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    Effect of Failure to File Reports

    On July 20, 2005, Act 46 of 2005 was signed into law. This legislation amended the Pennsylvania Public School Code of 1949 and included a new provision, Section 2552.1, empowering the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to impose state funding forfeitures and disciplinary measures for the late filing of the annual financial report (AFR), annual general fund budget (GFB), and pupil membership/child accounting reports.

    Act 104 of 2010 further amended the School Code by adding sections 218 and 921-A and modifying section 2552.1. Changes to the latter section affected the forfeiture provisions related to submission of the annual financial report.

    Local education agencies (LEAs) subject to subsidy forfeiture are:  school districts, intermediate units, career and technology centers, and charter schools. The forfeiture and disciplinary provisions are as follows:

    Reports not submitted within thirty days of the submittal date established by PDE: 

    • Forfeiture of $300 per day from any and all State payments
    • Forfeiture of $500 per day from any and all State payments (AFR only; second and subsequent violations)

    Reports not submitted within sixty days of the submittal date established by PDE: 

    • Disciplinary action against the chief school administrator in accordance with the provisions and procedures set forth in the "Professional Education Discipline Act"​

    Section 2552.1 allows the Secretary of Education to waive the forfeiture requirements based upon extenuating circumstances. Requests for filing extensions must be made in writing by the chief school administrator to Benjamin Hanft, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Financial Operations, within thirty days of the submission deadline and contain the following information:

    • Extenuating circumstances preventing filing within thirty days of the submission deadline
    • Date report will be filed (includes receipt of signature pages)
    • Date local audit was started and date it will be completed (applicable to AFR)
    • Date data entry in CFRS began

    For additional information, please contact:

    Benjamin Hanft, Deputy Director
    Bureau of Financial Operations
    Pennsylvania Department of Education
    ra-Extension@pa.gov