Skip to main content
Religious and Independent School Support

Religious and Independent School Support

Information about Mandated Services Aid Recordkeeping

Accurate documentation records must be kept by every school that claims Mandated Services aid and be available for inspection, monitoring and/or audit by the State Education Department and the Office of the State Comptroller for a minimum of 7 years.  Even if your Mandated Services claims are completed by an independent consultant or parent organization such as a diocesan office, each school is responsible for maintaining its own complete records of any MSA-CAP reimbursements and following guidelines for data reporting and expenses. 

 It is recommended that each school create and maintain a Mandated Services documentation file for each school year's claim.   The following list identifies types of records that we recommend schools keep in a file or otherwise have readily available. This information is being provided as a guide and is not to be considered as an all-inclusive listing.  

  • Payroll records, showing the payroll company logo for those employees providing the mandated service, including a breakdown of allowable fringe benefits. If you use a payroll service, you will need to keep copies of the applicable payroll records for a period up to 7 years.
  • Salary agreements and/or hiring contracts for those employees providing mandated services. If your school completes payroll in-house, salary contracts or hiring agreements will be requested for all individuals claimed for reimbursement.
  • Time distribution records. You are required to maintain documentation to show that the employee actually provided services such as taking attendance or proctoring exams.
  • All religious and independent schools are required to maintain a current CAP policy on file and may be asked to produce the policy during a site visit or claim review.
  • A copy of the MSA-CAP workbook or Schedule A/MSA 1 forms if used to prepare your claim.
  • Student enrollment records, class schedules or Attendance rosters and a copy of your annual BEDS report filed in the fall each school year.
  • Invoices/cancelled checks or credit card receipts/statements for allowable purchases made to perform mandated services including printing costs for EIA exams, calculators, scanning and scoring or other BOCES contract items.
  • Documentation of calculator purchase including receipt of payment (made by the school) must be retained for monitoring and/or audit. Only scientific and graphing calculators are reimbursable and receipts must specify the type of calculator purchased. Schools must maintain inventory records for calculators along with an inventory control procedure, which should include a replenishment cycle to replace aging and broken calculators. Calculators may not be given permanently to students or replaced annually. 
  • Annual official school calendar showing the number of instructional days and other non-instructional days that staff are required to be at the school site or participating in school functions. Non-Instructional days include but are not limited to- days exams are administered, staff meetings, parent teacher consultations and conferences. 
  • Schools must maintain inventory records of purchases of science test kits and investigation materials.
  • Copies of the End of Year (EOY) report filed in August including a copy of the Graduation report file reported to the New York State Education Department’s Office of Information and Reporting Services. 
  • EOY Statement of Certification of Verification Reports forms including End of Year (EOY) Verification Reports in L2RPT for the following items where applicable:  Annual Secondary Assessment Summary Report (SIRS-303), Annual Graduation Report (SIRS-308), English Language Learner Profile Report (SIRS-650), Annual Regents Examination Report (SIRS-653)
  • New York State Scholarships for Academic Excellence Application (SAE)  Nomination Summary Forms, listing the nominee(s) and the individual student application forms and/or individual award letters or recipient selection notice from the Office of Higher Education. The selection criteria for nominees for the Scholarships for Academic Excellence must be published and made available to students at the beginning of the school year and a copy of the notice retained or available on the school website in order to be eligible for MSA reimbursement. 
  • Records of student scores on all state examinations claiming reimbursement (for eligible mandates) such as the Individual Student Score Reports, Nonpublic Secondary Examination Report, Comprehensive Information Reports from ASAP or Level 0, 1 reporting. Redacted student data from SIRS is accepted.
  • Teacher workshop expenditures including an agenda, documentation of attendance and certification signed by workshop provider. Documentation of the payment must be maintained and accessible upon request.
  • Pesticide Neighbor Notification (PNN) procedures and a record of the notice(s) must be kept on file locally.

Failure to maintain adequate supporting documentation or meet reporting deadlines may result in a disallowance or partial disallowance.  Individual schools are responsible for records retention and meeting reporting and deadline requirements for filing with other Elementary, Secondary and Continuing Education offices where required (e.g., Information Reporting Services regarding test data, graduation reporting and BEDS), other State Education Department program offices (e.g., Post Secondary Services regarding Scholarships for Academic Excellence) and other State offices (e.g., NYS Department of Health regarding the State School Immunization Program).