New York State Even Start Family Literacy
Guidance on Records Retention
August 17, 2011
The information below is from Section Nine: Program Reporting of A Guide to Grants Administration and Implementation Resources. The complete document may be accessed on the State Education Department website at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/guidance/.
Access to Records (34 CFR § 80.42)
Records must be made accessible to United States Department of Education, the Comptroller of the United States, the Office of the State Comptroller, the New York State Education Department, or any of their duly authorized representatives.
The grantee must maintain records and accounts in a manner that assure a full accounting of all funds received and expended in connection with the grant project. These records and accounts must be retained by the grantee and made available for programmatic or financial audit.
Records Retention Period (34 CFR § 80.42)
All financial and program records, supporting documents, statistical and other data pertinent to the grant must be maintained for a period of six years unless otherwise stated in the grant agreement. The retention period starts from the submission date of the final report. Records under audit involving unresolved audit findings or under appeals or litigation must be held until such time as the action is completed or the dispute resolved. This is a conservative approach, which would adequately cover the requirements of both federal and State funded programs.
For Even Start this means that both family and fiscal records should be maintained for a period of six years after the submission of the final expenditure report (FS-10-F).
Questions regarding this policy may be directed to Dee Dwyer, Even Start State Coordinator at ddwyer@mail.nysed.gov.