Frequently Asked Questions

Federal Cash Management Data Collection (CMDC)
Frequently Asked Questions

1. What programs are using the CMDC?

   Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Subpart 2, Title II, Part A, Title III EL, Title III Immigrant, and Title IV, Part A formula based programs are included in the CMDC system in order to comply with the federal cash management requirement. Quarterly apportionments for these formula based programs will be based on the cash balance reported by the local educational agencies on the CMDC system.

2. Why do I need to submit data on CMDC?

   Federal regulations require that recipients of federal funds minimize the time elapsing between the receipt and expenditure of funds. The CMDC system provides the data to California Department of Education that enables it to make apportionments based on the local educational agency's cash balance, as required by the regulations.

3. How are apportionments calculated under CMDC?

   Apportionments for Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Subpart 2, Title II, Part A, Title III EL, Title III Immigrant, and Title IV, Part A formula based programs will be calculated based on the cash balance submitted. The apportionment will equal the difference between 25 percent of the local educational agency's annual entitlement and cash balance, up to the entitlement amount. Apportionments for a particular fiscal year will be paid after the allocations for any prior year grant award(s) have been fully paid, unless the authority to obligate those funds has expired.

4. Do I submit a CMDC report for each of the programs under CMDC?

   The CMDC report will display a line for each of the programs for which a local education agency has an entitlement, so only one report has to be submitted each period.

5. What happens if I don’t submit a CMDC report?

   If you fail to submit a CMDC report for a particular reporting period, the California Department of Education (CDE) will not apportion funds to your local educational agency (LEA) for that period. The CDE will release funding in the subsequent period if your LEA appropriately submits cash balance data that warrants the release.

6. When will my district receive the apportionment?

   The California Department of Education sends out apportionments approximately one month after the closing day of the preceding reporting window.

7. How does CMDC affect my entitlement for this fiscal year?

   CMDC does not affect your annual entitlement amount, only the amount to be paid quarterly from your entitlement.

8. My charter school is new. It just opened this year. Do I need to submit CMDC?

   An exception to requiring the CMDC report as a condition of receiving an apportionment applies to a new direct funded charter school in its first year of operation, where there may be no cash balance data to report. The California Department of Education (CDE) will release 25 percent of the Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Subpart 2, Title II, Part A, Title III EL, Title III Immigrant, and Title IV, Part A allocations for the reporting period when the new school is first eligible for funds, without requiring a CMDC report. The school, however, may still wish to submit cash management data during the applicable collection period if it has expended any cash on these programs before receiving funds from the CDE. The school has to submit cash management data in subsequent reporting periods to receive additional release(s) of funding.

9. Does the CMDC replace the ConApp and/or other required expenditure reports? I already submitted an expenditure report on ConApp or to the program office. Why do I have to submit it again?

   The data required on the expenditure report is not the same data required on the CMDC report. The data components and timing of submission of the ConApp and/or expenditure report are not adequate to carry out our federal cash management program. The cash balance data is needed to determine the amount of funds to release to local educational agencies quarterly to comply with federal regulations. Questions regarding the expenditure reports should be directed to the appropriate program office contact. For ConApp reports, the California Department of Education contact is shown at the top of each ConApp page.

10. My local educational agency (LEA) does not have a Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Title II, Part A, Title III EL, Title III Immigrant, and/or Title IV, Part A grant for the current year; do I have to submit a CMDC report?

    1. It depends. The cash balance data collected on the CMDC report each period is used to determine the amount of funds to release to an LEA.

    • You do not need to submit a CMDC report if your LEA does not have any unpaid entitlements for grants awarded in the last two preceding years.
    • You should submit a CMDC report if your LEA has any unpaid entitlements for grants awarded in the last two proceeding years in order to have these funds released to your LEA.
    • You can check your LEA’s entitlements by program and fiscal year on the California Department of Education's categorical program Web page by referring to the links for Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Subpart 2, Title II, Part A, Title III, and Title IV, Part A.

11. When you ask for cash balance, what cut off date should I use?

    While you can submit data at any time during the reporting window, it will be to your agency’s advantage to submit data as close as possible to the reporting deadline; cash balances may be lower by that date, and reporting the lower balance will maximize the amount of funds your agency may receive in the next apportionment.

12. What if my cash balance is negative?

    The CMDC accepts negative cash balances. Simply type a negative indicator (–) before typing the whole dollar amount into the system. Because apportionments are calculated as the difference between the cash balance and 25 percent of the yearly entitlement, a negative cash balance will result in an apportionment of 25 percent of the entitlement plus the negative amount. For instance, if a cash balance of $-250 is submitted for an LEA with a yearly entitlement of $500, the calculated apportionment will be 25% of 500+250 or $125+250=$375.

13. I cannot log on to the CMDC system right now. Why?

    11. Several reasons may prevent you from logging on.

    • The reporting window is not active. You can log on to the CMDC system only when a reporting window is active. Refer to the CMDC Reporting Dates.
    • Your LEA may not have an entitlement for Title I, Part A, Title I, Part D, Title II, Part A, Title III EL, Title III Immigrant, and Title IV, Part A in the current year or last two preceding years. You can check your LEA’s entitlements for each fiscal year on CDE’s categorical program Web page. [https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/ca/index.asp].
    • You may have used an incorrect PIN. Refer to Question 14 to retrieve the correct PIN.

14. How can I get the PIN for my LEA?

    If you do not have the assigned PIN, click the “Request PIN” link on the Logon Screen page and then enter the requested information on the resulting page, and the PIN will be resent to the superintendent or administrator email address listed in the California School Directory. If your LEA needs to update your superintendent’s or administrator’s information on the CDE’s California School Directory, please have your local CDS Coordinator update the contact information in the Online Public Update for Schools (OPUS - CDS) application. Your local CDS Coordinator is identified on the California School Directory.

    Also, check the spam and junk mail filters and add FederalCashMangement@cde.ca.gov to the address book or safe list to ensure it reaches the inbox.

15. Can the PIN be sent to someone other than the individual on file?

    The California Department of Education will send the PIN only to the individual on file as reflected on the California School Directory. This individual can then delegate cash management reporting functions to another person as he/she deems appropriate and provide the PIN to that person.

16. The system will not take my submission. It says there is a submission error. What did I do wrong?

    The system is designed to take only numeric characters. The negative sign (-) is the only exception. Dollar signs ($), commas (,) decimal points (.) or other non numeric characters will prevent your submission from being recorded by the system. If cash balance is zero, enter 0.

17. How do I know I successfully submitted data to CDE?

    You must check the box at the bottom of the Data Collection page of the CMDC system and click the “Submit” button. A data submission report will appear on your screen displaying the submitted data, the name of the person who submitted the data, and the date and time of the submission. You will be able to print or save a PDF copy of the data submitted for your records.

18. We’ve submitted our CMDC report for the quarter, but found out we need to revise the cash balance for one of the programs. Can we submit a revised report?

    If you successfully submitted CMDC data, you will receive a prompt the next time you logon during the same reporting period stating the date and time of your last submission. To make any revisions, follow the same process outlined above and resubmit all data fields for the applicable ESSA programs before the reporting deadline.

19. How can I be included in future California Department of Education (CDE) communications regarding CMDC reporting?

    Please subscribe to our Federal Cash Management mailing list.

20. What if I have more questions?

    If you still need clarification after referring to the Federal Cash Management Instructions, email your question to FederalCashManagement@cde.ca.gov.