_________________________ School District
CCR Action Plan Budget
July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017
MIDDLE GRADE INITIATIVE
Allocation / Target
► GEAR UP MGI / federal: $____________________________ (see note 1/)
Estimated Costs
Strategy
GEAR UP MGI / Federal
MGI Objective: Increase the number of 8th graders who enter high school college and career ready.
Section 1: Early Readiness
Increasing student academic achievement through curriculum and instruction improvements in response to data.
1.1 Curricular Actions
School Personnel:
$
Operating:
$
Travel:
$
1.2 Instructional Actions
School Personnel:
$
Operating:
$
Travel:
$
SUBTOTAL SECTION 1 (1.1 + 1.2)
NOTE: budgeted costs for tasks 1.1 + 1.2 must be greater than or equal to $
25% of total GEAR UP MGI budget
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Section 2: Early Awareness
Creating a school-wide culture that fosters all students’ preparation and motivation for a full range of postsecondary
options.
2.1 Early Awareness Activities & Strategies [Required]
School Personnel:
$
Operating:
$
Travel:
$
2.2 Early Awareness Activities & Strategies
School Personnel:
$
Operating:
$
Travel:
$
SUBTOTAL SECTION 2 (2.1 + 2.2)
NOTE: budgeted costs for tasks 2.1 +2.2 must be greater than or equal to $
25% of total GEAR UP MGI budget
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Section 3: Administrative Responsibilities
Implementing, monitoring, and reporting on progress and impact of actions taken in response to data, and
participating in capacity building opportunities.
3.1 CCR Teams [Required]
School Personnel:
$
Operating:
$
Travel:
$
3.2a,b,c Preparing For Next Year (2017-18) [Required]
3.3 Reporting [Required]
3.4 Capacity Building (see note 3/)
Spring 2016, budget $300 per required attendee for mileage+lodging+m&ie,
add others at District cost.
Travel:
$
SUBTOTAL SECTION 3 (3.1 + 3.2 + 3.3 + 3.4) $
TOTAL DIRECT COSTS
INDIRECT COSTS
TOTAL DIRECT + INDIRECT COSTS
$
$
$
NOTES:
1) The GEAR UP / federal allocation for ______________________ School District is $_______________________.
Total costs requested for reimbursement from GEAR UP may not exceed this amount.
2) No GEAR UP funds may be requested for Tasks 3.2 or 3.3.
3) Required attendees for the 2017 MGI Super School Summit include at least one District representative, school
principal(s) plus at least two members of the College and Career Readiness (CCR) team at each school; budget $300
per attendee for mileage + lodging + meals, add others at District cost.
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MGI Quarterly Financial Packet Guidelines and Instructions
1. Approved GEAR UP MGI action plans drive the budget. Associated costs are funded by federal (GEAR UP
reimbursement) resources. Therefore, federal cost principles apply to expenditure of GEAR UP MGI funds. Further
guidance on this is provided in Item 7 below.
2. Accordingly, financial reporting and documentation standards for GEAR UP MGI fund use are high, and there is
significant emphasis on scrutiny and accountability associated with their use. Audit-ready financial records of GEAR
MGI costs incurred must demonstrate that they:
● are allowable as defined in federal government Uniform Guidance or “Super-Circulars”
● are in accordance with District policies and procedures
● clearly serve their designated public purpose of implementing GEAR UP MGI action plans
3. GEAR UP funds allocated to the MGI are focused on Early Readiness (increasing student academic achievement
through curriculum and instruction improvements in response to data) and Early Awareness (creating a school-wide
culture that fosters all students’ preparation and motivation for a full range of postsecondary options). Accordingly,
requested GEAR UP funds may not be used for tasks associated with administrative tasks 3.2 and 3.3.
4. Common cost components (federal) include:
(a) School Personnel (salaries + benefits)
(b) Non-District Personnel (consultants)
(c) In-State Travel (registration, mileage, m&ie, lodging)
(d) Materials & Supplies
(e) Printing & Photocopying
5. GEAR UP MGI Partnerships operate on a cost reimbursement basis. School Partners request reimbursement by way
of a completed quarterly financial packet using forms developed by NAU GEAR UP. The quarterly financial packet
must be e-mailed (scanned image) or mailed (hard copy) on or before the due dates specified below (generally 20
days after the close of a quarter). The packet includes a Summary and Certification section and an Itemized Costs &
Brief Narrative section. Supporting documentation must be included for each expense being requested for
reimbursement (see Item 9 for further guidance on supporting documentation).
MGI Reporting Schedule
REPORTING PERIOD
DUE ON OR BEFORE
July 1 – Sept 30, 2016
October 20, 2016
Oct 1 – Dec 31, 2016
January 20, 2017
Jan 1 – March 31, 2017
April 20, 2017
April 1 – June 30, 2017
July 20, 2017
Submission Instructions
Mail all originals to:
Arizona GEAR UP
15451 N. 28th Ave. #216
Phoenix, AZ 85053
OR…Email scanned image of all originals to:
stephen.hart@nau.edu
6. Funds issued to the GEAR UP MGI Partner from NAU for reimbursement of expenses cannot be co-mingled with
funds from other sources. This means that partners must establish a separate local account to capture GEAR UP
MGI-related financial activity. This auditable transaction record of both revenue received and expenses incurred
must be assigned a unique identifying number from within the Partners’ existing General Ledger account structure.
Only GEAR UP MGI Agreement-related financial activity can be posted to this account. A detailed statement of each
month’s account activity that conforms to generally accepted accounting principles must be submitted as part of the
supporting documentation record for requested reimbursement.
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7. GEAR UP MGI expenditures must be for the direct costs of the project as described in the approved Agreement work
plan and budget, and authorized under federal cost principles (Education Department General Administrative
Regulations, and 2 CFR Chapter I, Chapter II, Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards). NAU reserves the right to disallow costs, either before or after they have
been reported and reimbursed, based on later audit or other review.
Federal cost principles on allowable costs state that they must be:
 Reasonable (reflecting an action that a prudent person would take and generally recognized as necessary for the
organization to accomplish a work plan task, guided by established institutional policies and practices);
 Allocable (applied in proportion to relative benefits, as approximated through reasonable methods);
 Consistently treated (anything not allowed by the partner organization is not allowed by GEAR UP);
 Compliant with limitations and exclusions (as stated in federal cost principles, these guidelines, and the
Agreement).
8. No travel may be undertaken unless itemized in the Partners’ approved budget.
9. The Brief Narrative included with the financial packet must clearly identify all items requested for reimbursement,
and make the purpose of each evident by correlating them to specific work plan task(s); this means that listing an
employee name alone (under School Personnel) or a vendor name alone (under Operating) is inadequate.
10. Supporting documentation means copies of all Time and Effort forms, payroll registers, receipts, invoices, purchase
orders, calculation sheets, transaction reports, accounting reports, e-mail correspondence, and other types of
documentation in support of expenses requested for reimbursement. This includes:
 An auditable transaction record of both revenue received and expenses incurred during the reporting period, for
the separate local account established to capture GEAR UP MGI-related financial activity.
 A payroll register that conforms to generally accepted accounting principles, as documentation for salaries, wages,
and benefits of school personnel costs.
 Copies of signed Time and Effort forms for each staff member whose personnel costs are being requested for
reimbursement in a given month (partners may substitute copies of their own such forms if they meet standards
of OMB Circular A-87 Appendix B(11h)).
 Copies of completed Professional Development Reflections and Feedback forms for each staff member who
participated in MGI-funded professional development.
 All other supporting expenditure documentation, as backup for reimbursement related to travel and operating
costs.
11. A GEAR UP Partner’s “Authorized Official” is the person who is designated in the Agreement as such. The original
signature of the Partner’s Authorized Official must appear on page 1 of each quarterly financial packet submitted to
the State GEAR UP Office. By signing, the Authorized Official is certifying that expenditures requested for
reimbursement comply with all applicable federal regulations, that the brief narrative and cumulative report are
accurate, and that all required supporting documentation is attached.
12. Budgets are administered on a “category” basis. The three major categories are: School Personnel; Travel; and
Operating Costs. Each category may have several line items within it (EX: the School Personnel category is the sum
of line items Salaries and Wages + Employee Benefits). Partners’ cumulative costs requested for reimbursement in
each category may not exceed the total amount authorized for reimbursement.
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13. If applicable, GEAR UP Partners shall submit written requests to modify MGI workplans and budgets to their
designated GEAR UP Assistant Director contact. These written workplan and budget modification requests must
include a clear explanation and justification of the reason(s) why original workplan activities are not feasible and
include proposed change(s) to the budget. Such requests must be made at the time a change to the workplan /
budget is apparent. Written requests for the workplan / budget modifications relative to the fourth quarter of the
performance period (April 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017) must be received by NAU GEAR UP on or before February 28,
2017. NAU GEAR UP will review and approve / disapprove budget modification requests accordingly, and initiate any
administrative actions necessary to formalize such approval.
14. GEAR UP Partners shall notify NAU no later than sixty (60) days prior to the end of the performance period if it
appears that total reimbursement funding will be insufficient to accomplish the purposes of the Agreement.
Following that notification, NAU and the Partner will carefully review budget status and determine a solution (NAU
is not obligated to increase the Reimbursement amount and the Partner is not obligated to provide services beyond
the point at which Reimbursement funds expire).
15. Questions on MGI financial reporting may be directed to:
Stephen Hart, Assistant Director – Operations, (602) 776 – 4614, stephen.hart@nau.edu
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