CDE Announcements Archive

Dear Administrators of Adult Education Agencies:

The purpose of this communication is to provide clarification regarding course approvals and outlines for agencies receiving California Adult Education Program (CAEP) and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Title II: Adult Education Family Literacy Act (WIOA, Title II: AEFLA) funding.

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to establish procedures for K–12 and County Office of Education adult schools to secure course and program approval (California Education Code Section 52506). The California Department of Education, Adult Education Office’s (AEO) Course Approval System is the way K–12 and County Office of Education adult schools secure course and program approval. This system is available within the California Adult Education Online Application and Reporting Site at https://caadultedreporting.org (reporting site). A user login is required to access the site.

Please note the following:

• Agencies are not required to submit course outlines when requesting course approval in the Course Approval System, but they must have current outlines on file and available during Federal Program Monitoring (FPM).
• California school districts providing adult education must have their course outlines approved by their local boards.

To ensure uniformity and common practices within California adult education, Community-Based Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations, Community College Districts, Institutions of Higher Education, Public Libraries, Correctional Institutions, and other non-Correctional Institutions must have the following procedures in place:

• A course approval process for all courses offered to adult education students.
• A process that reviews and authorizes the approval of course outlines. All outlines must be on file and available during FPM.
• The course approval and course outlines processes, newly developed or continuing, must be authorized by two of the Primary Contacts identified within the Agency Contacts section of the reporting site. A signed memo, on file for FPM, to that effect will suffice— memo to include outline of approval process and two signatures.

Finally, course outlines for all classes offered to adult education students should include the following elements:

• Goals and purpose of the course
• Performance objectives or competencies
• Instructional strategies
• Units of study with approximate hours allotted for each unit
• Evaluation procedures

If you have any questions regarding the above clarification, please contact your AEO Regional Consultant. For assistance identifying your contact please reach out to the AEO by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D.
Education Administrator and State Director
Adult Education Office
California Department of Education
916-322-2175
adulteducation@cde.ca.gov

2023–24 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Title II: Adult Education Family Literacy Act (AEFLA)

Dear Adult Educator:

We’ve started the new program year off with a strong start! Thank you for your dedication and hard work getting your adult education programs, and students, well underway with their activities. The beginning of October marks the start of the second quarter and the anticipation of the due date for several first quarter WIOA, Title II: AEFLA deliverables. Earlier this month, the Adult Education Office (AEO) hosted over 175 attendees during the 2023 New Administrator Orientation (NAO). We were pleased to see such a strong turnout for all three days of the event. We are continuing to add resources and post updates for training materials to assist new administrators. New grantees are encouraged to reach out to other local grantees, AEO staff, and to our state leadership partner colleagues, should there still be questions on various activities or deliverables. While the information presented at NAO is not new, the materials are available for all grantees.

Here are some important updates to share with you:

• Grant Award Notifications and Grant Budgets
• First Quarter Expenditure Claims
• Other First Quarter Deliverables
• NAO Resources
• SAM.gov/Unique Entity Identifier Renewals
• Fiscal Staff Updates

Grant Award Notifications (GAN) and Grant Budgets are past due. If you have not yet completed these deliverables, or requested an extension, please do so now. A posted received date for the hardcopy GAN and an approved Grant Budget are required to access the First Quarter Expenditure Claim (ECR) module within the California Adult Education Online Application and Reporting Site (login required). Thousands of signed award notification are received at the California Department of Education (CDE) during this time of year and occasionally something gets inadvertently misrouted. If your hardcopy GAN is not yet showing as posted, please let your CDE Fiscal Analyst know so we can check on that for you.

The First Quarter ECR module is now open. First quarter claims are due by Tuesday, October 31, 2023. Grantees should review the updated ECR Guidelines before beginning the ECR. While a budget revision in the first quarter is unexpected, the ECR includes the ability to make a budget revision. If needed, update the budget column prior to entering expenditures to reduce error messages. The First Quarter ECR is an electronic only deliverable; a hardcopy is not required.

New staff and administrators may find the document entitled, Completing an Expenditure Claim Report (last revised 7/2023) helpful. Access this document and other helpful step by step guides directly from the Resources menu within the reporting site.

1. First Quarter Data, TOPSpro® Enterprise
2. California English Literacy and Civics Education Objectives and Additional Assessment Plans (COAAP)
3. First Quarter Data Integrity Report
4. Employment and Earnings Follow-up Survey

These electronic only deliverables are due October 31, 2023. For further information, please visit the CDE WIOA, Title II: AEFLA Grant Information 2023–24 web page.

Upcoming action items are also located within the WIOA Dashboard on the reporting site. For deliverables reflecting missing or incorrect dates, please contact the appropriate agency listed in the “Submit To” for correction.

Materials and resources from this month’s orientation for new grantees and administrators can be found through the Canvas Course (no login required) and from the Resources menu within the reporting site. All grantees are encouraged to check out the materials. Video recordings of the presentation are still being processed and will be posted as soon as they are available.

To maintain compliance with federal regulations, the Adult Education Office will not be making reimbursements against ECRs if the SAM.gov Expiration Date is showing as expired within our reporting site. Use this direct link to enter your updated renewal information: UEI Renewal Tool.

Obtain your updated expiration dates from your SAM.gov point of contact within your agency. In many K–12 school districts, a fiscal or administrative office will maintain this registration on behalf of the entire district. If you are not sure who your point of contact is, please contact the Adult Education Office by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov for further assistance.

The Adult Education Support Office will be experiencing several staff transitions in the coming weeks. Janet Morrison, a dedicated Fiscal Analyst who has supported California’s adult education programs for over two decades, will be transferring to a new program within our division at the beginning of November. We are also welcoming a new analyst to our fiscal team later this month and will share more details on that soon.

This is one of the busiest periods for fiscal activities at the California Department of Education. Our office is still processing claims from last fiscal year while adding in new claims for the current year. While we do not anticipate delays due to staff transitions, we do appreciate your patience and are looking forward to assisting you should have a need to contact us.

If you have any questions, please contact the AEO by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov or by phone at (916) 322-2175.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D.
Education Administrator and State Director
Adult Education Office
California Department of Education
916-322-2175
adulteducation@cde.ca.gov

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This message was sent to the email addresses associated with the following titles: Superintendent/College President/Chief Executive Officer; Adult Education Director; Fiscal Manager; and the Other Primary Contact. To update your agency contacts, please visit the California Adult Education Application and Reporting Website at https://caadultedreporting.org/. Once you have signed in, navigate to "Agency Contacts" to review and update your information as necessary.

This message was sent by the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN), a leadership project for Adult Education in California. OTAN activities are funded by contract CN220124 from the Adult Education Office, Career & College Transition Division, California Department of Education, with funds provided through Federal P.L., 105-220, Section 223.

2023–24 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Title II: Adult Education Family Literacy Act (AEFLA)

Dear Adult Education Administrators:

The Adult Education Office (AEO) would like to remind you we are here to provide support during budget preparation and as you address issues with the first year of the new grant cycle. We also provide many on-demand resources available to assist new administrators, staff, and grantees as they learn the ins and outs of this grant program. We encourage you to sign up for upcoming special events and review the resources available.

Here is some information regarding early deliverables in the program year, as well as a few links to resources and activities. In this message:

• Grant Award Notifications and Hardcopies
• Grant Budgets
• New Administrator Orientation (NAO) Registration
• Links for Required Training and Available Workshops
• Update Agency Contacts
• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Renewals
• Review 2022–23 Deliverables and Final Expenditure Claim Reports

We are still awaiting a handful of electronic Grant Award Notifications (GAN) and a few more wet signature hardcopies. We appreciate the quick response agencies had this year completing this requirement. The AEO is reviewing electronic submittals on a daily basis. As a reminder, AEO acceptance of an electronically submitted GAN is a requirement to access the budget module in the California Adult Education Online Application and Reporting Site (reporting site). If you have not already downloaded your GAN, please log into the reporting site for this information and a letter that explains the method used to calculate this year’s awards. Please direct GAN questions or extension requests to your AEO Fiscal Analyst.

Grant Budgets are due by Friday, September 15, 2023. This is an electronic only deliverable; a hardcopy is not required. If you are unable to meet this due date, please reach out to our office to request an extension. New grantees with questions about preparing a budget or entering the information in the online module will find helpful information and step by step guidance in the Resources document, WIOA Navigating the Grant Budget.

Registration is now open for new administrators and staff wishing to attend the 2023 New Administrators Orientation. NAO is intended for Adult Education Administrators, Principals, and other Supervisor level staff as well as new sub-grantees. The online event will be held across three days, October 3–5, 2023. Registration is only required once for all three dates. This direct link will open the registration page on the CA Professional Development calendar. Please use your business email address to register and fill out the “membership” form if directed.

It’s not too early to sign up for required training classes due later this year. Reserve your spot in an upcoming class for either in person or online attendance today. Register online at California Adult Ed Training.

Update Agency Contacts within the reporting site for recent staff changes to ensure important emails and notifications, like this one, are being sent to the right individuals. Agency Contacts is the source used when sending email blast notifications, like this one, and the same source the AEO will use when preparing for the upcoming GAN Amendment.

More than 32 percent of grantees used the new Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) renewal tool, available from the Manage Account menu, to notify the AEO of updates in the past two weeks. We extend a big thank you for this action as it allowed us to review a large volume of renewals in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, an additional 30 percent of renewal dates in our system reflect as expired or will expire before the end of October. In the very near future, the AEO will not submit a payment request if the UEI renewal date in our system is not current. We encourage you to use the UEI renewal tool to check the date we have on file and submit an updated expiration date if the information is not current.

As a reminder, agencies should check with the SAM.gov point of contact within your agency for this information. In many K–12 school districts, a fiscal or administrative office will maintain this registration on behalf of the entire district. Please contact your AEO Fiscal Analyst with any questions.

Deliverables and Final Expenditure Claim Reports from Program Year 2022–23 are considered past due. Take action immediately if your agency has incomplete deliverables from the last grant cycle. Check the WIOA dashboard within the reporting site for the current status of deliverables and those that are coming up in the next 90 days. Overdue deliverables can cause an agency to fall out of good standing which impacts future funding and/or activities.

Recently, several WIOA dashboard updates were made for a status display error related to COAPP and AASC deliverables from Program Year 2022–23. If you previously reported an issue in this area which is still showing incorrectly, please reach out to your AEO Fiscal Analyst to let them know.

We look forward to hosting registrants of NAO in early October and providing the opportunity to meet with both our AEO office staff and our program partners virtually.

If you have any questions, please contact the AEO by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D.
Education Administrator and State Director
Adult Education Office
California Department of Education
916-322-2175
adulteducation@cde.ca.gov

2023–24 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (WIOA, Title II: AEFLA)

Dear Adult Education Administrator:

The 2023–24 WIOA, Title II: AEFLA Program Year is officially underway. The Adult Education Office (AEO) warmly welcomes all of our adult education administrators to this new grant cycle. The year begins with more than 20 new grantees, several of which are new to receiving WIOA funding.

Agencies, especially those that are new, are strongly encouraged to connect with each other within their local networks for further grant support. We encourage new staff to take advantage of activities like New Administrator Orientation (NAO), or the CASAS Accountability and CASAS Implementation trainings, in order to maximize the onboarding experience. No matter how long you’ve been supporting students through WIOA activities, we’re glad you’re here and extend our support and best wishes for a successful program year.

There are many important updates to share with you at this time and the AEO will continue to send notifications and resources as they become available.

This email contains the following information:

1. Grant Award Notifications
2. Welcome Back Video
3. New Administrator Orientation (NAO)
4. Time to Update: Reporting Site Logins and Agency Contacts
5. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Renewals
6. Updated Resources and New Reporting Site Tools
7. Staff Assignment Changes
8. 2022–23 Year-end Deliverables and Final Expenditure Claim Reports

WIOA, Title II: AEFLA 2023–24 funding results posted to the California Department of Education (CDE) website on July 20, 2023. Program and Accountability Requirements, including due dates for upcoming deliverables, were also posted. Access both items through the WIOA, Title II: AEFLA Grant Information 2023–24 web page. Grant Award Notifications (GAN) and software updates were released yesterday and are now available electronically through the Adult Education Online Application and Reporting website (reporting site). GAN are due electronically by Friday, September 1, 2023. An original hardcopy must also be mailed to the CDE.

Action Steps:

1. Read the directions on the GAN webpage of the reporting site.
2. Download and read the CDE Award Letter. This letter explains the process used in determining this year’s award amounts.
3. Download and sign the GAN. A wet ink authorized signature is required and the document may not be signed electronically.
4. Scan, upload and return the signed GAN in the reporting site by September 1, 2023. Mail the original to the CDE.
5. The AEO will review and accept the signed GAN before providing access to the electronic budget. Be proactive – prepare your budget outside of the application. The Budget Instructions are available in PDF format through the Budget and Claim section of the reporting site.
6. Review due dates for the GAN, Budget and First Quarter Expenditure Claim Reports on the Grant Deliverable Due Dates for Program Year 2023–24 web page.

Please reach out to your assigned AEO Fiscal Analyst if you have any questions about the grant award.

Kick off the new year by sharing the 2023–24 Welcome Back Video with your adult education team! This short, four-minute video is appropriate for ALL staff and will help start the school year in a positive, uplifting manner.

Registration for NAO will be available in the near future. Save the Dates of October 3–5, 2023, for this virtual event intended to provide WIOA, Title II; AEFLA details to new administrators and staff who have been in their current role less than two years.

This is a reminder for staff assigned the role of OAR Admin in the reporting site. Update the list of agency users within your organization to allow appropriate staff the ability to prepare and approve deliverables or to receive the GAN. This important activity should take less than 15 minutes to review users, add new users, and remove previous users who have left the organization or retired. Refer to the user guides in the Resources section for further information.

Update Agency Contacts for recent staff changes to ensure important emails and notifications, like this one, are being sent to the right individuals. Due to the length of time required to obtain approvals, the AEO is not planning to make GAN modifications to correct staff name or title changes that occurred over the summer. If your agency experienced a staff change in its Superintendent or Adult Education Director positions over the summer, these changes will be reflected on future amendments or awards only if the Agency Contacts reflect the most current staff information. Please contact the AEO with any questions.

This is a reminder to review SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity Identifier to ensure your agency information is currently active. While this information was collected with the grant applications, nearly half of agencies have allowed this information to lapse or have not reported a completed renewal to the AEO. Check with the SAM.gov point of contact within your agency for this information. In many K–12 school districts, a fiscal or administrative office will maintain this registration on behalf of the entire district. If your registration date is not current or is not searchable, your agency could experience a delay in receiving award notifications or payments.

The reporting site was recently updated to add electronic notification to the AEO using the “Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)” renewal tool. This new tool is available from the Manage Account menu. Automated reminders are expected to begin in the near future for expirations dates that have passed. First Quarter reimbursements will not be issued for agencies showing an expired renewal date. More information on this new tool can be found in the Resources section. Please contact your AEO Fiscal Analyst with any questions.

Check out the Resources section for instructional information, trainings, videos and staff directories. This web page content received a refresh to start the new program year. Agencies looking for step by step information to assist with completing fiscal requirements, such as a Budget and Expenditure Claim Report, will find this information useful.

In addition to the UEI update tool, non-profit organization will also have access to a new tool used for providing updates to the AEO for Registration of Charitable Trust expiration dates.

New AEO staff assignment changes took effect on July 1, 2023. Agencies may have new contact persons for one or both of the AEO staff who support your agency. Refer to the landing page of the reporting site (this is the first page that displays after login), for contact information for your assigned Regional Consultant or Fiscal Analyst. CASAS Specialist assignments are also being updated and will be available soon.

An updated AEO Staff Directory is available in the Reference section of the Resources web page. Two files are available. The first is organized by district assignment and the other is organized by agency.

As you return from break, continuing agencies should take a moment to review deliverables for last year, as well as the upcoming ones for the current year. Ensure all requirements have been submitted. 2022–23 year-end deliverables were due July 15, 2023, and Final Expenditure Claims (ECR) are due August 1, 2023. For community and faith-based organizations, and Community College Districts, these deliverables include the Annual Audit Status Certification (AASC), due by September 15, 2023, and any audit reports due at the end of the agency’s fiscal year.

If you have any questions regarding this notification, or are unsure how to reach a designated individual, please reach out to the AEO by telephone at 916-322-2175 or by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D.
Education Administrator and State Director
Adult Education Office
916-322-2175
adulteducation@cde.ca.gov