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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.

Operational workflow

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