Education Finance
AFR - Annual Financial Report
Requirements
The Annual Financial Report is the instrument for the collection of fiscal data from the local school districts in electronic form. The submission of this document by all local school districts to the Louisiana Department of Education is mandatory. Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:25(A)(2) and 17:92 mandate that local school systems provide this information to the Louisiana Department of Education no later than September 30 of each year.
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Forms
The AFR-formatted Excel spreadsheets WITH FORMULAS contain import ranges and field headings for use with AFR FILEBUILD TOOLS available from AFR User's Guide Webpage (see link near bottom of this page). Embedded formulas provide row totals and automatically calculate all values for rows representing subtotals and grand totals.
FY 20xx-20xx AFR Form - with formulas.xls
Excel
FY 20xx-20xx AFR Form - without formulas.xls
Excel
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IDEA Part B Excess Cost Verification
The IDEA, Part B Federal regulations, Section 34 CFR 300 – Appendix A, stipulates that IDEA Part B funds are to be used only for the "excess costs” of providing Special Education and related services for children with disabilities. The State, local school districts and charter schools must provide funds from state and local sources for the education of special education students in amounts equal to or greater than those provided for regular education students.
New guidelines for determining whether school districts have met the Excess Cost Requirement were published in Appendix A to Part 300 – Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This new regulation went into effect on October 13, 2006. Because the new methodology is very specific and must be calculated separately for elementary and secondary students, staff at LDOE have developed an electronic process to calculate the costs for all school districts. Data from the Annual Financial Report (AFR) System, Integrated Statewide Information System (ISIS), Student Information System (SIS), Special Education Report (SER) database, and the Sponsor/Site (SPS) database, are used in this effort. Our methodology has been reviewed by the firm of Brustein and Manasevit for adherence to all aspects of the law and has been approved.
IDEA Excess Costs Calculation - Production Method
PDF
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Agreement for Authorized Indirect Cost Rates for Lousiana's LEAs
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-87, sets forth the cost principles and standards for determining the allowable costs of federally funded grants and contracts administered by state and local governments and contains provisions for determining indirect cost rates for grantees and sub-grantees of federal grants. The objectives of the Circular are to:
1. Establish uniform standards of allowability.
2. Establish uniform standards of allocation.
3. Identify the full cost of federal programs.
4. Ensure federal programs bear their fair share of costs.
5. Simplify intergovernmental relations.
6. Encourages consistency of treatment.
LDE has been delegated the authority by the USDOE to approve indirect cost rates for the LEAs in Louisiana. In order to recover any indirect costs incurred in the administration of grants, an LEA must have an approved indirect cost rate. The approved plan consists of a predetermined rate based on the average of the three prior years indirect cost rates, discounted by 3%. The indirect cost rate for each LEA is computed based on data submitted by the local school districts to the LDE via the Annual Financial Report (AFR). Each line item in the AFR has the designation of a direct, indirect, unallowable, or excluded cost, based on the plan approved by the USDOE. All expenditures detailed on the AFR must have been made, and records supporting them must be maintained by the LEA. The indirect cost rate will be computed annually for all LEAs. LDE’s in-house computer program calculates the indirect cost rate for each LEA after the AFR system is closed after the end of each fiscal year. Each district is sent a copy of its calculated rate along with the backup data for review and approval. Once the district has reviewed and agreed with the rate calculation, district superintendents or their designee complete an Indirect Cost Rate Acknowledgment form, in which they agree that the calculated restricted rate will be used to recover indirect costs on the federal grants that flow through LDE to the LEAs. Upon receipt of the signed acknowledgment form from the LEA, the LEA is considered to have an approved indirect cost rate.
Also included in the plan is guidance from OMB Circular A-87 regarding time distribution requirements for staff paid with federal funds. Please see Appendix A.
LDE PLAN FOR LEAS INDIRECT COST
Word
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| For more information contact: |
| Judy Hurry |
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Audit Manager
Judy.Hurry@la.gov
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225-342-8848
225-342-3523 Fax
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