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SDLA Compliance Resource

Complete CARS Spring Reporting Amendments and Review

The post-certification correction period for program reports—separate from the longer Application for Funding amendment timeline.

  • CARS
  • Federal Programs
  • Reporting Review
Date(s)July 1–August 15, 2026; forms closed after 11:59 p.m. August 15
Applies toLEAs that certified applicable 2024–25, 2025–26, or 2026–27 Spring reporting forms

In Plain Language: Review CDE comments and certified reports, reconcile each field to authoritative program and fiscal records, make only supported corrections, recertify, and verify final closure by August 15. Track Application for Funding forms separately because their 2026–27 amendment window continues to December 15.

Why this matters

A certified report can still contain a wrong grant year, reporting period, population, obligation, expenditure, or private-school value. Failing to recertify a correction can leave the state with the older data.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: CARS coordinator. Partners: Title I–IV program leads, fiscal/grants accounting, private-school/equitable-services lead, homeless and Title I‑D staff, EL program, authorized representative, and CDE reviewers.

From Spring reporting forms to closure evidence: the SDLA ITO workflow

This is a controlled correction period for program reports, separate from the longer Application for Funding timeline. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the Spring reporting forms, CDE comments, and source records become the reconciliation, the change log, the final certified exports, and closure evidence.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the Spring reporting forms, CDE comments, and source records, through the form inventory, source reconciliation, approvals, and amendment and recertification, to the reconciliation, the change log, the final certified exports, and closure evidence.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers the form inventory, source reconciliation, approvals, and amendment and recertification; Output covers the reconciliation, the change log, the final certified exports, and closure evidence. Make only supported corrections, and verify final closure by August 15.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Inventory every submitted Spring reporting form, status, reviewer comment, owner, grant year, and final close date.
  2. Reconcile certified values to ledger, program, private-school, pupil/service, obligation, and prior-report records.
  3. Document each retain-or-correct decision and obtain program/fiscal approval.
  4. Enter supported amendments, answer CDE comments, validate, and recertify before the applicable close.
  5. Export the final version/status and archive the value-level change log.

Implementation pathway

Form inventory
Source reconcile
Approve change
Amend/recertify
Archive

Evidence to retain

  • Form/status inventory
  • Certified original and CDE comments
  • Source-to-field reconciliation
  • Original/revised value change log
  • Approvals and final certified exports
  • CARS status/closure evidence

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.