February Newsletter
2/6/2023
FY24 ICRP Release Notification
The Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Indirect Cost Rate Proposal (ICRP) is available.
The Ohio Department of Education has created the ICRP for Ohio’s local education agencies wishing to recoup a portion of their expenses using an indirect cost reimbursement rate. The indirect cost rate allows an entity to charge expenses that cannot easily be identified as a direct charge to the federal grant. Examples include administrative costs such as human resources or treasurer expenses. Federal regulations require local education agencies to seek indirect cost rate approval annually from the Department. An approved rate is required before any state or local government agencies can charge indirect costs to a federal grant.
Access the proposal workbook and instructions by clicking the links below.
Please submit the completed workbook to
indirectcost@education.ohio.gov by
April 30, 2023. The Department will review proposals on a first-in, first-out basis.
For assistance with completing the ICRP, please view the
indirect cost video series. Please e-mail questions to
indirectcost@education.ohio.gov.
Budgeting Indirect Costs
After receiving an approved indirect cost rate, grantees must add or update the budget before reporting the expense. Remember, there is no additional monetary compensation for indirect cost recovery. The indirect cost recovery amount is part of the total grant award. The recovery is taken from the approved grant allocation, thereby reducing the available dollars approved in other areas of the budget for program usage. In addition, the approved indirect cost rate can only be applied to the amount of allowable expenditures, not the total grant award.
For help in understanding how the indirect rate is applied to the budget, review
Applying The Approved Indirect Cost Rate to the Budget document and utilize the
indirect cost budget and FER calculation worksheet. Please note that budget validations within the CCIP indirect cost rate field will limit the amount grantees are able to budget in accordance with these guidelines.
Grantees can view their approved indirect cost rates in the CCIP by going to the left-hand menu, hovering over “funding” and clicking on “indirect cost rates.”
Please direct questions to
indirectcost@education.ohio.gov.
Safety Grants
The Ohio Department of Education reminds districts of the following safety grant opportunities:
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has new safety grants available to Ohio schools. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2023. Additional information and applications can be found on the
Ohio Grants Portal. Please direct all questions or concerns to
SchoolSafetyGrants@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov
The Federal School Safety Clearinghouse provides a
Grants Finder Tool to help organizations remain aware of school safety grant opportunities. The Tool is designed as a decision-making support feature to help schools and districts determine the eligibility and applicability of funding opportunities for their specific needs, challenges and characteristics. The Tool houses federally available school safety-related grants in one centralized location and provides a variety of ways to search for and access grant opportunities from across the federal government. K-12 schools and districts can use the tool to find funding opportunities to enhance, promote and advance school safety measures and initiatives.
Friendly Reminders
Fiscal Year 2022 Final Expenditure Report (FER) Reminder
Another FER season has come to a close. However, there still are some FERs that have not been finalized. An FER is due if a funding application was submitted and approved by the Department. Those who have not submitted or resubmitted a needed corrected FER should do so immediately. FER deadline dates for ESSER, ESSERII and ARP ESSER can be found in
CCIP Note #504.
Adjustments
Please remember that any adjustments that are made to an organization’s accounting records must reconcile to the data reported in CCIP. A common example is when adjustments are made to financials after submitting the Final Expenditure Report (FER) and the amounts reported by object on the FER no longer agree. Contact the Office of Grants Management to discuss any corrections that may be needed to update the FER.
Need help with adjustments to your books? Reach out to a
Fiscal Consultant for assistance.
Fiscal Year 2023 Funding Applications
Please ensure that your FY23 funding applications have been submitted. A funding application has been submitted to the Department when the status reflects
Authorized Representative Approved. A funding application must be submitted and approved to obtain a Substantially Approved Date (SAD) before an LEA can begin obligating against a grant. Please contact the program consultant listed in your CCIP address book for assistance.
Special Cost Centers
There are times when multiple grants and projects use the same Fund code. To track the grant or project’s revenue and expenses separately, please consider using Special Cost Centers. For example, there are multiple grants and projects using Fund 507. Grantees are required to track each grant or project’s activities individually and should be able to easily extract this data from their accounting system for each grant or project.
According to the Uniform School Accounting System (
USAS), Special Cost Centers are used to track receipts and expenditures associated with individual activities that are part of a multi-purpose program and are time or event dependent (that is, will expire after a certain fixed period or after something is accomplished).
The assignment of code numbers is the responsibility of each school district and should be done in such a manner to efficiently and effectively account for the costs associated with activities. This dimension is to be used for reporting purposes only if the funding agency (such as federal projects) requires a separate accounting.
Supporting Documentation
The Office of Grants Administration reviews a large number of project cash requests (PCRs) and financial reports annually. To assist in expediting the reviews as quickly as possible, we recommend attaching a detailed financial report as an Excel file when submitting cash requests. Detailed reports should include function code, vendor name, transaction date and description, transaction amount and purchase order date. If a PDF is submitted, it should be sorted and totaled by object code.
Communicating with Grants Management
Grants Management’s goal is to provide excellent customer service in an efficient and effective manner. Please assist us by including the following information with any e-mail inquiries or requests:
- District Name
- IRN
- Fiscal Year
- Grant
- Brief Description
Questions regarding PCR, FERs and indirect costs should be directed to your grants management analyst located in the CCIP address book or the Grants Management general mailbox at
Grants.Management@education.ohio.gov.
Review Salary Expenses
Please be sure all salary expenses are allowable. All salaries charged to FY23 grants must be for staff who were physically at work on or after 7/1/2023 or the grant’s substantially approved date, whichever occurs later. Summer-stretch salaries for time worked during the 2022 School Year (FY22) cannot be charged to the FY23 grants.
Salaries paid in July and August 2022 to teachers who are not physically at work (off during summer break) but being paid over 12 months should have been charged to your FY22 grant and reported on the FY22 FER. If any salaries are unallowable, please back them out and report the updated salary amount when submitting your next FY23 PCR.
Review
this document for assistance with charging salaries correctly.
Please contact your Grants Management Financial Analyst with questions.