New Law May Require Additional Expenditure Report for FY 2020 Grants
Public Act 100-0997, which was enacted on August 20, 2018, made significant changes to the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA), including the addition of a section that details new expenditure reporting requirements. Section 125 of GATA requires grantees to submit a new expenditure report in the event that a state or federal grant is executed more than 30 days after the effective date of the grant. Beginning with the FY 2020 grant cycle, any state or federal grant that is executed (i.e., approved by ISBE) more than 30 days after the effective date (i.e., start date) of the grant will require the grantee to submit to ISBE an expenditure report that reflects eligible expenditures made from the grant start date up to and including the date of grant execution.
Federal grants administered by ISBE are processed on a reimbursement basis and will require an expenditure report to be submitted through the approval date if the grant is approved more than 30 days after the effective date. State grants administered by ISBE allow grantees to submit monthly payment schedules with their grant application. Previously, ISBE would voucher all scheduled monthly payments through the month the initial application was approved. Under the new law, if a grant is approved more than 30 days after the start date, ISBE will only voucher an amount equal to the initial expenditure report submitted by the grantee. After the initial expenditure report is processed and paid,
ISBE will resume normal vouchering of scheduled payments to the grantee.
Grantees are encouraged to submit their initial FY 2020 grant applications to ISBE in timely fashion so that ISBE program staff can review and approve the grants within the 30-day timeframe. That would allow grantees to avoid having to submit the new expenditure report. In summary, all FY 2020 grants that are approved by ISBE 30 days after the effective date will be subject to the new expenditure report requirement.
Below is a summary of the steps that are necessary to fully execute FY 2020 grants:
1. Complete Registration/Prequalification process on the Illinois Grant Accountability and Transparency Act Grantee Portal and complete the Internal Controls Questionnaire.
2. Complete and submit the new FY 2020 Organizational Risk Assessment via IWAS.
3. School Districts Only: Complete and submit the Consolidated District Plan.
4. Submit FY 2020 grant application(s) to ISBE.
5. The respective ISBE program area will review grant application and consider it for approval.
Questions regarding this information can be directed to Kim Lewis at klewis@isbe.net or (217) 782-5256.