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SDLA Compliance Resource

Complete the 2026–27 CARS Winter Initial Submission

The multi-program certification window for closeouts, carryover, allocations, reservations, private-school participation, transferability, and six/eighteen-month expenditures.

  • CARS
  • Winter Release
  • Federal Programs
Date(s)January 15–February 15, 2027; tentative until confirmed by CDE
Applies toLEAs with applicable 2024–25, 2025–26, or 2026–27 Winter Release forms

In Plain Language: Inventory applicable forms by grant year and program, assign data owners, reconcile source records, complete interdependent forms in the proper order, validate, and certify the full Winter package by February 15.

Why this matters

The Winter release mixes multiple grant years and dependencies. Using current-year figures on a closeout form—or certifying downstream allocations before upstream counts/reservations—can propagate errors across several forms.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: CARS coordinator. Partners: Title I–V leads, fiscal/grants accounting, private-school/equitable-services, HR/time accounting, EL/immigrant, Title I‑D, authorized representative, and CDE reviewers.

From the Winter calendar to certified CARS Winter forms: the SDLA ITO workflow

Forms depend on one another, so upstream forms are completed first and validated across forms. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the live Winter calendar, ledger and pupil counts, and prior certified reports become the form-year-dependency matrix, the source reconciliation, and the certified exports.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the live Winter calendar, ledger and pupil counts, and prior certified reports, through a form matrix, source reconciliation, validation, and certification, to the form-year-dependency matrix, the source reconciliation, and the certified exports.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers a form matrix, source reconciliation, validation, and certification; Output covers the form-year-dependency matrix, the source reconciliation, and the certified exports. Complete between January 15 and February 15, 2027; dates are tentative until CDE confirms.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Verify the live Winter calendar and inventory every applicable form, year, status, dependency, and owner.
  2. Reconcile ledger, pupil/school counts, private-school consultation, carryover, expenditures, reservations, transferability, and prior certified reports.
  3. Complete upstream forms first; investigate system validations and cross-form differences.
  4. Obtain program/fiscal review and authorized-representative certification by the applicable deadline.
  5. Export all certified forms/statuses and preserve review comments and corrections.

Implementation pathway

Confirm calendar
Form matrix
Source reconcile
Validate/certify
Archive

Evidence to retain

  • Live CDE calendar/notice
  • Form-year-dependency matrix
  • Source-to-field reconciliation
  • Validation and variance resolutions
  • Authorized certification
  • Certified exports/status history

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current CDE, CARS, CMDC, GMART, program, fiscal, consortium, and entity-specific instructions before acting.