New travel and mileage reimbursement regulations were announced by the Texas Education Agency, on June 8, 2015. The new requirements apply to all federal grants. The regulations were enacted under Office of Management and Budget (OMB), codified as Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR) Part 200, that are also referred to as EDGAR (Education Department General Administrative Regulations).
The TEA announcement stated:
“Under the new EDGAR, any travel costs paid with federal grant funds must comply with the following requirements in 2 CFR §200.474:
- All federal grant recipients establish written travel policies.
- All travel charges to federal grants must be consistent with those normally allowed for travel that is not federally funded.
- When developing your written travel policies, you must consider your state and local policies for travel and follow the requirement that is most restrictive. For example, the new EDGAR allows for reimbursing meal costs on a per diem allowance basis rather than an actual cost basis. However, Texas travel policy only allows for reimbursement of the actual cost of meals, not per diem allowances. Since the state policy is more restrictive than the requirements in EDGAR, you are required to follow state policy. Note that reimbursing actual costs expended up to the maximum per diem rate remains allowable.”
Officials in all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools need to carefully review all new federal regulations under EDGAR, in addition to overlapping State of Texas requirements, and take action to implement complying policies or procedures, as applicable.
To access the TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED letter on this topic dated June 8, 2015, click on the link below.
http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/News_and_Multimedia/Correspondence/TAA_Letters/Travel_and_Mileage_Reimbursement/
To access more information on EDGAR, click on the link below.
http://tea.texas.gov/Finance_and_Grants/Grants/Administering_a_Grant/The_New_EDGAR/.