Electronic Submittal of BOCES Year-End Final Cost Report Data
The State Education Department requires that all BOCES prepare a Summary-Level Year-End Report for High Cost Students for each school district being billed.
To reduce duplicative effort and ensure the highest accuracy for High Cost reimbursement claiming, the data from these Summary-Level Year-End Reports for High Cost Students must also be submitted to the STAC and Medicaid Unit as an electronic file.
Annual Process
- The STAC and Medicaid Unit generates an Excel file containing additional STAC IDs for each BOCES. Each file is made available in the appropriate BOCES's "outbasket" within the SED File Transfer Manager.
- Each BOCES notifies STAC and Medicaid Unit about possible duplicate IDs and any corrections to STAC child information (last name, first name and/or date of birth).
- Each BOCES incorporates additional STAC IDs into its database and submits its initial/sample paper Year-End Final Cost Reports for High Cost Students to the STAC and Medicaid Unit for review.
- Upon STAC approval of sample submissions, BOCES generates and submits complete set of district paper detail and summary-level Year-End Final Cost Reports for High Cost Students with STAC IDs. BOCES also generates and submits an electronic file containing the data from the summary-level reports.
- Upon final STAC approval, BOCES distributes paper Year-End Final Cost Reports for High Cost Students with STAC IDs to school districts.
Adding STAC IDs to BOCES Student Databases
Not every BOCES student has a STAC ID. Only students with previous requests for STAC reimbursement will have been assigned STAC IDs. Our goal is to increase the percentage of students with STAC IDs displayed on your BOCES database over time. This will minimize the improper creation of duplicate STAC IDs, aid claims, and allow districts to more easily locate STAC IDs for BOCES students when they are filing their Public High Cost STACs.
Every year, the STAC and Medicaid Unit works closely with each BOCES to incorporate STAC IDs into their reporting for all existing students where a STAC ID could be identified. However, new STAC IDs are being created all the time. To help each BOCES populate its student database with STAC IDs that were not included in previous reporting, the STAC and Medicaid Unit periodically generates student lists with additional STAC IDs that weren’t included in the submitted electronic files. These student lists are made available in the SED File Transfer Manager (FTM) "outbasket" for each BOCES. Please add these additional STAC IDs to your student database.
Electronic Submission of Summary-Level Data
What is the Required Electronic File Format?
The STAC and Medicaid Unit will only accept the electronic file in the following format:
- Text: A file containing plain-text data with each field taking up a fixed number of characters and each record separated from the next by a line break.
File Specifications for Electronic Submission of Summary-level Year-End Report Data
| Field 1 | BOCES-SEDCODE |
|---|---|
| Format: | 12-digit number, with leading zero as necessary |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The twelve-digit SED Code associated with your BOCES. This should be the same for all records. |
| Field 2 | BOCES-NAME |
| Format: | Text, maximum 36 characters, all-capitalized A-Z letters, 0-9 numbers, parentheses and dashes permitted (No periods, commas or other special characters) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The name of your BOCES. This should be the same for all records. |
| Field 3 | DISTRICT-SEDCODE |
| Format: | 12-digit number, with leading zero as necessary |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The twelve-digit SED code associated with the school district being billed. This should be the same for all records. See List of Public School Districts with SED Codes for reference) |
| Field 4 | DISTRICT-NAME |
| Format: | Text, maximum 36 characters, all-capitalized A-Z letters, 0-9 numbers, parentheses, dashes and spaces permitted (No periods, commas or other special characters) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The name of the school district being billed. This should match the spelling on “List of Public School Districts with SED Codes”. |
| Field 5 | STUDENT-LNAME |
| Format: | Text, maximum 22 characters, all-capitalized A-Z letters only (No punctuation, spaces or special characters permitted) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The last name of the student. Last names with embedded spaces or special characters should be standardized. For example, send O’REILLY as OREILLY; VAN SCHAIK as VANSCHAIK; JONES-SMITH as JONESSMITH. Truncate names that exceed the maximum number of characters. |
| Field 6 | STUDENT-FNAME |
| Format: | Text, maximum 15 characters, all-capitalized A-Z letters only (No punctuation, spaces or special characters permitted) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | The first name of the student. First names with embedded spaces or special characters should be standardized. For example, send BILLY BOB as BILLYBOB. Truncate names that exceed the maximum number of characters. |
| Field 7 | STUDENT-DOB |
| Format: | Date, MM/DD/YYYY (two-digit month, two-digit day, four-digit year, separated by slashes) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Custom: Type: mm/dd/yyyy |
| Description: | The student’s date of birth, in month, day, year order. |
| Field 8 | STUDENT-START |
| Format: | Date, MM/DD/YYYY (two-digit month, two-digit day, four-digit year, separated by slashes) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Custom: Type: mm/dd/yyyy |
| Description: | The start date of the student’s enrollment, in month, day, year order. |
| Field 9 | STUDENT-END |
| Format: | Date, MM/DD/YYYY (two-digit month, two-digit day, four-digit year, separated by slashes) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Custom: Type: mm/dd/yyyy |
| Description: | The end date of the student’s enrollment, in month, day, year order. |
| Field 10 | 10MO-ANNUALIZED-COST |
| Format: | Number, 999999.99, no negative values (two trailing digits after decimal, no commas, no leading zeroes, maximum six leading digits before decimal) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Number: Decimal places: 2, remove check from “Use 1000 Separator (,)” box. |
| Description: | Amount student would have cost if billed for the entire 10-month school year. |
| Field 11 | CALCULATION-DATE |
| Format: | Date, MM/DD/YYYY (two-digit month, two-digit day, four-digit year, separated by slashes) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Custom: Type: mm/dd/yyyy |
| Description: | The date the numbers in the report were calculated, in month, day, year order. The calculation date should match the calculation date listed in the header of the paper Summary-Level report sent to each district. |
| Field 12 | STUDENT-STAC-ID |
| Format: | Text, exactly 6 characters, all-capitalized A-Z letters, 0-9 numbers permitted (No periods, commas, or other special characters) |
| If Excel: | Format cells as Text |
| Description: | A unique six-character identifier generated for each student eligible for STAC reimbursement. The same STAC ID is utilized from preschool through high school graduation or age out at 21. It stays with the student when he or she changes school districts and education providers. |
Instructions for Converting an Excel Spreadsheet Into the Required Fixed Width Text Format
Please note: These instructions were prepared using Excel 2016. The process might be slightly different for other versions of Microsoft Excel.
Prepare the File:
- Make sure there is a separate column for each field and make sure the columns are in the same order that is listed in the file specifications.
- Make sure all columns (except for the date columns and the 10-Month Annualized Cost column) are formatted as Text.
- Make sure the horizontal alignment is set to Left with 0 indent for all columns (except for the 10-Month Annualized Cost column).
- Make sure the horizontal alignment is set to Right with 0 indent for the 10-Month Annualized Cost column.
- Select the first column. Right-click and select the “Column Width…” option. For the new column width, enter the number of characters for that field from the file specifications. Repeat this process for the remaining columns.
- Delete any header and footer rows so that the only rows left contain student data.
Save the File:
- Click File, then Save As.
- At the bottom of the Save As window, select the “Formatted Text (Space delimited) (*.prn)” option from the “Save as type:” dropdown and save the file where you can find it.
- You will be warned that the file may contain features that are not compatible with Formatted Text (Space delimited). Click the Yes button.
- Once the file has been saved, close out of Excel. If it asks you again whether you want to save, click Don’t Save.
- Navigate to where you saved the prn file and rename it so it ends with .txt instead of .prn.
- Open the renamed file in Notepad to confirm that it is in the requested file layout.
- Upload the renamed file to the SED File Transfer Manager “outbasket”.
Resources
- BOCES Electronic Submission Memo for 2022-23 Enrollment
(with Year-End Final Cost Report 39-Week High Cost Billing Pattern Example) - BOCES Electronic Submission Memo for 2021-22 Enrollment
(with Year-End Final Cost Report 40-Week & 39-Week High Cost Billing Pattern Examples) - BOCES Electronic Submission Memo for 2020-21 Enrollment
(with Year-End Final Cost Report 40-Week & 39-Week High Cost Billing Pattern Examples)
Last Updated:
August 30, 2023