Mayra Diaz: Thank you, Holly. And good morning, everyone. Happy Tuesday. We will go ahead and jump right into our presentation that we have scheduled for you today on CAEP CFAD and annual planning. As Holly went through, my name is Mayra Diaz. And I'm joined by my colleagues today, Neil and Mandilee. Next slide, please.

So what we will be talking about today is going over the state budget update, conducting a CFAD overview and allocation amendment, going through that process if that is needed this year, walking you through the Annual Plan, and the Budget and Work Plan overview. We will also then open it up for questions and discussions towards the end of the presentation.

However, we will also be monitoring the chat and trying to address those as questions come up. But just know that we'll also have an opportunity to address any questions at the end. We will also have Mandilee assist us with conducting a live walk through in NOVA as we go through some of these upcoming CAEP deliverables. Next slide, please.

All right. So we're going to start by going over the state budget update for '24-'25. In January, when the governor released his governor's budget proposal for '24-'25, it was captured that approximately $651 million in allocations would be made available to the CAEP regional consortia, proposing about a 0.76 COLA increase. And that totals about $4.9 million in funding.

The CAEP office released the '24-'25 preliminary allocations back in February, just a couple of weeks ago. However, the legislature is continuing to monitor the state budget deficit as we are all hearing about in the news and all of our news outlets that California is facing a large budget deficit. Therefore, we could anticipate some potential fiscal impacts to our CAEP allocations. And we are closely monitoring for these impacts.

The legislative analyst's office is proposing the COLA pullback. And so therefore, some of the key dates that we will be monitoring, but also encourage you to monitor is the state revenue updates that will be released or made available in April, along with the May revise that is typically made available around mid-May. And finally, once the final June trailer bill is passed, we will get a full sense of the '24-'25 final allocations that will be made available, and whether or not that includes if it retains or eliminates the proposed COLA for this program. Next slide, please.

OK. So now that we have released the CAEP preliminary allocations, the next step in the process is completing the Consortium Fiscal Administrative Declaration, otherwise known as the CFAD. It is available annually. And it's typically becomes available as soon as we release the consortium's preliminary allocations that are entered in NOVA. As I mentioned, it is due annually every May 2nd, and that is coming around the corner.

When completing this deliverable, all of the members must certify the consortium CFAD. It is important to note that the members should not receive less than the prior year's allocation, which is outlined in education code. Once the CFAD is certified by the consortium, then the Annual Plan will become available in NOVA. And we will be walking through the NOVA sequence of deliverables to get a sense of how these tie to one another and how they become available and accessible for the field to complete as each of these get completed. Next slide, please.

We want to take a pause and highlight-- this was something that we mentioned earlier this year when we had the AB1491 carryover compliance CFAD updates-- the CFAD NOVA enhancements. As you are currently working on completing your CFAD, keep in mind that this will be an item that will populate. And it is a discussion that you're going to want to have as a consortium to decide if you are going to opt in or opt out of incorporating a carryover threshold.

This is the carryover threshold. It's something that you'll revisit annually as it is a part of the CFAD. And so essentially what you'll be able to do is, as it is tied to AB1491 carryover compliance in monitoring the carryover for the members, if you decide to opt in by establishing this carryover compliance threshold, you will simply toggle over to the on section.

And so what that will do is then it will require you or ask you to input what the consortium carryover threshold will be, what you would like to use. Please note that you get to revisit this on an annual basis, which means some of you may have opted in last year and have identified a threshold. You can keep that. You can revise that. You can opt out. You have the opportunity to decide what direction the consortium is going to apply this for fiscal year '24-'25.

If you choose to not opt in, then you would simply identify and select that. It will not require you to enter the carryover threshold. And you're not going to see the corrective action fiscal reporting quarterly threshold. Now if you select to partake as a consortia to track and monitor what the carryover threshold will be, alerting if your members have exceeded that excessive carryover, then the next steps will be to include the carryover threshold percentage.

You will also see the corrective action fiscal reporting quarterly thresholds. For this current fiscal year that we are in, '23-'24, those were preset in NOVA. So you may not recall completing this step last year. However this year, members or the consortia will be required to identify the carryover threshold percentages for each quarter that you would like to use. You can use the standard ones. You can be more aggressive and select something different.

But essentially keep in mind that those carryover action fiscal reporting quarterly thresholds will trigger when you are completing the quarterly fiscal reporting, the expenditure reporting. This is what will trigger the corrective action plan for the members. So if the member has excessive carryover, these percentages is what is essentially populating that throughout the year. So just keep that in mind.

And as mentioned in that last bullet, should a members carryover exceed the corrective action plan threshold, then they will be asked to provide an explanation of the reasons during quarterly expenditure reporting. So that is the narrative box that you'll see in the fiscal reporting section, if the member is flagged for having excessive carryover based upon these percentages for that quarter. Next slide, please.

Also this was something that we covered in last year's fiscal year or this current year fiscal year '23-'24 CFAD updates. As you are completing the CFAD, question number 16 and number 17 specifically are tied to this AB1491 carryover compliance. So it'll be important to also have this conversation as you're completing the CFAD to address how the consortium is going to work with the carryover and monitoring the excessive carryover. Next slide, please. All right. I'm going to turn it over to Mandilee.

Mandilee Gonzales: Hmm. All right, everyone. So I'm going to open up the sandbox in NOVA, which is the ability to train people in a safe environment. So I'm going to do a quick stop share. And I'm going to reshare my screen. So just bear with me. Everyone should now be seeing my screen I think. OK, if we're not, someone yell at me.

So once you log into NOVA, you're going to go ahead and go to CAEP. You'll go to Consortia and Members. And then you're going to find Your Consortia. So for today, we're going to go ahead and use Antelope. We always pick on Allen Hancock, because they're number one. So we'll go ahead and use Antelope.

Once you're in your consortium file, you're going to scroll down to the Consortium Fiscal Administration Declaration, so your CFAD. It's going to be in draft status as you can see here, for the '24-'25 year. The name of the Consortium Fiscal Admin Declaration is right here, which is the link that will open up your CFAD.

Like Mayra had just shared, you're going to see your workflow. You are going to walk through each one of these steps before you hit Preview. So here, you want to just confirm that you are going to remain either a fiscal agent or a direct funded. If there are no changes, then you'll be able just to hit Next.

So right here it says your current distribution method is direct funded. Do you plan to stay this way? So you do have to say yes or no. We're going to go ahead and hit Yes. Oh! Oh, did I do that wrong? Do you plan to continue this selection for '24-'25? Yes.

And then it will provide-- and I believe this is new. It's going to open up a narrative where you will explain how you are going to move forward. So I'm just going to put in some letters here. We're going to go ahead and provide the narrative to those questions, and then move on to the next box.

The last box here-- and I do want to highlight the changes, that there are any changes, this is where you would include your fiscal structure, change in a fiscal agent, or your funding amounts. OK. And then you'll hit Next.

And then here is where you're going to review your member agencies and the correct certifiers. As long as all of this looks appropriate and correct, you will want to make sure that all of your member representatives are right and correct. And this is a great opportunity just to pause and remind everybody, we update our listserv based on the information that we have here in NOVA. So if there is something incorrect here, you need to update that. That is also how we get updated here when we send out direct messages.

You'll click the Next button here if everything looks correct to you. And then you're going to review your member allocations. And this is where your allocation dollar amount will be here. And if this looks correct to you for your CFAD, if there are no changes, and there shouldn't be any, you're going to go ahead and hit Next.

And this is the carryover compliance piece. So carryover compliance does apply to the consortium-- that 20%. This is the area that Mayra had just covered with you, if you choose to toggle it on for each member carryover threshold. So if you want it off-- and this is your opportunity to see if that worked. If last year, you did it, and you want to maybe change it or vice versa, or you want to continue to do this.

You would add in the percentages here for the Q1, 2, and 3 not to exceed the 20% which is listed right here. Or if you choose to turn that off, and that you have your own strategies or processes to monitor your member carryover, that is something that your consortia will have to decide to do. Any questions? Nothing so far.

If this is something that once you're bored and everyone has moved forward with understanding what that member carryover threshold is, you'll go ahead and go to the next section, which is the Governance section. This will have those-- I think it's 20 questions, 16 and 17 being those newer questions that speak directly to the carryover compliance and what those percentage thresholds are. And this is where you would provide that narrative explaining what that looks like and how each consortia end member will use those unspent funds or transfer them.

When you hit Preview, you will go into this Preview portion here, making sure that everything you entered is correct, there aren't any changes. If there are changes, you can just select it by going to the different areas within the workflow to update it, and then back to your Preview section. If everything looks correct to you here, this is where you're going to submit.

One area to note is the CFAD, once you submit it, your members will then approve it. If there is a change, if someone does-- once it's done, you can't go back and edit. It's not something that you can amend. Once your CFAD is certified, it is a locked document. And you cannot go back and edit.

The only opportunity would be if one of your members were to reject your CFAD, and then it would take you back to a draft status where any edits could be made. If you go into a draft status at that point when somebody does reject it, you will have to make at least a minimum of a $1 change to the allocation for that then to go through. Otherwise, I would just say, really take your time and go through the Preview portion before you submit it. Make sure it is up to everybody's expectations, that this is something that there are no questions on, because again the next opportunity to look at your CFAD again and to make any changes will be the next year in 2026.

OK. So I'm going to go ahead and stop share. I'm going to reshare and go back to our PowerPoint. And I'll hand it back off to you, Mayra.

Mayra Diaz: Thank you, Mandilee. All right. So now that we've gone over the CFAD, we're going to talk about the allocation amendment and provide you with an overview, and then transition back over to another live demo walkthrough.

As we mentioned in earlier slides, based on our current budget deficit and what we see get finalized by June or July, if and when there is a change to the January CAEP preliminary allocations once the final state budget is released, then the state will be required to revise the initial preliminary CAEP allocations that are currently reflected in NOVA. And this is if the proposed COLA, which is captured in the January preliminary allocations that are published in the memo that we had sent out and also outlined or captured in NOVA. If the COLA is not approved, then there will be a change, a revision that will be required by the state. And so we will go in and conduct an allocation amendment in NOVA for each of the CAEP regional consortium, so that we can capture the correct allocation based on the final state budget.

The CAEP state office will release as usual an annual final CAEP allocations memo and schedule that we typically make available towards the beginning of July once the budget is finalized. And that will capture the final CAEP allocations. This updated CAEP allocation schedule that we will release in July will include the detailed amounts that is broken out by the direct funded member and the fiscal agents.

And also, because of education code, it's important to note that consortia or members should not be receiving less than what they obtained in the prior year for the same percent split. So keep an eye as we are monitoring the budget throughout the coming months. And we will release the final allocations memo and schedule that will capture what those totals are.

However, if there is a change to the proposed COLA, if there is a cut, then an allocation amendment will be necessary. And we will go over what that process will entail in the coming slides. Next slide, please.

So I did want to provide you with an overview of the NOVA sequence of these CAEP deliverable submissions and how they tie to one another. If you try and go in right now and access your Annual Plan, the Consortium Annual Plan, you'll notice that you won't be able to access that. And so typically, we want to be able to break down what the sequence of events will look like for you to keep in mind, as you're working on these concurring deliverables that will be coming up against one another.

So if an allocation amendment is deemed necessary based on the final state budget revisions, then the CAEP regional consortia will need to certify the allocation amendment and post the new allocation amounts in NOVA by August 30. So this will be something that the consortium will need to do if there is an allocation amendment. As you are currently working on the CFAD which is due May 2nd, and once that is submitted and certified, then the Annual Plan will become available. And you'll be able to access to begin to complete this deliverable in NOVA.

Please note that the ability to access the Annual Plan will not be impacted by any required pending allocation amendments that may be outstanding in NOVA. So the CFAD is required to be submitted and certified in order for the Annual Plan to become available. However, an allocation amendment is not going to impact being able to complete the Annual Plan. You'll still be able to access the Annual Plan, while you are still working on the allocation amendment piece.

Now with the Member Budget and Workplan, this will be accessible once the Annual Plan is certified. And the deadline is going to be in August for the Annual Plan. And we'll cover that in the coming slides-- some of these upcoming deadlines. But just know that in order to access the Member Budget and Workplan, the Annual Plan will have to be submitted and certified.

There is a limitation. The Member Budget and Workplan for any of the members that are affected by the pending allocation amendment will not be able to access the plan until the allocation amendment is completed. So the Member Budget and Workplan will be affected if the allocation amendment is not completed and certified.

Once the allocation amendment is certified, those that are impacted by this movement of funds will need to adjust their budgets. However, NOVA will automatically place in draft status-- it will automatically place you there if you're not already there. And we'll walk through what that's going to look like. So I'm going to hand it over to Mandilee.

Mandilee Gonzales: OK. So I'm going to stop share again, just so I can flip between my desktop. So if you guys will just bear with me, we'll do this one more time. And we'll go ahead and pop back into NOVA.

And as Mayra stated, some of these items, we're not really going to be able to fully open up and walk through. But I do want to also direct you-- we'll walk through the allocation amendment. And as we continue on, we do have some past webinars for some of our newer people, if it's helpful just to walk through the process. And then we'll always are available here to do that with you as well.

So here we are in NOVA. I did see that we can pick on Alan Hancock. So we're going to go ahead and do that for the allocation amendment this time. When you go into your consortium, you're going to go down to Allocations. I'm sorry for the quick scroll.

And we'll go ahead and-- well, looks like we were already playing in here earlier. So you'll usually see what it'll look like this. It'll be Start Amendment. And if you start an Amendment and you don't finish it, then you'll have this Continue Amendment. We want to make sure that you're in the right year. We're going to go ahead and hit Continue.

Just as before, you're always going to want to make sure that you confirm that your member agencies and certifiers are listed and are correct. Then you'll go ahead and hit Next. OK. So NOVA's been a little silly with me lately. It might not-- oh, here we go. I just had to keep pushing. All right.

So once you go to the Member Allocation, what's new to NOVA is it's going to allow you to select the reason for the allocation. So you'll have either the may revise, which is likely what we'll be doing, a standard member transfer, or if there's a new member that you're starting to fund. So we're going to go ahead and hit May revise.

Provide the explanation here. And this is a great opportunity to provide details. Just like we've always mentioned in the past, you always want to provide those notes for journaling. This allows you to provide those notes within NOVA. So if ever needed to go back and walk through why a decision was made, why moneys were transferred, all of those details can be listed here.

So just because these are big numbers. I'm just going to go ahead. And we're going to make a proposed allocation. And we're going to take away-- so I'm going to go to '24 here. You'll see the adjustment of $10 here, which means that we'll have to do the increase to our other members. So we're going to increase that here to $1,181,239. And then with the adjustment of a reduction and then an addition, we should still have $0 remaining.

What you don't want to see is any money left over. So if we were to incorrectly adjust that, you're going to see that dollar amount is going to be here in red. We don't want to do that. And you always want to make sure that that's a $0 amount.

Once you have provided the allocation, you have the proposed allocation here. You can always go back into this column, which is going to remind you of what the current allocation is, what the changes are, and then those adjusted dollar amounts. If that all looks good to you, then you'll hit Next.

And then you're going to scroll through. And this is that preview letting you know why you're doing this. This is the May Revise, the narrative for the justification. And then you'll hit Submit. OK.

That's stuff that I missed. So I think that error message that I was getting earlier is not allowing me to move forward, because I do believe all steps were completed. So once you submit your allocation, it will then go to your members for them to approve. And then once it's approved-- the allocation once that's done in NOVA, as a reminder, will still need to be done physically. So if you make an allocation in NOVA, this is essentially where you're journaling it. But a warrant would still need to be or a transfer of funds will still need to happen.

So with that, I'm going to ask if there's any questions regarding an allocation amendment. Looks like that was just Neil responding. Thank you. I'll go ahead and stop share. And we'll go back to the PowerPoint. OK.

Neil Kelly: All right. Thanks, Mandilee. I'm going to take you through the Annual Plan process and then also the Budget and Workplan. And then Mandilee will do another demo in NOVA like she just did.

So Annual Plan process in Ed Code 84906 talks about a three-year plan. And it also includes an annual update which we call the Annual Plan. So if you're wondering where the Annual Plan came from, it comes from Ed Code and. It's related to our planning cycle, which we'll show in a subsequent slide how everything interconnects. Next slide, please.

So here is that component and the connectivity. So you have the three-year plan, which is done every three years. And then we have the CFAD which Mayra went over, which we do annually. And then of course, the Annual Plan, which ties into the three-year plan, that's done every year. And then as a result of the Annual Plan, we do the Member Budget and Workplan, which is then submitted after that.

And you can see how that cascades. I think we have another slide that shows kind of a graphic of that cascade. Next slide, please.

So when Mandilee goes through NOVA, you'll see the breakdown of the Annual Plan, very similar to the three-year plan. Section 1 is plans and goals. There's an executive summary, an overview, and regional needs identified. And then the next section gets into addressing the educational needs. And that's where you have the metrics, activities, and things like that.

And then the following section-- this is kind of related to the AB86 days when we talked about integration of services and transitions. So that still is prevalent in the three-year plan and getting into CAEP. And so you can see that historical effort there from the get-go of our program 10 years ago. Next slide, please.

And then of course, section 4-- improve effectiveness of services, more strategies and metrics. And then last section 5 is your fiscal management, similar to what you would put in the CFAD, but a little more detail on carryover funds and the impact to your strategies. And then of course, section 6 is where you do preview and submit and certification by all your members. All right, next slide, please.

So here's the alignment. Of course, the Annual Plan is a subset of the three-year plan. It's listed in that code, which we talked about. Your Annual Plan updates your strategies and metrics. You don't have to have new ones.

You can just be updating the ones you presented in the three-year plan, because that covers three years. And the Annual Plan is an update of that you're going into certified by all members as we said. And of course, NOVA ties the Annual Plan to the three-year plan. Next slide, please.

OK, here are some dates. So of course, as you know, August 15 is the Annual Plan submission. Then we have September 30, which is the Member Workplan and Budget submission. And then October 30 is when the consortia certifies the Member Workplan and Budget. And then as a result of all that, you have your first quarter expenditure reports due September 1.

One thing I want to note is also on September 30, you have your Q4 submission of your expenditures from '23-'24. And that's critical, because until you do your Q4, you can't really move forward on your Workplan and Budget, because we have to finalize the last year's figures to see how much you're carrying in to the next year. And that will reflect in your workplan and budget. So we'll talk about that in a little bit as well. Next slide, please.

OK. Next few slides are just tips. And then after that, I think there's a budget and workplan. And then we'll turn it over to Mandilee to walk us through it. So of course, as I said earlier, Annual Plan is a mixture of new and existing strategies. Annual Plan is similar to the prior year. If it is, do your best to describe what's different from the last year to this year.

Maybe you've completed some of those steps. Maybe you haven't started. So you could provide descriptions or explanations, and then also an update of how responsive it is to current events described in your plan. Next slide, please.

And then here's that graphic of showing the three-year plan as an overarching vision and goals. And then you have the Annual Plan, which is an annual update with strategies that help the consortia achieve those goals. And then you have the member budget and expenses that get into more granular detail at the local level. So it's hierarchical. Annual Plans can be amended throughout the year. So if things change, you can always update that in NOVA. Next slide, please.

And then here's when you're trying to get members to certify, you can always send a reminder. That's a feature in NOVA. You just click on a button. And it automatically sends a reminder to your member representatives to approve it if they haven't.

Also I think we've described this earlier. Consortia workplan and budgets will open after the Annual Plan has been approved. Also strategies are selected in the Annual Plan by just checking a box. No need to rewrite strategies or provide additional information if they're already in there. Next slide, please.

And then of course, Annual Plan strategies will drive your member workplans. Those must be certified October 30. And when you develop your Member Workplan and Budget, that's for the school year starting July 1 going through June 30. So it's at 12 month cycle. Next slide, please.

And then lastly, just a little reminder on the Budget and Workplan overview. Budget and Workplan will open once the Annual Plan is certified. Also the Member Workplan and Budget can be worked on but not submitted until you submit your Q4. And I think Mayra put something in that regards in the chat.

So just note that '24-'25 funds can't be calculated until Q4 is certified. And so your budget and workplan is related to '24-'25 funds. So you can see how they're connected. The interesting thing is that Q4 is due September 30 as well as the Budget and Workplan is due September 30. So we would advise you to get that Q4 in early, so then you can do your Budget and Workplan.

Sometimes, that's not possible. We know Q4 is a big deal. At some districts, they work till the last minute.

[chuckles]

Sometimes they go over. But because we're calculating carryover this year with that Q4, it's really important to get it in on that September 30 date. And then of course, if you have an allocation amendment, failure to certify that amendment will hold up the Member Budget and Workplan.

We found that last year when we did a slight adjustment. Like a few hundred dollars for most consortia, there was a percentage adjustment. A lot of consortia forgot to process or approve their allocation amendment. And so that caused all kinds of problems.

So just remember, when we do have an allocation amendment, it's due September 30. But we would encourage you to do it as soon as you can, if possible. That way it doesn't get hung up on all these other things. And then of course, once the allocation amendment is certified, members will adjust their Budget and Workplan. And with that, I'll turn it over to Mandilee.

Mandilee Gonzales: OK. I am going to jump into NOVA again. Just do a quick new share screen. Oops. Nope, that's right. All right.

So once you log into NOVA, again go to CAEP, find your consortia. We'll go ahead and pop into Allen Hancock. And just like Neil said and Mayra said, unfortunately I won't be able to walk you through what those specific steps will look like for the Annual Plan. But what we will do is we'll walk through what that would look like.

So let me go to a different-- it looks like someone was already playing, probably doing some teaching in the sandbox with Allen Hancock. So I'm going to go to-- here we'll go to Salinas. And we'll pull up their Annual Plan. And it's going to go through-- and we'll look at what those areas were that Neil was talking about.

I also want to bring your attention to our website with webinars that will also walk you through these live demonstrations done later in the year when those Annual Plans and the Budget and Workplan are open. So if you really want to go through step-by-step, bear in mind NOVA has had some updates just like you saw with the allocation. So there may be some slight differences. But it should still be able to walk you through what those workflow steps look like. And you can always reach out to Holly or myself at TAP to support you through that.

So when I clicked on the Annual Plan here for Salinas, just like Neil said, it's going to go over the plans and goals. You'll have this executive summary. Through when it is open, you'll be able to type in that executive summary, select those metrics, those student barriers.

And just as a reminder, just like on the slide I think that Neil had pointed out, you do not have to rewrite those strategies. Your Annual Plan is the portion of your three-year plan. So it should pre-populate what those look like. And then to Neil's point, if there are any updates or explanations that need to be expressed, this is when you would do it in the Annual Plan.

So as we go into '24-'25, as a reminder, this is the third year of the last three-year plan iteration. So all of this should be mostly pre-populated. It'll go through your different activities. And then you just will select those and continue on.

Now this looks like a very big document, and it is. But I promise you, as you go through those steps in NOVA, it does create those nice narrative boxes for you. It also gives you helper text as a reminder of what you're speaking to. And it just really walks you through that process. Then you get the nice little completed sign once each section is done. So you're feeling like you're accomplishing things.

And unfortunately like I said, I can't really show you what those pieces look like here. Most of you have probably already seen it. A lot of you have already done it a few times, I would say.

But if there are any questions, always throw them in the chat. I know that Mayra, Neil, and Holly, I see that they've been in the chat quite a bit. And you can always reach out to us. When that does open up, we'll be able to jump onto a Zoom and walk you through that.

And then like I mentioned, I would also go to our webinars. And you can see the last one I think that Mayra, Neil, and myself did in August. And it takes you through the sequence and all of those steps with some screenshots as well as a recording. So that is the Annual Plan. And then I'm going to come back over here.

Once you submit the Annual Plan just like Neil has already stated, that is when your Budget and Workplan will open up. It essentially unlocks that Budget and Workplan. So you can start to allocate those funds in those different resource codes, identifying how you're going to use those funds for your program.

All right, let's go ahead and go here. Just going to go a quick scroll again. Well, not too quick. Don't want to make people sick.

At the very, very bottom-- and this is where you would find your Budget and Workplan. So I think I already have it up. OK. If you go to the CAEP website, under Administrators, and Webinars, and Fiscal Data and Reporting, the Budget and Workplan and quarterly expenditure-- I think this will walk you through the Budget and Workplan for anyone that has any questions. And I can drop that link in the chat if that is helpful. And then with that, I'm going to go ahead and stop sharing and go back to the side deck. Is it sharing? Yes, I'm sharing now.

[laughs]

Holly Clark: Yes.

Mandilee Gonzales: Sorry, I have multiple screens and desktops going. So I wasn't sure if I grabbed the right one. Were there any questions on the Budget and Workplan or the Annual in NOVA?

Holly Clark: There were none posted in the chat.

Mandilee Gonzales: OK. OK. So we're now at the wrap up. I'll go pass it back to either Neil or Mayra.

Neil Kelly: I just want to add that we have plenty of time. So if anybody wants to put anything in the chat or come off the mic, plenty of time to ask the experts.

Holly Clark: So, Neil, we did just get a question in the chat. Jenae asked if the budget changes after the CFAD is certified and allocation amendment needs to be submitted. Please clarify these process points.

The state will conduct an allocation amendment in NOVA for each CAEP regional consortium, which was slide 9, to be certified by consortium members. Or each consortia start their own individual allocation amendment after the state sends out the memo stating each consortium's new allocation amount. Also will that memo break the allocations down per member agency for direct funded consortia or just at the consortium level? Thank you.

Mayra Diaz: Yeah, a really good question. So what we will do is if-- and thank you for pulling up that slide, Mandilee. If there is an update to the final budget, if the proposed COLA is eliminated, the state will conduct an allocation amendment in NOVA to capture the final allocations. We typically conduct that process in alignment as we're getting ready to release the final memo.

So the state will finalize the allocation amendment in NOVA. And then we will work to release the final allocations memo and schedule. That will include the detailed amounts by member or direct funded member and fiscal agents. However, then the next step from there will potentially be where the consortium will need to conduct their allocation amendments for their individual members. So I hope that helps answer your question.

Neil Kelly: Yeah, I could just add that I think last year when we did this, it was around the first week of July. And we included in that-- because of the direct funded members, they don't have a fiscal agent. So we included the adjusted amounts that all you had to do is type that into NOVA. And so we already figured that out.

Because we have a lot of consortia that sometimes try to calculate this stuff by themselves. And so they try to remove 0.76 or whatever the amount is. And they don't go out to the final decimal point, and then it's off. And so the state will calculate that for the direct funded.

Now the fiscal agent-- they should be doing something similar. We always recommend using the same percentage. And if they take away the COLA, it would be the same amount as last year. So that's just a rule of thumb.

Mandilee Gonzales: And just to add to that, so on the website-- and I posted a link. You can always find that memo and the allocation and the dollar amount, just like Neil said, how the state will provide that number for you to input.

Holly Clark: Thank you. And I did receive a direct message from a participant who has a question about changing amounts due to ineffectiveness in the CFAD. I don't know if that member is comfortable coming off mute to ask it. If not, please email me your question. And I will ask on your behalf.

Neil Kelly: I mean I can just cover that really quick, Holly. So there's only three ways. So first of all, the COLA is not something that's negotiable. Everyone gets the COLA. So that 0.76, that is non-negotiable. It goes to everyone.

And it should be based on the same percentage that they got last year. So if they got 24% last year of the consortia allocation, they get 24% of the amount this year, which includes the COLA. So the COLA is non-negotiable. Everybody gets it.

If you did want to reduce the member's funding, you have only three reasons that you could use-- criteria. It's if the member can't do the plan, doesn't want to do the Adult Ed plan, or is deemed ineffective. And we have listed ineffectiveness as the carryover. And then the other way of an ineffective member would be defined by the consortium.

So other than that, it's really up to the consortia, because you opt in or out on the consortia carryover. And so that could be one way. Or you come up with an agreed upon ineffective criteria for your consortium I don't know, Mayra, if you had anything else you wanted to add on that one.

Mayra Diaz: Yeah, no. I know this could be-- there's a lot of steps involved. And hopefully, this presentation overview of these deliverables as you're currently working on the CFAD and then the Annual Plan.

As we mentioned earlier, we did conduct a webinar on these NOVA enhancements, if you want to dive into some of that content, earlier in January. And that information, the webinar, the PowerPoint overview for that is also posted on the CAEP TAP website. There were some really good resources if you're going to be-- as you're addressing this AB1491 carryover compliance now that the CFAD is available, and you're looking at establishing a carryover threshold, that is a really good resource to refer back to. And you'll have the opportunity, as Neil had went over, to opt in or opt out.

But we have one thing that we want to flag is just making sure that you are having these conversations within your consortium to look at the member level carryover and the consortium level carryover. Because of the current budget deficit, we certainly don't want to be that program that has all this excessive carryover as the state offices are looking at finding ways to balance the budget deficit. And so it's important to look at the current carryover balances and how you want to use the NOVA tools to help you capture and flag what that's going to look like.

We mentioned earlier that September 30 is going to be the first full year of tracking that will be captured in NOVA. And that will go for the member level carryover. If you've opted in, you'll see some flags. And then also the consortium carryover-- that is automatically going to be monitored. And the NOVA system is set up to capture and flag. And that webinar that we mentioned breaks down what those tools, what the flags will include as we get to September 30.

So right now is the opportunity to have those conversations as you're currently working on the CFAD, and as we went over how those questions are included in the governance questionnaire, but also where you're going to select your percentage threshold, and then how you want that to trigger when the expenditure fiscal reports are being completed.

Holly Clark: OK, thank you. And then just a follow up question from that member asked, so a reduction in funds for an ineffective member can be done. but it must be done before the CFAD approval?

Neil Kelly: Leticia yeah. If you're going to do an allocation-- well, actually an allocation amendment can happen at any time during the year. So it doesn't necessarily have to be done at the CFAD. And it just depends on if you want to reduce the member's base or if it's just an allocation amendment during the year. That would be a good conversation to have within the consortium.

Holly Clark: OK, thank you. And then Kelly has a question about opt in and opt out. Kelly, are you--

Kelly: Hi, everybody. I think so if we chose not to opt out last year, and this year we're trying to decide if we should opt in or not. Let's just say that we don't opt in this year for member agencies. Technically, the whole consortium is opted in. And we will have to follow AB1491 anyways starting next year, correct?

Mayra Diaz: So essentially, AB1491 carryover compliance-- as we've mentioned, there's two levels of tracking. One is at the consortium level. And legislation outlines the 20% carry over threshold. So NOVA is automatically going to be capturing at the consortium level, whether the consortium is exceeding that 20% carryover threshold.

Now when it comes to the member level, if you opt in and enter a carry over threshold, then NOVA will assist in monitoring and flagging if that member has exceeded whatever threshold you've identified. If you opt out, NOVA will not be capturing and flagging that. But you want to ensure that as a consortium, the members in the consortium are working to address and monitor that carryover, because it can still affect the consortium level carryover if it exceeds that 20% carryover.

And therefore, what'll take place after September 30 once we run our snapshot of the first year, if the consortium has exceeded the 20% carryover threshold, NOVA will flag. The consortium will be required to complete a written expenditure plan and be assigned technical assistance by the state. So the state will be monitoring and tracking if the consortium has exceeded that carryover.

The member or within the consortium-- you're not required to select or opt in or opt out. However, you do want to ensure that you are working to keep those carryover balances that the members are carrying below that 20%, because the consortium will then be flagged. And I know it can be a little tricky. I hope I explained that. Kelly, do you have any additional questions?

Kelly: No, that's great. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Holly Clark: Thank you. And I think that that may have addressed Elle's question or at least a portion of it. So the next question in the chat was posted by Elle. And it was regarding the carryover button.

She said I think it was in the CFAD. If you toggle it on and it shows each quarter, quarter 1 and quarter 2 will be flagged, because you have way more than 20% left at that time. But if you shut it off, does that mean you are not doing the 20% carryover for the whole year?

Mayra Diaz: So if you toggle it off, it essentially means that your members will not be flagged. The consortium will not be able to monitor individually. I mean, you can essentially, but NOVA will not be monitoring and flagging it for you. So NOVA is still going to be tracking and capturing and monitoring if the consortium as a whole is exceeding that 20% carryover.

So the two part rule. So the first one, obviously we keep talking about the consortium, 20% carryover. Whether you opt in or if you opt out, it does not matter, because we are still tracking at a state level whether the consortium is going to have that 20% carryover threshold or not. If they do, then what will be prompted is a written expenditure plan for the consortium to complete.

And then at the member level, the consortium has the opportunity to use NOVA and the tools we've embedded to help the consortium and their members in monitoring and tracking that carryover. As we mentioned in one of the earlier slides about the CFAD where you opt in, you'll input the carryover percentage. And then it'll also ask you for the quarterly threshold percentages.

And that is more of a helpful tool that will then populate when the expenditure reports are being completed. And that populates-- it will prompt the corrective action plan for the member as a warning sign, letting them know about their carryover. So these are all helpful tools embedded in NOVA to help the members monitor and track and be aware of their carryover, but also for the consortium to work with their members to monitor that level of tracking.