly from previous month (20th of each month)
  • Requirement: claim quarterly
  • Order supplies and materials as soon as grant is approved
  • Establish internal deadlines for ordering and submitting claims

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Organizing Documentation

  • Cover sheet
    • Journal Entry - Financial Documentation - Programmatic Documentation
  • Saving documents
    • Grant Year Grant Name_Activity_name (if applicable)
    • FY23 TI_interventionist_T.Sweet

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Collaborating with Stakeholders

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION: PROGRAMS AND FINANCE TEAMS WORKING CLOSELY TOGETHER

COLLABORATION WITH EXTERNAL PARTNERS (FINANCIAL CONSULTING)

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Claiming Criteria

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Claiming Criteria from SCDE

Year 1

Year 2

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Next Steps

What additional needs or questions do you have in order to implement the learning from this session?

Scan QR Code or copy the following link into your browser: https://padlet.com/tsweet4/y5avnsqjj3l2ymoc

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FPU RESOURCES

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CONTACTS

Tracie M. Sweet

Director of Federal Programs

Phone: 803-960-8609

Email: tsweet@sccharter.org

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Becky Huggins

COVID Impact Coordinator

Phone: 803-608-1091

Email: rhuggins@sccharter.org

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Tatiana Velez

Federal Programs Assistant

Phone: 803-212-8326

Email: tvelez@sccharter.org

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