(SPEECH)
MANDILEE GONZALES: --are Mayra Diaz, Neil Kelly, Renee Collins, and myself, Mandilee Gonzales.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text on a slide reads, California Adult Education Program. Presenters: Mayra Diaz, Chancellor's Office. Neil Kelly, California Department of Education. Renee Collins, CAEP TAP - Sacramento County of Education. Mandilee Gonzales, CAEP TAP - Sacramento County of Education. Cal Adult Ed dot org. Mandilee speaks from a video call tile in the upper right.

(SPEECH)
In today's agenda, we're going to go over our outcomes as well as a sequence of the CAEP deliverables, reporting requirements, the budget and workplan, technical assistance, and then we'll provide some resources as well as a live demonstration in NOVA so you can really see that hands on walkthrough of how the budget and work plans should be entered. At that time, we'll go ahead and go over any Q&A that you guys may have. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Neil Kelly.

NEIL KELLY: All right, thanks,

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Neil Kelly, C E D. Neil appears in the video call tile. In a picture next to the slide text, the blank space created by a missing puzzle piece reads, Outcomes. The missing white puzzle piece hovers above the empty space.

(SPEECH)
Mandilee. so as you know, this is going to be some kind of detailed information. We'll get into the weeds and we'll do some serious navigating in Nova. And I do see some consortia directors and co-chairs and leads, but I also see a lot of people at the school level and at the district level, maybe these are fiscal people, accounting people. So you've picked a good place because this is going to get into sequencing and then uploading and reporting and any types of questions you might have, so.

First slide here is just kind of the outcome that we want is for you to understand the sequence of the CAEP deliverables, the importance of the timely reporting because we have tons of due dates, and how each component is built upon the next one, specifically the budget and workplan and quarterly expenditure reports.

But we're also going to talk about the allocation process, the certification of fiscal administrative declaration, which is CAEP. We'll talk about the annual plan because all of these are interrelated and they build upon each other. So you can't move on to one unless you certified the other. And so we'll show you that relationship and walk you through those steps. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
A slide is entitled, Sequence of C A E P Deliverables. The text is divided from top to bottom into Allocation, C F A D, and Annual Plan sections. Blue labeled arrows next to each section point down.

(SPEECH)
All right, so here's a lot of detail, but I'll just pack it slowly for you. So as far as the sequence, the allocation process starts once the governor releases the budget. As you know, that's usually towards the first or second week of January. And then the state by Ed code has to release these preliminary allocations to each consortia or by each consortia by February 28. And so we use a formula to do that. And those are released and shared with all the consortium the state.

And then those consortia have until May 2 to have their public meetings and their internal meetings to decide how those allocations are going to work. There's also Ed code that guarantees no lists in the prior year and things like that. So if there are any changes through the May revised or maybe a trailer bill add on in mid June, then we do an adjustment.

And those adjustments, like we did this year, they are through an allocation amendment which we'll get into a little bit later. And those allocation amendments for the revise that we had this year and the trailer bill adjustment, we had two, are due September 1st.

But absent of that, usually, the schedule, and like we did this year, we get the schedules to the Department of Finance by July 15. And some of you, if you're familiar with this process, we sent out a schedule of how much each member was going to receive based on those may revise or trailer bills. So a lot of times if you are direct funded, we do those schedules for you. And then by statute, we have to get those disbursements out by August 15. And then like I said, if there are any changes to the May revise or trailer bill, then you have until September 1 to certify those amendments.

And so in the middle of this allocation that I just went through is to CFAD. And so the CFAD is a special document. It has to be approved by May 2nd. It can't be reopened or revised. When you certify that CFAD, it's done. It's done for the year. Any allocation, amendments, or changes have to happen outside of the CFAD. You can't go back in and revise the CFAD.

And so when we look at the CFAD, it consists of four main components. There's the fiscal declaration of how much. Part of that fiscal declaration is declaring what kind of structure. Are you a fiscal agent? Are you direct-funded? And then of course, there's agencies and certifiers who is representing your school or district to certify. And then, of course, member allocations and any preview sections. And then once you do that, if we go back up to the allocation part then, if there are any adjustments, then that's taken through the amendment, like this year is due September 1st.

In the middle of that is the annual plan, and the annual plan is due August 15, which was just a few days ago. And this must be approved in Nova before you can start working on your budget and work plans. And so that's why we talk about all this stuff before we get to the budget and work plan because it's important to know the setup of all the things that happen before we get into the budget and work plan.

So you have to have your CFAD in, you have to look for those adjustments and amendments, and then you also have to have your annual plan before you can get into the budget and work plan process of submitting it and then certification by your consortia.

So the budget and work plan identifies strategies and activities from your three-year plan. Actually, it's the annual plan identifies strategies and activities and metrics from the three-year plan, formulates and implements those strategies, and identifies plans of action. So from that annual plan, you're able to create your budget and work plan. So it's all kind of interconnected there. So if you work back up, it's budget and work plan, was a result of the annual plan, which was a result of the CFAD, which was a result of the allocations that happen as a result to the governor's budget. So working backwards. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
A similar slide is entitled, Sequence of C A E P Deliverables (continued). The text is divided into Budget and Workplan, Program Area Report, and Expenditure Report sections, with labeled arrows next to each section pointing down.

(SPEECH)
And then getting into more detail, which we'll talk about today and we'll show in NOVA The budget and work plan and the expenditure reports, which are quarterly, and then we also have a annual program area report which is kind of outside this process, but still a deliverable.

And so the budget work plan, once the member submits that budget and work plans, the consortia, or consortium, however you set up the approving certifier for the consortium will review, approve, and certify for the upcoming year. And you'll make that person, whoever that primary is for the consortium, whether it's your co-chair or your director or lead or fiscal agent, however you do it they have to be set up in NOVA to do that.

If a member changes their workplan, they have to go back into NOVA and update it. And manually can go into greater detail, but the consortia lead or whoever the primary is would have to go back and do the same process for review approval or reject leading to certification. And then just a note here is you have to do a change of a dollar before resubmitting. And so maybe Mandilee can fill that when we get into the NOVA demonstration.

(DESCRIPTION)
The Program Area Report section, which Neil skips, reads, Program Area Report. All members (K12 districts, county offices of education, joint powers authority, and community college districts) must submit in NOVA the total operational cost by fund source and instructional hours in the seven CAP program areas (adult education noncredit). Fund sources also include any fee revenue collected.

(SPEECH)
I'm going to skip down to expenditure reports. So after your budget and workplan, then you have your quarterly expenditure reports. We have some detailed slides on this, but they're required to submit each quarter in NOVA and their cumulative expenses. And you can't have expenses less than what was reported in the previous year. So it's cumulative not-- and those are--

The way we set it up, and I'll show you on a little visual, but we give you 60 days after the quarter ends to process this. So we give everyone plenty of time to submit and then 30 days for the consortium to review and certify. So even though it's a 90-day quarter, it's also a 90-day review, submission, and certification process for each expenditure report that goes in quarterly. So it's kind of interesting if you think of it that way.

And then, of course, the program area report is kind of a standalone report, but it does track each of the consortium members for their total operational costs by fund source, which is important for us to be aware at the state level and the legislature. And then we also collect data from you on instructional hours in the seven key program areas.

Another important factor of this program area report is any fees or revenue are collected too and that kind of feeds into any kind of discussion we're having with the legislature about with this new LEA report looking at doing away with fees. It's important to know where those fees are being collected, which programs. We know non-credit is non-fees, but there are student fees also that go in there too. On the K-12 side, you can't charge for ASVABE and ESL, but CTE is permitted.

So all those things kind of go into that program area report, just gives us more details of what is happening at the local level. And so that's important and that's due December 1st, so. I'll pause there. Do we have any questions because I just went through a lot of material?

MANDILEE GONZALES: There is a question from Dana and it says, clarifying if I am correct that Neil is addressing consortium deadlines and that agencies may have earlier deadlines decided at the consortium level.

NEIL KELLY: Correct. These are the state deadline. So if you have an internal consortium process that you're using, we'll just look at those state deadlines, so. And I'll look at the next slide, but the deadlines I'll be referring to are the state deadlines, the mandatory state deadlines on certification. Now, each consortium might approach getting to that deadline a little differently. So Dana, you have that flexibility to work through that as long as you meet those state deadlines. So hopefully that answers your question. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Expense Reporting Cycle. The text is divided into four columns titled, Q1 Report Due, Q2 Report Due, Q3 Report Due, and Q4 Report Due.

(SPEECH)
So here are those quarterly expenditure deadlines. So we recommend that the members submit by December 1st, but the consortia has to certify by December 31 for Q1. So backing up, a quarter is July, August, September. So then the quarter ends September 30. Then we give you 60 days, October, November, to figure out your expenses. And then we're hoping that the members file by December 1 and then that gives the consortium 30 days to review and certify by December 1st-- the December 31-- excuse me.

And so each quarter is set up that way. It's a 90-day order and then we give you two months to figure out your expenses and then 30 days for the consortia to certify. And that would be the same for Q2, Q3, and Q4. I'll just note that there is a little bit of a difference in some of these quarters, like, for Q2, if we're looking at life of funds, now, we give you 30 months to spend on your funds. So usually, those funds are expiring.

If they're, let's see, older funds like prior, prior year, they would be expiring by Q2. And that's why we say close out prior, prior year members funds due in NOVA. And so if you haven't closed out those prior, prior year funds, then you would be getting a invoice from the state to revert those funds back to the state. And then we'd want to know-- and then it's certified by March 31, and just to remind you there.

And then Q3, another reminder, is the target spend down in NOVA. Usually, if you're still having carryover after two years and you're 24 months in, NOVA will have a corrective action plan to allow you those extra six months to get to the 30 months. And so that's where it says there on the Q3, reminder target spend on date for 21-22 funds is June 30, 2023 with the corrective action plan in NOVA. Funds can be spent through December 31. That's that 30 months.

And then action is must include clear, concise actionable steps to spend on by December 31. Now, if you didn't spend down by December 31, then in that Q2, you would get the close out prior, prior and those funds would revert to the state. So hopefully I'm not confusing anybody.

But these quarters, they're all connected, but they're just in different years. So you have to be careful, what year the life of the money is, how much time you have to spend, what quarters are coming up. It's all very interesting, but if you've been in this program for a while, you get used to it. But if you're new, you've got to slow down and maybe reread this slide a few times to understand it and then have maybe somebody that's been around the block show you how it works

And then Mayra later is going to go into Q4, which is going to become a very important-- it's already a very important quarter. But with the carryover, that's going to trip the carryover legislation, and looking at the two consecutive years and the 12 months and all that. And she'll go into that a little bit. So next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text Under Q4 reads, Member, September 1 (prior year). Consortium, September 30 (prior year). The next slide is entitled Quarterly Expense Reporting. A table displays the member and consortia deadline for each quarter. First quarter, member deadline December 1, consortia deadline December 31. Second quarter, member deadline March 1, consortia deadline March 31. Third quarter, member deadline June 1, consortia deadline June 30. Fourth quarter, member deadline September 1, consortia deadline September 30. Text, Once the member expense report is submitted, the consortium must review, approve, and certify. If the due date falls on a weekend or a holiday, the report shall be due by close of business on the last working day prior to the reporting deadline. Members or consortia that need assistance to submit their reports on time can reach out for targeted technical assistance through CAP TAP.

(SPEECH)
OK, so here it is again, maybe a little better visual. First quarter, of course, remember deadline, December 1st, consortium deadline, which is the state deadline, December 31, and so on and so on. A note here, if the due date falls on a weekend or a holiday, it's close of business on that last working day prior to the reporting deadline. So I'll pause there to see if people have any questions. I think we've got a few questions let's see.

MANDILEE GONZALES: So there's a comment from Dr. Diaz that says, Neil, we need to keep in mind holidays. Some districts are gone.

NEIL KELLY: Right.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Janice has a question related to use of funds, which is can CAEP funds be used for uniform polo shirts for project search students under the DSS program area?

NEIL KELLY: So we usually say, with allowable costs, if the skirts are returned or stay on the property or if they're loaned out, they're not a gift. But if those polo shirts do not come back, then that would be a gift to the student. , But we can explore that further. But on the surface, just looking at that question it would not be allowable if the students were given to the students. Thereby qualifying it as a gift.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, thank you. And then Jennie Crane has a question is the Q3 corrective plan for the full 30 months not applicable in the 23/24, why?

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, so it's 24 months. So that would be for any funds that are going beyond that two-year lifespan. So that prior, prior year, that would give you the extra six months. So it really wouldn't be applicable for 23/24. You'd have to wait two years out. So if funds were appropriated July 1, 2023, and then we're looking two years out, that would be June 30, 2025, then you'd have to do a corrective action plan for that Q3 to give you that extra six month in 2025 towards the end of the calendar year, if that makes sense.

MANDILEE GONZALES: And then it looks like Mark [INAUDIBLE] has a follow up. He says, to follow up on the polo shirt question, are consumable workbooks considered a gift?

NEIL KELLY: Not sure what a considerable workbook is, but if the students are gifted with them, they don't come back, you should have some kind of loan program.

MANDILEE GONZALES: So just to expand on that. So Neil, a consumable would be like a workbook where they would write within the book.

NEIL KELLY: Oh, I got you. I was thinking of a Chromebook or something. No, no, no, no, no, I mean, workbooks, I think that's kind of on a different level there. And I think the supplies and materials and classroom materials and supplies would not be considered gifts as long as it's-- I don't know. I don't want to go any further, but, Yeah, I think that would be considered a gift.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Great. And then we have one more question, again, use of funds. And Jen says or asks, we have students in need of having their GED and high-set test fees covered due to hardship, can CAEP cover expense?

NEIL KELLY: Right, so as a student support, Jen, we would look at any testing, whether it's pre/post testing for costs or assessments or appraisal or GED or high-set testing, that would be allowable as a student support. But you'd have to do it in a way that you're not giving the student the money. And GED has a good job of setting up a GED manager that you're restricting the student just to that student and a particular test for that student. So the district or the school has control of those funds. So it's not really a gift. It's more of a controlled supportive service.

But you'd have to see how that's set up. Because technically, if you allow the student to control the test, then that would be considered a gift. But if you control the test and have, kind of, say so over how they use it, who uses it, then that's more of a supportive service, so.

MANDILEE GONZALES: And Mayra also added in, gifting of public funds is not allowable under prop 98 funds. And Jennie brings up a point that I was going to ask also. So what the corrective action plan for the 24 month mark, I thought that it was something that was no longer being required. That all funds would just have a 30 month shelf-life and that would be starting in the 23/24.

NEIL KELLY: I don't know. That could be a question for Mayra for the programming. I don't know if they did away with it or if that's still in the NOVA programming. Mayra any idea on that one.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mayra appears in the video call tile.

(SPEECH)
MAYRA DIAZ: I'm sorry, what was the question, Neil? I was posting [INAUDIBLE].

NEIL KELLY: So the question is people thought they did away with at the 24-month mark, the corrective action plans, to get the additional six months. It's no longer required. But I wasn't sure if that's still in NOVA triggered if they go past the 24 months.

MAYRA DIAZ: So I can confer. I can go back and double check, but one of the changes that was being worked on with the-- and there is a slide in here around the AB 1491 enhancements. Those are being finalized and we are working on putting out a webinar that will walk through what are some of those updates.

In regards to the standard correct, the member corrective action plan, that is with the AB 1491 enhancements, that is going to be triggered by carryover percentages as opposed to spend down expenditure or the standard way in which it was generally populating. So there are some changes to what will actually trigger that corrective action plan, which will now look at it from a carryover perspective. So we will have a separate webinar specific to walking through those updates and helping the field understand what will be some of those triggers.

NEIL KELLY: All right, and then just a clarification. So GED does have a voucher system, but you have to set it up where the school controls the voucher. Because if you use GED marketplace, that student can resell that voucher and then that would be a gift. So just be careful how you set up your vouchers and how you hand them out. You have to have control over that, like I said, so it won't be a gift.

But if you set it up in Marketplace, potentially the student could give that to another student and sell it to another student. So you have to be careful on how you're offering those supportive services to the student. And I'm not sure if [INAUDIBLE] has something similar. I would check with [INAUDIBLE] on that or you would have to set something up at your school to control those vouchers or however you're doing it.

And I don't know, Shannon, if I could-- Oh, is it possible to get the GED voucher information in writing? I think you would have to check maybe with the state on that if someone had a specific question, an email, to your consultant or to me depending on if it's a K-12 or a college. And if it was college, it would go to Mayra. But you could direct email us to get that information and send it back to whoever is looking into that. OK, and any other questions? There was a lot-- and Alejandro gave a pointer there. Thank you, Alejandro. All right, and then with that, I think I'm turning it over to Mayra, right?

MAYRA DIAZ: Yes, thank you. All right.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Q4 Expense Report Reminders.

(SPEECH)
OK, so just to summarize the quarter 4 expenditure report, going over a few reminders and deadlines. Starting with September 1, which is coming up soon, The 21/22 and 22/23 member expense report is coming up soon. September 30, the 21/22 and 22/23 member expense report will be certified by the consortia and NOVA.

So really want to highlight this quarter for these quarter 4 expenditure deadlines because, one, once the report is submitted, it is closed and cannot be reopen or certified by the consortia. Quarter 4 must be closed out to reflect the accurate available funds in the 23/24 budget and work plan. And if quartet 4 is not closed out, members will see double allocations in their available funds. Best practice is to complete the quarter 4 expense report prior to completing the 23/24 budget and work plan.

I will be talking a little bit more around the impact of this as a reminder with AB 1491. But just wanted to spend some time here in this slide really highlighting, as a standard practice, the quarter 4 report has a lot of these critical components to it. So it's very important that the members and the consortium work to submit and certify these in a timely manner. However, with the tracking and implementation of AB 1491 that's going to be an even more critical component. As quarter 4 gets certified next year in September of 2024, we will be able to capture what is that first year of carryover that is being tracked.

So it's really good to get in the habit of start working with your members, the consortium, to start implementing and reinforcing those deadlines so that whenever we get to this point next year, the consortia has been made aware, the members are aware of the criticalness around getting these quarter 4 report submitted in a timely manner, as we will be able to track and determine what are those carryover balances. So very critical. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, A B 14 91 Reminders! An alarm clock illustrates sits next to the slide text.

(SPEECH)
So here's the slide on AB 1491. We're going to continue to set these reminders throughout the year. And as we have mentioned previously, the tracking, the clock, has officially started with the start of this new fiscal year. And as a reminder that the member carryover will impact the consortia carryover. And for the 23/24, with the clock starting, that first year of quarter 4 certification will be September 30 of next year.

So we're not going to see a lot being tracked or triggered, even with the NOVA enhancements for this current year. All of that will go in. Once quarter 4 is certified next year, that is when you'll be able to see the enhancements, and the triggers, and the carryover balances and reports, and all the tools that we'll be made available for the field to be tracking this. But very important that we continue to rely this message. Throughout the year, we'll have continued training and we'll continue to remind the field around these AB 1491 implementation, most specifically to NOVA and the enhancements that will be incorporated.

But just wanted to continue to stress the importance of that quarter 4 submission in a timely manner because we will be able to run a list. At that point, once quarter 4 is submitted, we will need to determine what that carryover balance will be. And if consortium members are not submitting it by that deadline, there could be implications around what that carryover balance will look like if that quarterly 4 report has not been submitted to report on what those expenditures to provide the state with an accurate look of the actual carryover balances.

AB 1491, just a quick summary. It authorizes a consortium to reduce the members excessive carryover funding. It's outlined in Ed code.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, E C, 8 4 9 1 4. Consistent with. Then three bullet points are listed. Maya skips over the first two, which say, The member no longer wishes to provide services consistent with the adult education plan. The member cannot provide services that address the needs identified in the adult education plan. Text, NOVA Enhancements Webinar will be announced soon!

(SPEECH)
We've highlighted what impact that will have. So in bullet number three, there was an addition to the language where it basically authorizes a consortia to reduce a member's funding if the member has been ineffective in providing services that address the needs identified in the adult education plan, including having excessive carryover for at least two consecutive fiscal years, beginning with the 23/24 fiscal year.

And I do see that Holly has dropped the guidance, the timeline, and the FAQ. We want to ensure that you continue to refer to that because the year has officially begun. The tracking has gone in. And this will go for the consortia level, which is being looked at a 20% carryover will be flagged for next year.

Earlier this year, the consortia had the ability to designate a carryover threshold and be able to incorporate that into the CFAD. Some consortia opted out. Some consortia plugged in their carryover percentages. Next year, once Q4 is certified, we will be able to see and be able to track what those carryover percentages and amounts look like.

As I mentioned, we are going to be releasing a NOVA enhancements webinar to provide the field with those updates to be able to walk you through the dashboard that is being released, the tools, the reports that will provide consortia and members with an aggregate view or a very narrow view of this information, being able to track carryover. So we're really excited about releasing this and looking forward to hosting this webinar and providing the dates and registration for this soon. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Consortium Responsibilities and Accountability. In a graphic on the slide, a green checkmark sits inside a magnifying glass.

(SPEECH)
A few reminders of consortium responsibilities and accountability. The consortium should verify that the expenditures are aligned to the annual and the three-year plans. As Neil mentioned, the annual plan deadline just recently passed a couple of days ago. We hope to have received all 71. Understanding all of the expenditure reporting requirements is also critical for the consortium, including reconciling expenditures and completing budget revisions if needed prior to completing the report.

As you are aligning the expenditures to the annual and three-year plan, there's a reminder that the CAEP funds are restricted to the seven program areas. And we hope to have seen that alignment outlined in these plans. And as you are working on your expenditure reports and reconciling the expenditures, we're hoping that the consortium is tracking that and monitoring that as all this information is getting submitted by the deadline. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Related Fiscal or Administrative Activities. In a photo next to the text, a green pencil makes checkmarks inside a column of checkboxes.

(SPEECH)
Some fiscal and administrative activities. I wanted to cover a couple key highlights. So it's critical that the consortium develop consortium and member budgets based on CAEP planning. It's important that the consortia is documenting member and consortium activities as it relates to CAEP funding. That there is a review of each member's budget and expenditures for state reporting. Administering a review process of financial budget and expenses to CAEP planning that is tied to the three-year and the annual plans.

In addition, preparing and setting up fiscal administrative oversight related meetings and working with members to submit budget and expenditure reports. That will be critical for the consortia to support its members and ensuring that these items are submitted and reported accordingly. Also ensuring coordination and tracking of consortium and member spending, coordinating budgets in collaboration with consortium members, just district administrators and accounting staff.

And as far as also looking at and helping members with the carryover aspect. We certainly want to ensure that the consortia is working with its members as we get ready to release those tools that should also help the consortium in keeping track and monitoring those member carryovers to help them before we get to that period where they're flagged for that one-year and that second year of carryover. Next slide, please

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Budget Modifications. In a photo next to the text, A binder clip holds a card that reads, Revision.

(SPEECH)
An overview of how to conduct budget modifications. So with budget modifications, they must be submitted in NOVA prior to the submission of the quarterly expenditure report, providing you with some step by step instructions. If you try to submit a budget modification and have come across some barriers, these are the steps and how you are able to get these budget modifications submitted.

So in order to submit a budget revision, the consortium primary contact must un-certify the budget and then that allows the member representative to un-submit in order to finally get through to the sections in which you would be allowed to make those changes. So just remember that order of sequence. And the member representative enters their changes and resubmit the budget upon the consortium primary contact-- I'm sorry-- upon which the consortium primary contact will need to recertify.

So there's a couple of steps in order to be able to get to the actual budget modification. The consortium will need to un-cerify and then that will allow the member to unsubmit to eventually get to those changes and then it has to work its way back up. If you have questions as you are navigating this, please reach out to our CAEP tab. We're able to provide you with some step by step instructions if you're having trouble whenever you're working on the technical aspect of NOVA. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Budget and Workplan Overview. In a graphic, a magnifying glass hovers over a document with a green checkmark on it.

(SPEECH)
Want to highlight a budget and workplan overview. So based on what we've covered and based on the annual plan strategy submitted by August 15 and the CFAD Fed that was submitted earlier this year on May 2nd, each member then creates a budget and plan for the new fiscal year that will run between July 1 and June 30. The member budget is broken down by object code, and this also aligns with the member work plan to spend all active funding during that 12-month fiscal period.

We want to highlight that the active funding includes all carryover and new funding combined into one budget. We want to continue to reiterate, this is going to be critical. I would even encourage the members and the consortia to look at your carryover at the moment, look at the amounts that you have, and start planning and budgeting accordingly, especially as the clock is already started tracking. And next year, the system will be informing us of what that carryover amount is.

So I wouldn't wait until then. I would certainly encourage you to start looking at your carryover, looking at all the active funding and looking at the annual plan and the three-year plan to develop your budget and your work plan accordingly to spend on the funding in alignment with those plans. The due dates, you have until September 30 to submit the 23/24 member program year budget and work plan, that is due in NOVA. And also by October 30, then the consortia will go in and certify that 23/24 budget and work plan. So keep those deadlines in mind. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The following slide is entitled, Budget and Workplan Overview (continued).

(SPEECH)
And to summarize the overview. So for the budget and workplan, the member work plan aligns with the strategies of the annual plan. Members will check off which strategies from the annual plan they are covering with their 12-month budget. Once the member submits their work plan and budget, the consortium will then review-- I'm sorry-- approve, and certify for the upcoming year.

If the member has changes to their work plan and/or the budget, it will go back through NOVA using the same process of consortium member review, approval, and certification. For the member budget and workplan from prior year, it can be modified until submission of that quarter for expenditure report.

So there's a lot of steps that tie into one another. We hope that you can recall all this information. But if you have questions as you are working on your budget and workplan, after this presentation, please reach out to us and we'll be happy to help walk you through the steps and provide technical support via our CAEP TAP. Next slide, please.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide is entitled, Member Work Plan. A picture on the slide displays a Workplan page. A heading on the page reads, Objective 1: Address Educational Needs. Beneath the body text under the heading, a red circle surrounds a checkbox that reads, We plan to address this strategy.

(SPEECH)
All right, I am going to hand it over to Mandilee. Thank you, Mandilee.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yeah, no problem. Thank you for that. And I know I mentioned early on that this is pretty intense as far as the information. We hope, though, that with this PowerPoint, you're able to refer back to it, use it as a resource to inform how you move forward.

We understand that there are deliverables that happen pretty frequently. And just want to reiterate that they do tie into one another. I'm hoping that this can be a supportive tool. And if you ever have the need, always reach out to us via email or phone. We're happy to jump on a phone call with you or even hop on to a Zoom where we can share screen and move forward.

So the next few slides, I'm going to go through pretty quickly. They are really the steps that we're going to be going over in a live demonstration. And before I move forward, I see that there's a pretty hefty, some questions coming through. So it may be on some of the items that Mayra covered. So we'll just go over that really quick before we jump into the next set of slides.

So Jen Wilson says, by midyear of 22/23, we had the realization that our hiring plans would not become a reality. Hiring has been slow post-covid due to schools that go back to their budget and resubmit. Do most schools go back to their budget and resubmit a revised budget or do most close the year with reported expenditures simply being flagged as not part of their annual plan? We have never done a revision despite knowing we had-- sorry-- got another one and it moved on me. We have never done a revision despite knowing. We had some changes by mid-year and close with the fiscal changes being flagged in NOVA.

Mayra, I don't know if you have a response to that. I can say, Jen, that under the circumstances now with AB 1491, it might not have been past practice, but it might be something that you want to consider moving forward as a consortium or definitely, at least, as within your agency, knowing that there is going to be that closely monitored carryover. If you have a strategy to spend down that money in the next quarter, you can always have that overage or in that next fiscal year, you have a strategy in which you're going to spend down those funds.

I think there was, and Neil can maybe speak to this, I believe they had kind of a forgiveness. There was a little bit of a forgiveness with certain criteria due to COVID. But post-pandemic, we're not seeing those same kind of forgiveness or extensions. Mayra or Neil or Renee, did anyone else want to chime in?

MAYRA DIAZ: I would say something similar. I think it depends on the situation. And I would probably want to take that back and look at it a little bit because it sounds to me like a, depending on the scenario and especially with post-COVID, so I think we can certainly take that back and provide a follow-up response.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, sounds good. OK, and then it looks like Dr. Ramirez Gillespie is responding to Jen and saying that that's also been their row for the 22/23 hires. Didn't materialize until this term for the 23/24 fiscal. And then Elena has shared additional information for everybody in the chat. So unless there's any other questions, we'll go ahead and move on.

So again, I'm just going to go over a quick high level overview of what we're going to go through in a live demonstration. So when you enter into NOVA, you're typically going to go to your budget and workplan. You'll have that workflow that will pop up. You'll see that always on the left hand side. You're going to address those educational needs, improve the integration of services and transitions, improve effectiveness of services. Those are going to be all of your options. Again, this will tie into your budget in that next step.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Remember: Objectives, metrics, and strategies are pre-populated in the Workplan. Objective and strategy language is an automatic import from the Annual Plan. Members select Objectives and Strategies that they will address. The following slide is entitled, Allocation Summary. A picture on the slide displays a page open to the next tab on the left-side menu. It reads, Member Budget. A heading says, Allocation Summary. Different values, including total available funds, are listed below. The next heading reads, Instructional Salaries 2022 to 23. Fields below have titles including Budget Item Title and Expenditure Type.

(SPEECH)
When you go to the next step of the budget, this is your member budget. So this will be specific to each member representative. You will see the allocation summary. So you will see the dollar amount in which you need to spend down in your budget and workplan. And that can be from salaries or materials. And then there's a couple of notes here on the left that, again, you guys can always refer to.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, The amount showing in red as available on the 23-24 Budget work plan includes 21/22 funds as well as 22/23 available funds. Once Q4 is certified, the amount will decrease to reflect current available funds. Reminder: Q4 will need to be completed prior to the Budget and Work Plan opening in NOVA. The next slide is entitled, Budget Development. Text, Budget items are entered by Object Code. Total must match the total in the Allocation Amendment. Include a brief description for each object code. Indirect cost cannot be greater than 5%. In the photo on the slide, the Expenditure Type dropdown menu is open. Options are: 5000 - Other Operating Expenses and Services. 6000 - Capital Outlay. 7000 - Other Outgo. Indirect Costs. A text field below has the heading, Brief Description of Expenditure. A button near the bottom of the page says, New Budget Item.

(SPEECH)
And then you're going to go into the budget development. And this is where you're going to add in any of your object code. So again, I think I mentioned is this going to be your capital outlay. Are there going to be indirect costs or is these materials? So this gives you that opportunity to line item, how that money is going to be spent, what object code it's going to be budgeted to, and then a brief description of expenditure.

On a side note, I would say that brief description of expenditure, be as clear and concise as you can in that area. It is helpful if you bear in mind, maybe you won't be that person in that same seat in two years, you want to make sure that it's understandable by anyone who might go back in to review and/or audit or even for your own notes.

And so I see another chat has come through. I'm going to go ahead and read that out loud. So Trang says, in the budget work plan, you mentioned that it includes carryover and new allocation amounts. If LEA's know that they are not able to fully spend the carryover and new allocation in the current year, do we still just plan as if we would be able to expend the carryover and new allocation even if we have a 30-month shelf-life or 30 months to spend?

So in this situation, Trang, I would say if you know that you are not going to be able to spend those moneys down within the year, that can be a larger discussion that you have with your leadership, and that can look like if your program in this next fiscal year isn't able to spend that money down but potentially, there's another member within your consortium that, you can always do an allocation and transfer it as a one time allocation to another member.

If you do that, it's not going to affect any funds for your agency in the following year. But there are various strategies that you guys can look at and explore depending on how you want to navigate that. And I think That's how I would approach it. Neil, Mayra, or Renee, or even Holly because I know that she works with all of you a lot of the times as well, if there is any other advice or scenarios that you would like to chime in on.

HOLLY C: This is Holly. My only thought on this is with 1491. We want to be careful about not materializing your expenditures and planning on spending them within that 30-month shelf-life because that can affect your consortium's overall carryover and puts you over the 20% CAEP. So be mindful and cautious of just planning to spend it down the road.

MAYRA DIAZ: Yeah, that's a good point, Holly. Thank you for chiming in. And also just wanted to add that I know as we're starting to highlight the awareness of AB 1491 clock, starting to track, we certainly want to ensure that consortia are, and their members, are keeping track of that carryover. Ultimately, it is up to the members to determine and work within their institutions to determine how they're going to spend that funding in alignment and in alignment with that three-year plan.

But certainly, keeping an eye and maybe going back and look at how much carryover you currently have because, as Holly pointed out, there is going to be that 20% annual consortia automatic carryover tracking that the state is doing. And if the consortia is carrying over 20% after September 30 of next year, 2024, then there will be a written expenditure plan flagged for the consortia to complete.

They will be assigned technical assistance, that's at the consortia level, whereas at the member level, if the member has excessive carryover, it depends on whether their consortia decided on a percent carryover threshold that was recorded in the CFAD that will determine year one carryover logging next year as well once quarter 4 is certified. But either way, it's the consortia carryover that's being monitored as well as the member and the consortium. So one will impact the other.

It will be really important that the member, the consortia, they all have this conversation, especially as these plans are currently, and the budget and work plan is being developed, to look at how that carryover will be addressed. Of course, being spent down in accordance with the regulations. But definitely a conversation to take back and start having as you're developing your budget and work on.

And we'll certainly be covering this more in depth when we get ready to announce the webinar and put out the webinar for AB 1491 NOVA enhancement. So stay tuned more to come on that. In the interim, also continue to refer to the guidance that was posted in the chat.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, thank you, Holly and Mayra for your help with that. And it looks like there's additional questions. So the initial question came in from Sarah. Is there a formula to determine the amount of consortium fiscal/admin expenses the fiscal agent is allowed to claim? And Holly, thank you for replying saying that the CAEP for the fiscal consortium admin expense is 5%. In addition, Neil added that is not to be confused with the individual district indirect rate. The fiscal consortium is 5% and is up for approval by members, not a guaranteed 5%.

Brenda Smith asked another question. What is the indirect rate that's allowed? And Brenda, I'm sorry, if you can maybe provide more context. So it's up to 5%, but I think you might be talking about the district indirect. And Neil, do you have any say on that?

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, so the legislation the Ed code states for K-12, it's 5% or your CDE approved indirect rate for the district, whichever is less. So you have to check that CDE-approved indirect rate, and a lot of times it's less than 5%. So you have to take the lesser of the two or you'll be that out of compliance.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you. So Molly has another question. May consortium members adjust the budget amount from one category to another at any time as many as wanted? Thank you, Holly. Yes, Molly, you can and that is done through a budget revision.

All right, so additional resources being shared by Matra as well as Holly. And then for those that have additional questions regarding the indirect rate, Mayra's posted that it is on page 25 in the fiscal guidance. Holly has also added that to our chat. So I appreciate all of the questions and the support in answering them. Thank you, everyone. And with that, I think, we're going to go ahead and move on.

(DESCRIPTION)
The following slide is entitled, Cumulative Quarterly Forecast. Text, Enter cumulative targets for Q1-04. You can enter a member forecast of any percentage so long as by Q4 the minimum remaining expenses are 20% or below. In the photo on this slide, a page sub-heading reads, 2023-24 Cumulative Quarterly Expenditure Forecast. A tracker below displays dollar amounts and percentages, represented by red bars, for Qs 1 through 4. The dollar amounts are all $0 and the red bars are all slivers.

(SPEECH)
All right, so the cumulative quarterly expenditure. This is where you're going to enter in that forecast. It is cumulative. So that means you add one quarter to the next. I know it sounds silly to say it that way, but I know that, in the moment, someone will say, Oh, I'm going to spend 25% in Q1, 25% in Q2, and so on and so forth. Really what that should reflect is, if you do intend to spend 25, 25, 25, 25, it would look 25, 50, 75, 100. Is there a recommendation for what that should look like given that new AB 1491, Neil or Mayra?

MAYRA DIAZ: I think it should be the same, but I think it really just depends. The member would want to look at how much carryover do they have. This part of NOVA has not been updated, so the same level of funding that the consortia has implemented in entering these percentages. But I think it really is a good opportunity for the consortia or the members to go back and look at their current overall, what is the carryover amount that you have in the balance that you have to see how you want to spend down.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK.

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, we just said it requires a little more technical expertise because you have the 12 months at the consortium level that the state will put you in technical assistance. And then you have your two consecutive years for each member that the consortium has determined.

So that forecasting is going to become really important, but they have to map it out depending on if it's on a 12-month cycle, 20 more four-month cycle, and then you have your own consortia spend down cycle that you might want to factor into that too. So a lot to consider. But Yeah, you can use this as a tool to help you with that forecasting. So that's it.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you.

RENEE COLLINS: And if I could add anything, I think the state in the past has recommended by quarter one, 15%, by quarter two you've spent 30%, by quarter three, 45%, and by fourth quarter, 60%. And that will be changing what may be 1491, where we need to spend down at least 80% with no more than 20% carryover. So I don't know that it matters what numbers go in quarter 1, quarter 2, quarter 3, but by quarter 4, you need to be at least at that 80%. And Neil or Mayra, if you want to clarify any further, but that's my understanding with the forecasting.

MAYRA DIAZ: That is correct, Renee, and this percentages are certainly accurate. So this part will remain the same, but certainly take that into consideration as you're looking at what is the total amount that you have that you want to spend that down. What will be, and I think we might have a slide, but what will be updated with the new NOVA enhancements is what triggers the consortia or the member corrective action plan.

So that will no longer be triggered by your expenditure spend down, but rather the carryover percentages that you have will trigger the corrective action plan that members will be required to complete. So to not confuse anyone, we'll certainly be incorporating that into our upcoming webinar that will be specific around the updates and enhancements made to NOVA surrounding AB 1491.

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, and thanks, Mayra. Not to confuse people, but when you're looking at members, not each member gets a different allocation amount. So Yeah, you could put everybody at 20% and hope that everybody adheres to it. But you can have one member with most of the funds and some members with very little, should they all be at the 20%?

So it depends on if you're looking at that 12-month cycle, 24-month cycle, 30-month cycle. And then you've got to factor in how much money we're talking about and how their spend down rate is. So requires a little bit of technical expertise. But we're glad that people are on the call today to explore this a little further, so.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you. That's a great point. In fact, I just had a conversation around consortium and then members who do have the majority of those funds where everyone could spend everything down but you have that one member that gets the majority of the funds and it could kind of knock things out of whack, especially with AB 1491.

So a couple more comments popped in. Jenne says, will members still get flagged for not spending down enough of their quarterly percentage forecast? If so, what percentage is that?

MAYRA DIAZ: So that's the update that I was referring to earlier. So generally, what the flag was, it was, it's in my mind, but it was the member expenditure plan that they had to complete the corrective action. Yeah, so instead of it being flagged by not spending down based on the quarterly forecast, it is going to be flagged-- what will trigger the corrective action plan of the member level will be triggered by carryover. So that is something that is changing on the back end.

In the interim, what the members want to do is you'll still be able to enter your percentages, keeping in mind what Neil mentione, keeping in mind what Renee mentioned, looking to spend down developing your budget or inputting these percentages. But what used to flag and notify members that they weren't meeting those targets, that corrective action plan, that's no longer going to populate associated to that. It's not going to populate based on the carryover.

So we will provide step by step NOVA training so that you're aware of if you get flagged for that, how that ties in on the back end and the carryover that you are currently carrying. So you won't see that get triggered until next year, but we'll certainly, don't be alarmed, you're not going to see that get triggered until quartet 4 next year. After September 30, that's when you'll start to see some of these things. But we'll certainly be providing a webinar soon in the coming weeks. So stay tuned for that and we will certainly walk through all of those updates.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you. It looks like we have some additional comments. Neil, thank you for addressing them just so everyone can benefit, especially for those if they get the recording. I'm just going to read those out. Trang posted a question. Just to clarify with AB 1491 and to ensure that all LEAs do not carry over more than 20%. This does not include any carryover amounts from prior years. Neil responded, Trang, it will include any prior, prior year funds and prior, prior year funds as well as current funds, meaning all active funds that would be carrying over.

Jen post a question. For the newbies, look back at your prior year to see how you spent your money. The cumulative quarterly forecasting tool seen on the slide is helpful to see if you are doing the same as prior years. Since our teaching stuff is hourly, our first quarter is around 14%, our last quarter is almost 33% because hourly pay is one month in areas.

OK, some additional questions coming in. Jose, well, the webinar slide show being made available any time soon. So Holly has just posted that. I know that she's been posting that along with additional resources within this slide deck. All resources that have been shared throughout are also, I want to say, it's like the last slide with all of those links made available for you. And then it's just some accolades. Thank you from Eileen. And then some are just additional notes as far as when this webinar will be remediated and sent out to everybody. But the PowerPoint is remediated and we are able to share immediately.

So it looks like at this point we're able to move on to the next slide.

(DESCRIPTION)
The next slide reads, NOVA. Plan. Invest. Track. Live NOVA Demonstration.

(SPEECH)
Oh, just a live demonstration. So I'm just going to do a quick stop share. So I can log into NOVA so stand by if you don't mind, your patience, as I move into pulling up Nova. So as a reminder to everybody, Sandbox is a safe environment within Nova. So while I will be pulling up a consortium's reporting, it's not going to affect anything that they have already entered and it is a safe environment. And it is something that is typically only accessible to those that have admin rights for training purposes.

So now that I am logged in, let me go ahead and share screen again.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee shares her screen. A web browser displays a page with the URL, sandbox dot nova dot cccco dot edu slash caep slash consortia. In a menu on the lefthand side of the page, the tab, Consortia and Members, is selected. A subheading reads, Filter Consortia and Members. Below, a text field is titled, Name of Consortia or Member. The option, All, is selected under the text, Funding Channel. Tiles below say, 01 Allan Hancock and Lompoc Unified Adult Education Consortium, 02 Antelope Valley Regional Adult Education Consortium, and Funding Channel: Direct Funded 03 Barstow Area Consortium for Adult Education.

(SPEECH)
OK, is everyone seeing my screen? I think so.

SPEAKER: Yes.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yes, thank you, whoever said that. I appreciate you. And let me just move some of my Zoom controls here and make this a little bit bigger. So all of the screenshots that I've shared really just walk you through this same process. So as you enter into NOVA, you'll go to your consortium main page. We're going to use Antelope. We pick on Allen Hancock more often than not. I'm just going to go to number two today. It's going to be Antelope.

When you're in your consortium main page, you'll scroll down all the way to your budget and work plan. I'm just going to go kind of quickly here. Apologies for the quick scroll.

(DESCRIPTION)
After selecting 02, Antelope, Mandilee scrolls down the page toward the very bottom. A heading reads, Budget & Workplan 2023-24. A table below lists member agency, with a link, available funds, budget, indirect cost percent, fiscal slash admin expenses, and status, which is set to DRAFT.

(SPEECH)
And once you're in your budget and work plan for the 23/24 year, you'll click on your member agency.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee clicks the link under Member Agency which reads, Antelope Valley Union High. In the workflow menu toward the left side, the middle of the three tabs, Budget, is selected.

(SPEECH)
And then this is the work plan that was indicated earlier. It does take you through that workflow.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee clicks the first workflow tab, titled, Workplan.

(SPEECH)
It should be intuitive I believe and it'll let if you're incomplete or complete.

Your objectives are all here.

(DESCRIPTION)
A subheading reads, Obiective 1: Address Educational Needs. Body text reads, Strategy Description All programs offered by the consortium have been outfitted with a technology base that will allow students to access the curriculum, and meet with instructors and counselors from home or school. Technology will continue to be upgraded as equipment becomes obsolete or software/hardware needs to be upgraded to meet the needs of the students in our region. Additionally, facilities will be upgraded to ensure a safe and secure learning environment for students that are outfitted with the necessary equipment and resources to ensure success. A box is checked next to the text, We plan to address this strategy.

(SPEECH)
So it's going to list your strategies as well as that activity. You have the opportunity to say if you plan on addressing this strategy or not, understanding that not all members are going to address the same strategies. If you do select that you are going to accept this strategy or address the strategy rather, you'll select your program area. So that might be ASE. If you click ASE and you didn't mean to, you can delete that and then just select another space.

(DESCRIPTION)
From a dropdown titled, Program Area(s) of Focus, beneath the checkbox, Mandilee selects A S E, then clicks an X next to it to delete it. She then selects E S L.

(SPEECH)
You will have to explain how this strategy will focus on that program area. So this is a test for today.

(DESCRIPTION)
In a text box below titled, Explain how this strategy will focus on the Program Area(s) selected, Mandilee types, This is a test for today.

(SPEECH)
You must indicate something there. And then you'll scroll through and add however many you would like for today. We're just going to go ahead and do the one. Antelope has a fair amount of strategies. Thank you for that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee scrolls down the page through different strategies.

(SPEECH)
Oh, there is kind of a ton here. OK, once you've completed that and you've addressed those strategies, you'll just go ahead and click the Next button.

(DESCRIPTION)
At the bottom of the page, Mandilee hovers over a dark blue Next button in the bottom right.

(SPEECH)
Because I'm sharing a screen in this format, I am not seeing any chats. So if there are any chats that come up, if Holly or Mayra Renee or Neil can just either come off mute and tell me to stop

SPEAKER: You're good for now.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, I'd appreciate it. Thank you so much. Here we go, guys. So then that's going to take you to the member budget, which is your next step. So it's going to show you, here in the allocation summary, how much you have to budget for.

(DESCRIPTION)
On the Member Budget page, a subheading reads, Allocation Summary, with different values in a table below. Another subheading beneath this reads, Director for Consortium 2023-24. Text under the subheading says, Budget items may contain clusters of related expenditures. This should be a high level summary of the budget that indicates how funds will be utilized to accomplish the plan objectives. Budget Item Title and Expenditure Type fields sit beneath.

(SPEECH)
It so kind of straightforward. You're going to go down here. So maybe we're going to budget for a director for this consortium. We're going to pick instructional salaries.

(DESCRIPTION)
Director for Consortium is entered in the Budget Item Title field. 1000 - Instructional Salaries is selected from the Expenditure Type dropdown. Mandilee scrolls up to the Allocation Summary section and mouses over the remaining amount value, which in this case reads, $13,717,758.

(SPEECH)
One of the main pieces that I really want to make sure I drive home is, whatever this dollar amount is, you must make sure you budget down. So you're going to have a remaining budget of zero dollars. Ideally that's what you want to do. So everyone's going to apply here because we're going to just go ahead and put this $13,000,758 for this director.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee pastes the remaining amount value into the 2023-24 amount field in the Director for Consortium budget item section. In a field titled, Brief Description of Expenditure, she types, Amazing magic.

(SPEECH)
And we're going to say amazing magic is going to happen here. That's what's happening.

And if there's additional budget items, you just click New Budget Item. So obviously you're going to have more than one budget item. You have multiple different object codes to fill and as you do that, this is an area that I also want to draw your attention to this is that consortium fiscal admin expense. It did come up earlier in the chat. This is where that 5% is going to come into play.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee unchecks a box that reads, Consortium Fiscal/Admin Expense.

(SPEECH)
So for example, if you have materials that are going to be part of that 5%, you would say, OK, I have $5 going to materials. And that's going to be a consortium fiscal. If you decide that in those 4,000 you have another 4,000 expenditure that is not part of that 5%, you can duplicate this and then un-click the consortium fiscal. So you're able to differentiate what is part of the 5% and what isn't as far as those funds go. If that was confusing, I apologize. Any questions there?

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee changes the expenditure type to, 4000 - Supplies and Materials, in the dropdown. She re-checks the checkbox. Near the bottom right of the budget item, she clicks a button with a plus sign that reads, Duplicate. A duplicate of the budget item appears below. On the duplicate, Mandilee unchecks the box.

(SPEECH)
HOLLY C: Now, Mandilee, we did get a couple of questions in the chat and you can let me know. I have answered them. [INAUDIBLE] asked question, if a specific strategy has an activity linked to member agency number two but another member agency, number four, wants to address it as well, can they? And I believe that answer is yes. Multiple agencies can address the same activity. Because some activities are truly consortium-wide.

MANDILEE GONZALES: That's correct.

HOLLY C: OK, and then Kristen asked, I assume we can choose more than one program area/population for one strategy/activity, correct? And you can. You can select multiple.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yeah, and you'll see here as I select multiple. Just adds them there.

(DESCRIPTION)
Back on the Workplan tab, in the Program Areas of Focus field, Mandilee selects three options from the dropdown, A S E, E S L, and E I Civics. Each is displayed in its own gray oval beneath the field, with an X in the top right corner.

(SPEECH)
HOLLY C: Perfect, those are all that have come through. I just want to verify with you.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you. All right, so then moving on.

(DESCRIPTION)
Back on the Budget tab, Mandilee scrolls to the duplicate item and hovers over a Delete button with a trashcan icon, located in the lower right of the budget item.

(SPEECH)
I'm going to go ahead and delete. So again, this is a really intuitive tool, and it is helpful. So here, let's say, I accidentally duplicated something or I added in a budget item that we no longer are going to use, you can simply just delete it and it goes away, OK?

So now that I feel like I have budgeted appropriately for my consortium, I'm going to come down here to the cumulative forecast.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee scrolls down to a section titled, Cumulative Quarterly Expenditure Forecast. An item has the heading, 2023-24 Cumulative Quarterly Expenditure Forecast. Text, 2023-24 Amount $13,717,758. Forecast the year-to-date spending by enterting the cumulative percentages for each quarter. For example: 15% for Q1, 30% for Q2, 45% for Q3, and 60% for Q4. In the forecast tracker below, percentages for Qs 1 through 4 are listed as 20, 40, 60, and 80% respectively. Dollar amounts for Qs 1 through 4 are listed as $2,743,552, $5,487,103, $8,230,655, and $10,974,206.

(SPEECH)
And as you put in the percentage here, it'll make that adjustment here. Again, it's cumulative so you're going to see how it just continues to add on. In this forecast, we are only budgeting a total dollar or a total percentage of 80%. And if that is what you've decided and that is OK, then you simply click Next.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee clicks Next in the lower right of the page. She scrolls up the following page, corresponding to the Preview tab in the workflow. She scrolls down over sections for Member Information, Member Contacts, and Objectives.

(SPEECH)
And then this gives you an opportunity to get that high level overview of everything that you've already entered in. So I'm just going to scroll to the top, making sure that all of this is accurate information. Remember contacts are the right people that should be there then it goes through your different objectives.

Something to point out, while I selected just that first objective that they're going to address, all will still be listed. And that just indicates with an x that it is not something that your agency is going to be addressing. So it is going to be a long scroll down.

(DESCRIPTION)
Under the strategy, an X sits next to the text, We plan to address this strategy. Mandilee continues scrolling down.

(SPEECH)
Sorry for making anyone sick. And then it goes into your budget totals and this is where you really want to make sure that you're looking at those object codes, the dollar amounts, and the big thing here is that remaining amount of zero dollars.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee scrolls to the Budget Totals section. She hovers over a line item for Remaining Amount, which lists $0.

(SPEECH)
Your budget forecast.

And once you've completed that, you hit Submit.

(DESCRIPTION)
She scrolls down over the forecast section, then clicks Submit in the upper right. A warning popup appears, which Mandilee reads.

(SPEECH)
This budget work plan cannot be spent into last fiscal reporting has been closed out. So I think we've covered all of that pretty extensively. And that I know was a very quick live demonstration, but it really is just that simple to input everything. The heavy lift is really understanding your budget, having everybody on the same page with your strategies as you begin to enter these numbers and percentages. And so I'm happy to stay in this open format and answer any questions in this budget and workplan overview.

HOLLY C: Mandilee, we did have a question in. Molly has asked if spending surpasses the forecasted amount for a quarter will that trigger a warning or hold anything up.

MANDILEE GONZALES: I'm going to default to Mayra on that one as it's more of a product ops. As far as I'm aware, I don't think it will if you overspend per quarter Yeah.

HOLLY C: Mayra.

MAYRA DIAZ: I don't think it does trigger anything. I think you'll get a negative if you're overspending as a whole, but I don't think you'll get a trigger.

HOLLY C: Correct, so you will get a negative and then those negative funds will be pulled from your new allocation for the next year. So you will start a little bit, whatever, you are negative, you will start minus that amount for the new year.

MANDILEE GONZALES: And then will there be any other flag, Mayra, that you're aware of? And I don't mean to put you on the spot because I know this is still the enhancement stage and you guys are in the development process. Will there be any type of a corrective action plan or just an indicator as to why anything was overspent or underspent, I mean, we'll underspent, yes, but overspent, as Molly stated?

MAYRA DIAZ: As far as on the fiscal reporting section, no changes there. Only change will be flags that alert you publicly on the sections that will just let you know what your carryover informational purposes only. But there's nothing necessarily that is changing on the fiscal reporting section besides what was mentioned around what is actually triggering the member corrective action fund. That's probably the other update. Besides that, you're just going to see informational aggregate amounts with the consortia has, really just more informational, but no additional changes to expect on that

MANDILEE GONZALES: Great, thank you. Any other things in the chat, Holly?

HOLLY C: Yeah, go ahead, Neil.

NEIL KELLY: Mandilee, I just wanted to confirm. So the forecasting overspend and underspend, it's not going to harm anything. But if you are overspending, you have to remember you still have to go into your expenditure plan and report the true expenses and that won't let you overspend. You have to stay within your budget just so people know that. That is not all of a sudden magically going to start pulling from another year. You have to make sure you're spending down what your budgeted for and the funds that you have in your account, correct?

MANDILEE GONZALES: That's correct. You'll have to draw up somewhere and that's it.

(DESCRIPTION)
In the slide presentation, the slide that reads, Live NOVA Demonstration is now displayed;ayed.

(SPEECH)
OK, so with that, we have completed the live demonstration, gone through the budget and work plan. And I think we mentioned this quite a few times, but on the screen, this is the login. If you do have any help or if you, well, we will help you, but if you need any help, this is how you would do that.

You can do that by way of accessing the support request system or by emailing us direct at tap@caladulted.org or the telephone number there where you're always going to reach Holly. So if you really want to get in touch with her, because she's the one that answers usually first, the number is listed.

(DESCRIPTION)
The phone number on the slide reads, or (888) 827-2324. Above, a California Adult Education Program webpage is displayed. A heading reads, Technical Assistance Project (TAP).

(SPEECH)
And then with that, I'm going to go ahead and open it up for questions if there's any questions that anyone has, we have about 15 minutes left.

(DESCRIPTION)
In a picture on the next slide, four puzzle pieces complete the image of a question mark.

(SPEECH)
We've had a lot of robust questions already in the chat. I'm going to stop sharing screen so we can start to see people's faces. I would say if you have questions, you're welcome to come off mic but I'd appreciate that you do so by way of raising hands so it's not a clamoring. Karima.

(DESCRIPTION)
Karima appears. Text, Karima Feldus.

(SPEECH)
AUDIENCE: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I submitted a ticket for this today, but I thought, why don't I ask it now, maybe get a quick response. Thank you so much for this information. I'm a fan of CAEP TAP. Your best team ever. You're always out on top of things.

So my issue is with Q4. So Q3 is an amount and Q4 in the 4,000 came out to be less than Q3 because we leverage resources and moved funds to expand other funding sources. So as a result Q4 in the 4,000 is less than Q3 so I'm not able to submit Q4. Is this something that TAP can help me? Again, I submitted a ticket for that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Holly C.

(SPEECH)
HOLLY C: Yes, Karima, we can work with you and we will work with you. In this case, if something happened where an expenditure was credited back, it was backed out of a previous quarter, the steps, and I just want to tell everyone on here because it does come up quite often, the steps are always going to, you have to go back and un-certify the quarter in which the back out occurred and make the correction there because NOVA will not allow one quarter to be less than the previous.

So just work your way back, un-certify, un-certify, un-certify until you get to the correct order. Make the correction, submit, and then work your way back forward to where you get to Q4.

AUDIENCE: Perfect. Thank you.

NEIL KELLY: Just to clarify. So Holly, that only works if it's before Q4, right?

HOLLY C: Correct.

NEIL KELLY: Because if you certify Q4, you're at the point of no return and you can't go back.

HOLLY C: Correct. The certification of Q4 closes out the year and edits are no longer able to occur.

NEIL KELLY: Not to be the wet blanket, but just remember, do it before Q4 please.

AUDIENCE: Thank you, Neil. No, you're not the wet blanket. And I'm not able to submit Q4 because the amount is less. So it's like a catch-22

HOLLY C: Which is good, right? Because if you had been able to submit it, you are now stuck with any errors that were in there, so.

AUDIENCE: Yes, thank you. That answers my question we'll get Q1 done.

HOLLY C: Perfect.

AUDIENCE: I mean Q4. Thank you.

HOLLY C: Yeah. And the only question that came up in the chat, Mandilee, is Lorilee asked if an agency has a red flag in their Q4 expenditure report but the remaining budget results in a zero, must they do a budget revision before submitting Q4? To which I said, yes. We do request a budget revision to be complete to move money from one other object to the object code that is overspent.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you. And I agree with Eileen, you are amazing.

HOLLY C: Thank you.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Trang, I see your hand, go ahead.

(DESCRIPTION)
Trang appears. Text, Trang Vo, Metropolitan Education District.

(SPEECH)
TRANG VO: Hi, everyone. I have a question in regards to the 23/24 work plan. Does this amount that says it's remaining. It does not since we haven't reported our Q4 expenses. This amount will be reduced once we report the Q4 expenses, is that correct?

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, because you're-- TranG, you're a little robotic. I don't know what's happening with your mic. But Yeah, so your numbers will look inflated until your Q4 is certified. Thanks for the word.

HOLLY C: Of course. We think alike.

TRANG VO OK, because I'm looking at it and it's still, even with my Q4 certified, it's still a little higher than what I imagine two or three would have been part of this number already, but it's not adding up. So I do have a question, who can I reach out to?

MANDILEE GONZALES: So that would be us and we can even hop on a Zoom with you. So I think, here, let me grab that. Thank you. So reach out to us via email or phone and then we could set something up and just hop on with you. OK, Trang?

TRANG VO: OK, thank you.

HOLLY C: And Trang, just to clarify, you may have submitted your Q4, but the consortia lead will have to certify. So if that has already occurred, then that is something we'll want to look into with you. If the consortia lead has not actually certified your consortium Q4 expenses as a whole, the number is still going to show inflated.

TRANG VO: Yeah, I'm taking into account my Q4 already, but I don't know, it still doesn't add up. So I'll give you guys a call.

HOLLY C: OK, perfect.

TRANG VO: OK.

MANDILEE GONZALES: All right, looks like-- so Angela has something in the chat. If you only spend 80% of the CAEP funding in a particular year, it skipped on me, the work plan won't zero out at Q4. In the past, I've added another 5,000 code and put the rollover amount into that category. Is that the best practice to account for the rollover in the budget and work plan at the end of the year? Marya or Neil, do you have a best practice in that situation?

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, I'm reviewing the question trying to understand it.

MAYRA DIAZ: Same.

HOLLY C: I wonder if, Angela, maybe if you're comfortable to come off of mute. I think that what you're saying is if you only spend 80%, so basically you'll have 20% carryover, the work plan won't zero out with the work plan. So what that's just going to show in your budget is that you still have 20% remaining which will become carryover for your new year. I don't know that you would have to do anything in your work plan at that point because at that point your Q4 and your work plan's done Neil, am I right? Does that sound Correct

MANDILEE GONZALES: But I wonder-- so Angela says this is where I'm getting confused. So in the past, you would take that amount. So you said you've added another $5,000 code and would put the rollover amount into that?

(DESCRIPTION)
Angela appears. Text, Angela Hatter.

(SPEECH)
AUDIENCE: Right, so, and this has happened a couple of times, so when you do the quarter 4 and everything is balancing out and you're looking for that zero, that all of your expenditures are accounted for, if you have rollover, all of the expenditures, you have more money than what your work plan originally accounted for. So in order to balance it out so that the quarter 4 could be submitted without any issues, we added another 5,000 that puts that total rollover amount in a place so that the workplan can be zeroed out before the submission goes in. Does that make sense?

MAYRA DIAZ: Yeah, I would suggest, Angela, if you wouldn't mind sending us an email so that way we can look further. It would be great for us to ensure that we account if, one, there's any glitches, but also be able to provide you with guidance that we can also share with the rest of the field if questions like that come in. So if you wouldn't mind sending us helpdesk ticket requests or emailing us directly, we'll certainly look into that to provide you with the best guidance around how to-- if that is an issue that's coming up, we'll certainly look into it and follow back

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Thank you, Angela. Dr. Diaz, I see your hand.

AUDIENCE:

(DESCRIPTION)
Dr. Diaz appears. Text, Emma Diaz.

(SPEECH)
No, I just wanted to chime in because we had this dialogue with Angela a little earlier. She's actually in our consortium now, which is really great. But this is kind of new to her in the sense of I told her we don't have to zero out in any particular category. Anything that is left over or carryover goes into just the general pot for the next year and then she gets to apportion it out into the different thousands categories.

But I told her there isn't any practice that I knew about where we had to either zero it out and put it all into one category that we can actually leave if you have instructional pay that you didn't use. It could stay there at the end of the year in Q4 knowing that it will come back into just the general pot. And that it doesn't affect you negatively in any way leaving a balance in any category. I think if that's correct, that's how I interpreted your question.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yeah.

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, I don't think there's anything from the state that would mandate that, so. Holly, did you have something to add?

HOLLY C: No, I was just going to say I think that's what I was trying to touch on earlier. If your total expenses in Q4 show a remaining balance in that budget, that becomes your carryover for next year. There is nothing to do in your budget and work plan. And what you really have to be careful is if at Q4 it's showing that you have $50,000 unspent and you go to your budget work plan and add a new category for that $50,000, are you inflating your budget at that point?

So you wouldn't want to mess with your budget. You just let that remain as an unspent balance which then rolls over to your next fiscal year. And those will be available funds for you when you do your next year's budget workplan.

MANDILEE GONZALES: Yep.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

MANDILEE GONZALES: All right, looks like there's some more. Let's see here. So Janice says, I agree with Emma and that's how we do it at our consortium. Molly, the carryover happens for members but not for the consortium operating budget, correct. Molly.

HOLLY C: I was just going to say, carryover happens for members, but if you have a fiscal agent and they have their own budget, they could also have carryover. It could be that one of the deliverables that they plan to happen this fiscal year did not occur. They're going to move it to next year and those funds would then be carryover for them as well. So it is possible, yes.

MANDILEE GONZALES: And then, Molly, I see you have your hand raised. Go ahead.

AUDIENCE:

(DESCRIPTION)
Molly appears. Text, Molly Stimpel, Shasta College.

(SPEECH)
Yes, so if we didn't, the hiring piece of it, we didn't have the hiring happen like we thought we would. We had open position. But my understanding was that those funds would need to then go out for one time allocation to the members and we start over for the operating budget for the fiscal agent. So do I have that misunderstood?

NEIL KELLY: Well, that's up to you guys, how you guys worked out your bylaws.

HOLLY C: That's what I was going to say [INAUDIBLE].

AUDIENCE: Yeah.

HOLLY C: Yeah, it may be written into your guidance policy, in your bylaws, that any consortium level carryover is redistributed out.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, so I'm not seeing any hands. We do have some more time. So while there is nothing else being asked, I'm just going to go ahead and remind everybody that the summit is right around the corner. If you haven't already registered, definitely do so. We have a robust summit planned for our first in-person summit since 2019. We're hoping that we will see you in person. And then also if you will take the time to please fill out the evaluation link that Holly has posted. Karima, I see your hand, go ahead. Oh, you're on mute.

AUDIENCE: Sorry. I was talking to myself. At that last year question at the very end, if Mayra is still here. I see she's still here for the ELL pathways. It's not related to this. It's a technical question that I want to just ask quickly if that's OK.

MAYRA DIAZ: Karima, go ahead.

AUDIENCE: OK, thank you. And Nancy was going to email you anyway. So we're having all these meetings. We're putting together, of course, the budget and work plan and the deadline is so tight that's why I am asking now. So when we're the fiscal agent, so to do the pastas with the budget, the ledgers, the 1,000-2,000, the pass through, do we put them, outgoing person says we need to put that all in the 5,000 because when we do the pass through, we do it through 5,000 not by ledger 1,000-2,000.

So how would you like us to submit? Because we're the fiscal agent, we're working with the consortium, putting a budget together, do you want it still by ledger 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 or do you want that in the narrative and then the budget will show it with the show pass through in the 5,000? That's a technical question.

MAYRA DIAZ: All right, thank you for that. And I'll definitely want to look into that a little bit further because whatever guidance we provide we certainly want to ensure that that would be like the status quo for all that are submitting. I think we were generally looking at, for this aspect of the application in the workplan that was being developed in the budget breakdown, we were looking at collecting the budget information for how each member, those that were participating in the consortium, how much money they were going to receive and how they were going to be spending it down.

So it was going to be broken out by each member receiving the funds, broken out by object code. So if you wouldn't mind, we do appreciate receiving those questions so that we have them documented and we're able to provide detailed follow-up responses in case we get other questions from other consortiums as well.

AUDIENCE: Thank you, Mayra. We will do, Nancy, is going to do it today. It's on her list to do list. Of course, we have several meetings even today because of the timeline. We're taking it to the consortium for approval and we have to get it out to the members by next Thursday to vote at the Monday social meeting. So it's just the time [INAUDIBLE]. Thank you. Thank you.

NEIL KELLY: Just to add, when we first started CAEP, we did have some confusion like this with the pass through and we understand how the fiscal agent likes to record the pass through and we're OK with them recording the pass through. But for CAEP back then, we still wanted to see the breakdown at the member level. And I think that's what Marya was going to be exploring. Because then everyone would be just putting it into the one pass through object code and we wouldn't have any detail. So that's come up before, but hopefully you guys understand. But we'll wait for Mayra to get back to you guys on that.

MAYRA DIAZ: Yeah, we did release the FAQ.

AUDIENCE: We have it. We have it and we distributed. Oh gosh, we're waiting for those emails and we do, we appreciate the answers because at the beginning, we didn't know if was just non-credit or credit. We now understand it's only a non-credit CTE. Yes, the day, well, the day was yesterday, it seems like 10 days ago, we received that email, we were on top of it. Today alone, we're holding three meetings just for that.

MAYRA DIAZ: And there was also an extension granted on there. So we still need a set level of information that's still required to be submitted by September 8

AUDIENCE: We saw that.

MAYRA DIAZ: You'll have an additional 30 days to complete the workplan. Please let us know if you need that, and reach out if there is additional questions in regards to that. We certainly want to ensure that those that were eligible and invited to apply that we do receive those applications. And we are here to provide support information as best we can. As more is evolving, we'll continue to share those updates with you all.

AUDIENCE: Perfect, Mayra, thank you. We got that. We talked about the extension. We'll give you a 30,000 level workplan and we'll be creating a more detailed plan. But we're going to meet the deadline and submit all the necessary documents. Thank you.

MAYRA DIAZ: I know that there have been some NOVA questions about how to fill it out, please reach out to us as well. We'll make sure that we walk you through clarifying how to fill out that application.

AUDIENCE: You will open NOVA-- I haven't checked in the last few days. Last time I checked, I wasn't able to fill in the boxes.

MAYRA DIAZ: Yeah so that's been one of the biggest questions and we certainly included that in the FAQ. So the application itself is open. It's available in NOVA, however, the way the application was set up requires you to follow the step by step instructions. It's like you've got to click here in order to be able to see the actual application.

So if you go out, I'll take a look at it right now, but in the FAQ, there is a question around that as well. Please reach out to me directly and then I'll send you the step by step instructions if you need them. It literally is when you log in, you're going to click on a link that will allow you to do, you and your member, so anyone that's needing to access the application will need to follow that for the first time, even if they have a Nova login already. It's just one additional step

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

MANDILEE GONZALES: And we have another hand raised. Jenée.

(DESCRIPTION)
Jenee appears. Text, Jenee Crayne. NSCCC, she/her.

(SPEECH)
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I just had a quick question to you on the yellow grant. So we met today and we're just wondering what the letter of interest-- it seems like we're supposed to upload one letter of interest, but then at the bottom of the letter of interest, it sort of has some language saying that maybe it's each member that's participating has to do a letter of interest. So just wanted some clarification on that because if it is just one letter, we have five members and there's only four signatory like sections. So I just wanted a little clarification on the letter of interest. Thank you.

MAYRA DIAZ: Yes, thank you for that. Please don't be confused by that. We just need one, but we understand that there might be more than the allotted lines on there. So submit one if your members fit in there. If they don't, then just upload a second one. But Yeah, if they don't fit, second one is fine. We just want to see signatures names of those that are participating. Submit that upload and that should suffice.

AUDIENCE: All right, thanks so much.

HOLLY C: And Marya and Karima, I just wanted to let you know, Karima, I just emailed you the step by step instructions. So Mayra that has been sent to her.

AUDIENCE: Thank you so much.

MANDILEE GONZALES: OK, so with that, we are just a few minutes over time. It looks like we still have a full room. We really appreciate everyone for staying on, especially Neil. I was thinking you were going to have to leave soon. So I'm happy you were able to stay through the end and Mayra and Renee. Let's see, I think we have mostly well wishes, but

HOLLY C: One more question. It looks like.

MANDILEE GONZALES: [INAUDIBLE] is just, the form specifies only one agency. So shouldn't you do one for each agency? And I'm sure they're talking about the ELL, Mayra. That's for you.

MAYRA DIAZ: Yeah, thank you, [INAUDIBLE]. Like I said, you can do it that way. There's no set way that we're looking for. We just want to see that commitment letter. So if you're able to, because we know that some consortia have lesser members so they would probably be able to fit everyone on there. But if not, you can use more than one. If there is more than lines permitted on there, you may use more than one. That's fine. We're not going to doc anyone. We just want to see those commitments get submitted and uploaded by the September 8 deadline.

MANDILEE GONZALES: All right. All right, everyone. So I think we are at a place where I'm going to move forward to close out. Thank you again for everyone for your questions, for your support, all of the resources. Holly has dropped everything into the chat. We'll also go ahead and send out an email with a reminder to please fill out the evaluation. It really is what we use to help us understand what you need and where you're at and how we can support you.

So please just take a few moments and fill out that evaluation. But we do look through those. Whether you think we do or not, we definitely do. So take a few minutes. And with that, we're going to go ahead and say goodbye. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. Have a great weekend.

(DESCRIPTION)
Mandilee waves.