Religious and Independent Schools

Archived Important Updates


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June 8, 2010 - Important Notice regarding MSA Claims for School Year 2008-09

Because the funds made available in 2009-10 State Budget have been fully used, approvals and reimbursements on 2009 MSA claims for the 2008-09 school year have been temporarily suspended pending the enactment of this year's State Budget and the availability of a new appropriation for the 2010-11 State fiscal year. The Department anticipates that additional funds will become available with the adoption of the 2010 State budget and at that time the Department will be able to process claims and make payment.

Department staff will continue to work with those schools that have claims currently under review. Schools are encouraged to respond to requests made by staff so that reimbursements can be made in a timely manner when new funds become available.

In addition, the online submit button for 2009 MSA claims for the 2008-09 school year will remain unavailable until the 2010 budget has been adopted. Until the budget is adopted, you are encouraged, and may continue to open claims and save the entered data for the 2008-09 school year. When doing so, please take note of any system messages that inform you that your claim will be sent to "Hold" when submitted. If you have questions regarding the message or what documents will be required to substantiate your claim, please call a member of our staff at 518-474-3936 so that they can provide you with guidance on what will be required to ensure an efficient and expedient review and approval of your claim when submitted.

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May 10 , 2010- Important Notice regarding MSA Claims for School Year 2008-09

The online submit button for 2009 MSA claims for the 2008-09 school year will be temporarily unavailable until June 10, 2010 while the Department finalizes the approval of all claims submitted by the January 15, 2010 due date.

Schools with claims currently under review are encouraged to respond to requests made by staff so that reimbursements can be made in a timely manner.

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December 15, 2009 - CAP and MSA Claims

The funds to make payment for CAP claims for the 2007-08 school year are now available. Schools with approved, closed claims should be receiving checks shortly.

The online system is now available for schools to submit their MSA claim for the 2008-09 school year. Please note that if you have already claimed CAP for 2007-08 or you have any other MSA or CAP claim that is in any other status than CLOSED (the claim was paid), you will need to wait until that claim is CLOSED before you can submit the 08-09 school year claim. Payments will be made when funds become available.

Those that are eligible but have not yet claimed CAP for the 2007-08 school year should do so prior to filing the MSA claim for 2008-09.

Please note that the online application process is the most efficient way to claim both MSA and CAP. Staff are available to assist schools in filing online and can be reached at 518-474-3936.

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November 25, 2009 - CAP and MSA Claims

The online system is now open for schools to claim CAP for the 2007-08 school year. An e-mail message has been sent along with the CAP payment form to each eligible school. The e-mail message as well as the Online Instructions to Receive the CAP Payment are included in these Important Updates. Claims will be paid as funds become available.

Please note that the schools are not yet able to claim MSA for the 2008-09 School year. We will keep you informed as to when the online system is available to make those claims. The initial due date of December 15 has been extended to January 15. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

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July 9, 2009 - Reminder – Due Date for Filing 2008-09 Regents/RCT exams

August 7, 2009 is the due date for filing Regents/RCT exams administered for the 2008-09 School Year. This includes exams administered in August 2008, January 2009, and June 2009. Reporting the exams administered in the 2008-2009 school year pursuant to the established deadlines for each exam will help facilitate the payment of a school's Mandated Services Aid (MSA).

The Office of Information and Reporting Services provides the MSA online system with the number of exams reported for all elementary and secondary exams administered by a non-public school. If these numbers differ from what the school claims on the MSA-1, there may be a delay in the approval and payment of the MSA claim for the 2008-2009 school year.

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June 24, 2009 - Mandated Services Aid Forms

A memorandum announcing the availablity of the MSA-1 Form, Schedule A/Worksheet and Guidelines for the 2008-09 school year is available at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/nonpub/mandatedservices/forms/.

The announcement provides general information about the Mandated Services Aid Web-Based System and changes for the 2008-09 school year. Please read the Announcement and Guidelines carefully because several changes have been made.

Please also read the following: Reminder about reporting of exams administered.

If you have any questions about mandated services aid, please send an e-mail message to emscmsa@mail.nysed.gov.

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2006-07 Testing – 3, 5, 6 and 7 ELA/Math
2006-07 Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP)

The online system was enhanced to include the 3, 5, 6 and 7 ELA/Math tests and generate the Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP) for the 2006-07 School Year.  The system will be available on March 18, 2009 for nonpublic schools to claim payment.

In order to claim the above, you must file an amendment to the original 06-07 school year claim.  Please keep in mind that only one claim can be open at a time.  This means that if you have a 2007-08 claim open, you cannot open the 06-07 claim to do an amendment until the 07-08 school year claim is closed (paid).

After ensuring that there are no open claims, you can claim your school’s Testing and CAP payment by going to http://portal.nysed.gov to log on to the Mandated Services Aid online system.  Complete the steps as outlined in the Online Instructions to Receive 3, 5, 6 and 7 ELA/Math and CAP Payment for School Year 2006-07 if claiming both or Online Instructions to Receive CAP Payment for School Year 2006-07 if claiming just CAP.

The CAP payment is generated by using the Pupil Attendance Reporting (PAR) average hourly rate and the enrollment reported in Section II that you submitted either online or on the MSA-1 form for school year 2006-07.  You cannot make changes to this data.  All CAP payments will be reduced by .9212 to account for a reduction in the budget allocation.  There is no reduction to the testing total expenditures.

Use of the online system is the most expeditious process for receiving payments.  If you choose not to access the online system, please print the CAP payment form that was attached to your e-mail notification, review the certification statement, complete, sign and return to the Office of Grants Management.  Forms to claim testing are available at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/nonpub/mandatedservices/forms/.  All paper claims will need to be signed, certified and returned to our office for processing.

The Office of Grants Management will randomly sample schools which claim CAP for a desk review. Please note that if your school does not have a comprehensive attendance policy that includes the information enumerated in Section 104.1(i) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, you may be required to reimburse the State for any funds received in relation to this program. If you have any questions about your schools 3, 5, 6 and 7 Testing or CAP payment, please send an e-mail message to emscmsa@mail.nysed.gov or contact us at (518) 474-3936.

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Notice to NonPublic Schools: Your MSA payment for the 2007-08 school year has been reduced in response to a 2% reduction that was included in the enacted 2008-09 budget and a subsequent 6% mid-year reduction enacted in August 2008 for a total reduction of 7.88%.

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Schools are now able to certify and submit their 2007-08 Mandated Services Aid claims. Due to the delay in the availability of the testing data, the due date of December 15, 2008 has been extended to January 6, 2009.

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Mandated Services Aid Web-Based System

The Mandated Services Aid Web-Based System is now available to enter 2007-08 school year claim data. The system is accessed via the Department’s web portal (http://portal.nysed.gov). For more information about the system, please go to https://www.p12.nysed.gov/nonpub/mandatedservices/onlinecomputersystem/.

A PowerPoint Presentation is available PowerPoint presentation icon (1.34 MB). The Presentation discusses what's new for the 2007-08 school year and guides you through completing an online claim.

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State Education Department's Delegated Account System (SEDDAS)

SED manages access to the portal applications through a process of secure UserIDs and passwords. Beginning in the summer of 2008, the New York State Education Department will be utilizing a new system called SEDDAS (SED Delegated Account System) to manage access to these applications. SEDDAS provides school administrators the authority to create and manage User IDs and passwords for their school’s employees; this is referred to as Account Administration. School administrators will also determine which staff will have access to one or more of the applications available through SED’s Web Portal; this is referred to as Entitlement Administration. All nonpublic school administrators were recently sent a letter explaining SEDDAS. Implementation of the new SEDDAS software requires that all passwords be reset. This was done on the eventing of 9/9/08. The school administrator's user code and temporary password were included with the letter. To read a copy of the letter and the instructions about how to change the temporary pasword go to SEDDAS. A telephone help line is available at: 518-473-8832.

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Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP) News

Notices for the payment of the Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP) mandated aid for school year 05-06 have been sent to nonpublic schools. Schools should receive a cover memo with instructions and CAP payment form MSA-27 to be signed and returned to the Office of Grants management to claim their CAP expenses. Please make sure the form is properly completed and includes the original signature of the Chief Administrator or the person registered in the Education Department’s SEDREF service. Return the form to the address shown on the bottom of the MSA-27 form.

Please note that the MSA-27 forms mailed to schools have been partially completed with individual school information and pre-calculated CAP payment due to school. It is this form that the school official needs to sign and return to us. Facsimiles of the forms cannot be accepted. Forms with alterations or without original signatures will not be processed.

The recalibrated formula used to calculate the CAP is as follows:

Administrative K-6 expenses = ([Average of Administrative and Support staff hourly salaries*] x [K-6 enrollment]) x (.125)

Support staff K-6 expenses = ([Average of Administrative and Support staff hourly salaries*] x [K-6 enrollment]) x (.125)

Administrative 7-12 expenses = ([Administrative hourly salaries*] x [7-12 enrollment]) x (.27)

Support staff 7-12 expenses = ([Support staff hourly salaries*] x [7-12 enrollment]) x (.44)

Teachers K-6 expenses = ([Teachers hourly salaries*] x [K-6 enrollment]) x (.165)

Teachers 7-12 expenses = ([Teachers hourly salaries*] x [7-12 enrollment]) x (2.62)

*Hourly salaries used are those reported by schools in the PAR section on their 2005-2006 school year claim and should include salaries and fringe benefits.

The amount on your CAP payment form reflects the sum of all calculated expenses. This amount is in addition to any other amount claimed and paid to schools under the mandated services aid part of the program. For any other questions on the CAP payment, please contact us through our generic email address at emscmsa@mail.nysed.gov or call (518) 474-3936. For more information on the nature of the CAP and requirements schools must meet in order to claim the payment, please access this Web page: https://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/lawsregs/.

To find out the payment status and current amount that is expected to be paid for CAP on the MSA-27 form go to the Grants Finance website at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/reportsnps.html. Once there, use the Control + Click buttons to access the Grants Finance Web page. Click the Nonpublic Services Reports menu option; Click the county your school is located in and find your school in the names listed. You will see two options: NONPUBLIC MANDATED SERVICES (for payment of mandated services for school year 2005-06) and NONPUBLIC SCHOOL AID – CAP (for the CAP payment).

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Last Updated: August 28, 2014