If the member charter school cannot pass the SEMA test, the charter school will be billed for the amount not met, and the charter school must use non-federal funds to pay the amount. 

If the member charter school cannot pass the SEMB test, the charter school may not submit an IDEA reimbursement claim for its applicable expenditures. The Fresno County Charter SELPA may continue to calculate and determine an allocation amount to the member charter school for the current year IDEA grant award. Once the charter school can demonstrate MOE, such as through the interim reports, or through the next SEMA at year end, then the Charter SELPA may add the reimbursement claim on the next report, and subsequently disburse the IDEA funds.

If an member charter school cannot meet any of the four tests for MOE, the charter school may want to consider any one of the following suggestions: 

Suggestion 1 - Exempt Reductions
Federal Regulations provide for exempt reductions to MOE. These include the following: 

1. The voluntary departure, by retirement or otherwise, or departure for just cause, of certificated and/or classified special education or related services personnel, excluding contract non-renewal or staff lay-off due to budget shortfalls.
2. A decrease in enrollment of children with disabilities. 
3. The termination of the obligation to provide a program of special education to a particular child with a disability that is an exceptionally costly program because: 
   • the child has left the jurisdiction of the agency; or
   • the provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE) to the child has terminated; or
   • the child no longer needs the program of special education.
4. The termination of costly expenditures for long-term purchases, such as the acquisition of equipment or the construction of school facilities, which must have a per-unit cost of $5,000 or more. 

To use an exempt reduction, please do the following:

1. Complete CDE's Exempt Reduction form available here: leamoeexempwrksht.xls
2. Enter the Exempt Reduction amounts in SECTION 1 of the SACS MOE form
3. An instructional video is available here. 

TIP: If a member charter school meets at least one of the four tests for the Maintenance of Effort (MOE), the charter school may still want to use one or more of the Exempt Reductions to meet another test. This may help the charter school meet MOE in future years. 

Suggestion 2 - Program Cost Report Allocation
The member charter school may be able to review and revise its factors used in its Program Cost Report Allocations (PCRA). These factors are based on the number of Teacher FTE, number of classrooms, and number of students transported in special education as well as other programs. If these factors are too low, they can be increased to reflect the true numbers which will increase the allocation amount for expenditures that were not previously assigned to a programmatic goal. More information about PCRA can be found here. 

PCRA is a component of the SEMA reports only. 

Program Cost Allocation Factors that overstate the Teacher FTE, Classroom Units, and/or Pupils Transported are disallowed. The SELPA may review the member charter school's PCRA amount for reasonableness. 

Suggestion 3 - Indirect Costs
The member charter school may charge up to its maximum indirect cost rate to the special education program, if it has not done so already.

This suggestion will affect the member charter school's Unaudited Actuals. Please be cognizant of the following dates:

• After September 15th, changes to the Unaudited Actuals will require reopening the financial books and may require governing board re-approval.
• After October 15th, no changes are allowed to the Unaudited Actuals.  

Indirect costs that exceed the charter school's maximum allowable rate are not allowable.  

Suggestion 4 - Direct Costs
If the member charter school can justify through a time-study or other reasonable means, the charter school may apply the direct costs of administration, psychologists, nurses and other personnel that that provide special education and related services.  

This suggestion will affect the charter school's Unaudited Actuals. Please be cognizant of the following dates:

• After September 15th, changes to the Unaudited Actuals will require reopening the financial books and may require governing board re-approval.
• After October 15th, no changes are allowed to the Unaudited Actuals.  

Expenditures that do not qualify as special education or related services are not allowable. For example, a school nurse provides 80% of his time with students with disabilities, and 20% of his time with general education students. Therefore, only 80% of the salary and benefits should be charged to special education. Other positions that are similarly time-accounted would include psychologists.  

Suggestion 5 - Reclassifications
The member charter school may be able to reclassify qualifying expenditures from its Federal special education sources to its State and/or local sources. While this may assist a charter school in meeting the current year MOE, this does increase the Federal special education revenue for the following fiscal year. In order to fully utilize the additional Federal funds, a charter school may need to reclassify more expenditures out of State and/or local sources, potentially causing an MOE non-compliance.

See SSC Slide 55 for more information here: SSC - Workshop Presentation for Sp Ed, May 20, 2021.pdf

This suggestion will affect the charter school's Unaudited Actuals. Please be cognizant of the following dates:

• After September 15th, changes to the Unaudited Actuals will require reopening the financial books and may require governing board re-approval.
• After October 15th, no changes are allowed to the Unaudited Actuals.  

Suggestion 6 - Funding Allocations
The member charter school may want to review its funding allocations for State and Federal funds, and work with the Fresno County SELPA regarding the amounts.