April 19, 2024
Sent by electronic mail

Dear County Chief Business Officials:

2024–25 Approved Indirect Cost Rates

As the agency authorized by the United States Department of Education to approve California transitional kindergarten (TK) through grade twelve (TK–12) local educational agency (LEA) indirect cost rates, the California Department of Education (CDE) has reviewed the 2022–23 standardized account code structure (SACS) expenditure data and has finalized the approved indirect cost rates. The rates are for use, as allowable, with 2024–25 federal and state programs.

Approved Indirect Cost Rates

Please advise the school districts, charter schools, and joint powers agencies (JPAs) in your county that the indirect cost rates are posted on the CDE Indirect Cost Rate (ICR) web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/ac/ic/index.asp.

Indirect Cost Rates for JPAs

As a reminder, because JPAs do not generally meet the guidelines for receiving approved indirect cost rates, they are not given an approved rate unless it is requested during the SACS data submission process. For further information on indirect cost rates applicable to JPAs, including the guidelines that must be met to receive an indirect cost rate, see Procedure 805 of the California School Accounting Manual which is available on the CDE Accounting Definitions, Instructions & Procedures web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/ac/sa/.

Statewide Average Indirect Cost Rates

The 2024–25 statewide average indirect cost rate is 5.94 percent.

California Education Code Section 38101(c) limits food service program indirect costs to amounts derived using the lesser of a school district's approved indirect cost rate or the statewide average indirect cost rate. Each school district should compare this statewide average rate with its individual indirect cost rate to determine the lesser rate for use with this program.

A listing showing the statewide average rates for the last five years is also available on the ICR web page listed above.

SACS Query Page

To aid in identifying the allowable indirect cost rates for various programs, the SACS Query system available on the CDE Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/ac/ac/index.asp includes this information for most programs.

If you have any questions regarding the indirect cost rates, please contact our office by email at sacsinfo@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

/s/

John Miles, Administrator
Fiscal Oversight and Support Office

JM:dm
2024-2701