Study of School-Level Expenditures (SSLE) Form A and Form B

U.S. Department of Education

Study of School-Level Expenditures

Form A:

Data Reporting Instructions for School‑Level Expenditure Data for State Educational Agencies and

Local Educational Agencies

November 4, 2009

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number. The valid OMB control number of this information collection is 1875-____. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 40 hours per district response and 741 hours per state response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection.

If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimates(s) or suggestion for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, 20202-4651.

If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: Policy and Program Studies Service, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 6W203, Washington, DC 20202-8240.

General Instructions for This Data Collection

Purpose of data collection. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) requires each school district receiving Title I, Part A ARRA funds to report a school-by-school listing of per-pupil educational expenditures from state and local funds for the 2008-09 school year to its state educational agency (SEA), and also requires states to report these data to the Department by March 31, 2010. These data will be used to examine the extent to which school-level education resources are distributed equitably within and across school districts.

Data collection year. Please provide expenditure data for the full 2008-09 school year. You may use the standard start and end dates that are commonly used to define “school year” in your state.

Format of materials. States should submit the school-level expenditure data in electronic form via email, ftp transfer, or regular mail. To minimize reporting burden for states, we will accept data in whatever format is most convenient for you to provide. Data can be in ASCII (text) format, in spreadsheet files (e.g., Excel, Access), or in word processing files (e.g., WordPerfect or Microsoft Word). Please indicate the type of file and format (Windows, or Macintosh):

• Email. Files may be sent via email to SchoolLevelExpend@rti.org.

• Secure electronic file upload site. Larger files may be submitted electronically through RTI’s file upload website at edsurveys.rti.org/SchoolLevelExpenditures. If you would like to use this option, please contact Ruth Heuer at RTI at (919) 541-6457 or heuer@rti.org to obtain a unique username and password.

• Regular mail. Data may be sent on a CD-ROM or diskette to:

Ruth Heuer

RTI International

P. O. Box 12194

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194

A data collector from RTI International will contact each SEA to discuss this data collection to help determine the least burdensome way for states to provide the required information.

Amount of time required to respond to this data collection. We ask that each district and state provide an estimate of the number of hours that they spent responding to this data collection, so that we may improve the accuracy of our burden hour estimates.

If you have questions or would like more information about this study, you may contact Ruth Heuer at RTI International at (919) 541-6457 or heuer@rti.org, or Stephanie Stullich at the U.S. Department of Education at (202) 401-2342 or stephanie.stullich@ed.gov.

Thank you for your cooperation with this data collection.

Requirement to Cooperate With This Data Collection

The statutory language for this data collection requirement is included in the section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that authorizes the appropriation of an additional $13 billion in Title I Part A funds, and reads as follows:

For an additional amount for “Education for the Disadvantaged” to carry out title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (“ESEA”), $13,000,000,000: Provided, That $5,000,000,000 shall be available for targeted grants under section 1125 of the ESEA: Provided further, That $5,000,000,000 shall be available for education finance incentive grants under section 1125A of the ESEA: Provided further, That $3,000,000,000 shall be for school improvement grants under section 1003(g) of the ESEA: Provided further, That each local educational agency receiving funds available under this paragraph shall be required to file with the State educational agency, no later than December 1, 2009, a school-by-school listing of per-pupil educational expenditures from State and local sources during the 2008–2009 academic year: Provided further, That each State educational agency shall report that information to the Secretary of Education by March 31, 2010.

Thus, the ARRA statute requires districts that receive Title I, Part A ARRA funds (i.e., funds allocated under the Targeted Grants and Education Finance Incentive Grants formulas) to report school-level per-pupil expenditures.

The Department has sought to minimize the burden of this mandated data collection on states and school districts in the following ways. First, we are defining “school-level expenditures” using expenditure classifications that are already used in existing National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and U.S. Census Bureau fiscal data collections at the district level. Second, we are focusing on school-level expenditures related to instruction and support functions, and are not asking for school-level expenditure data for functions that are commonly accounted for at the district level such as facilities operations and maintenance, transportation, or food services. Third, we are asking respondents to exclude employee benefits, which may be supported and accounted for through multiple funding mechanisms. Finally, we are asking districts and states to only report those non-personnel expenditures that were tracked at the school level in district and state data systems for the 2008-09 school year.

Definition of School-Level Expenditures to Be Included in This Data Collection

In general, LEAs and SEAs should report school-level expenditures that are associated with regular K-12 instruction, instructional support, pupil support, and school administration. More specifically, LEAs and SEAs should report the following four categories of school-level expenditures from state and local funds:

• Personnel salaries at the school level for all school-level instructional and support staff, based on the Census Bureau’s classification used in the F‑33 survey of local government finances.

• Personnel salaries at the school level for instructional staff only.

• Personnel salaries at the school level for teachers only.

• Non-personnel expenditures at the school level (if available).

Table A-1 shows the Census Bureau’s classification of four types of school-level personnel that are involved in instructional and support functions, based on the F-33 survey of local government finances (see Table A-2 for more detail):

Table A-1

Types of School-Level Personnel Involved in Instruction and Support Functions

Instruction	Includes teachers and instructional aides.
Support services – pupils	Includes guidance counselors, nurses, attendance officers, speech pathologists, and other staff who provide support services for students.
Support services – instructional staff	Includes salaries for staff involved in curriculum development, staff training, operating the library, media and computer centers.
Support services – school administration	Includes principals and other staff involved in school administration.

Additional instructions for reporting school-level expenditures. LEAs and SEAs should use the following guidelines, to the extent possible, in compiling data on school-level expenditures:

• Exclude expenditures from federal program funds. However, a district may include funds from Impact Aid or from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) if the district is using those funds under the authority in Impact Aid.

• Exclude expenditures from special education funds.

• Exclude expenditures for programs that are not associated with regular K-12 instruction, instructional support, and school administration (e.g., preschool, adult education, and school nutrition programs).

• Exclude programs that serve students from more than one school attendance area at a single school site (e.g., summer school programs sometimes are housed in a subset of the district’s schools but serve students from throughout the school district).

LEAs and SEAs may also exclude expenditures made by regional education agencies for school-level resources, if data on the amount of resources that these regional agencies provided in individual schools is not currently available.

Salary expenditures. LEAs and SEAs should use the following guidelines, to the extent possible, in compiling school-level salary expenditures:

• Include all types of salary expenditures, including not only base salaries but also incentive pay, bonuses, and supplemental stipends for mentoring or other additional roles.

• Exclude expenditures for employee benefits.

Non-personnel expenditures. LEAs and SEAs should include non-personnel expenditures associated with instruction, instructional support, and pupil support, and school administration, if this information is available at the school-level. This may include the following types of expenditures:

• Professional development for teachers and other staff.

• Instructional materials and supplies.

• Computers, software, and other technology.

• Contracted services such as distance learning services.

• Library books and media center learning materials.

Table A-3 provides specifications for the datafiles that LEAs and SEAs are expected to submit in response to this requirement. LEAs and SEAs should also complete the checklist in Table A-4 to indicate the characteristics of the expenditure data that they are submitting.

Rationale for the Department’s Approach for Meeting the ARRA Requirement to Collect Data on School-Level Expenditures

The Department of Education recognizes that reporting school-level expenditure data may be a challenging task for many states and school districts, because state and district financial data systems that were in place for the 2008-09 school year may not have tracked expenditures for individual schools. However, we also know that school districts typically have personnel data systems that can identify which staff are assigned to each school, and at a minimum they should be able to extract and report salary data for school-level staff; indeed, many states already collect and compile such school-level personnel expenditure data. Data on personnel salaries do not provide a complete picture of school-level resources, but they account for the majority of expenditures that occur at the school level. In addition, some districts and states have more comprehensive data systems in place that can track and report non-personnel expenditures as well.

Rationale for specific components of this data collection:

• Salaries for all school-level instructional and support staff. This is expected to capture the majority of school-level expenditures for instructional and support functions.

• Salaries for instructional staff only and for teachers only. Teachers and other instructional staff are particularly important to the educational opportunities provided to students, and the study will examine the distribution of these resources separately, in addition to examining the distribution of total reported school-level expenditures.

• Non-personnel expenditures at the school level (if available). Non-personnel expenditures are an important component of total educational resources provided in a school. Collecting these data will permit a more complete examination of the distribution of school-level expenditures where this is supported by existing data systems.

• Inclusion of all types of salary expenditures, including not only base salaries but also incentive pay, bonuses, and supplemental stipends for mentoring or other additional roles. Supplemental pay can be an important component of total staff compensation and should be included in an examination of school-level expenditures.

• Exclusion of expenditures from federal programs. The ARRA requirement is to report only expenditures from state and local funding sources, because federal programs are intended to supplement an equitably-distributed base of state and local resources.

• Exclusion of special education expenditures. Because special education expenditures will vary in relation to the numbers and types of students with disabilities in a particular school, excluding these expenditures, if possible, would provide a more meaningful picture of the equitable distribution of school-level funds.

• Exclusion of employee benefits. State and district practices for supporting and accounting for employee benefits vary widely. Excluding employee benefits will reduce the burden of this data collection for states and districts and also reduce potential problems with the comparability of the data.

Specifications for Data Submissions

Table A-2

Expenditures Associated with Instruction Based on the

Census Bureau’s F-33 Survey of Local Government Finances

Function Code	Activity	Description	Personnel Expenditures	Description/Comments
1000	Instruction	Includes the activities dealing directly with the interaction between teachers and students. Teaching may be provided for students in a school classroom. Expenditures are for teachers who provide instruction to students in a classroom but may include personnel who teach in another location such as home or hospital or in other learning situations such as those involving co curricular activities.	Personnel costs associated with salaries only (Object series 100)	These are amounts paid to both permanent and temporary school district employees, including personnel substituting for those in permanent positions. This includes gross salaries for personal services rendered while on the payroll of the school district. Object series can be broken out further, for example, to distinguish between: Teachers (Object series 101) and Instructional Aides (Object series 102)
2100	Support services – pupils	These are activities designed to assess and improve the well being of students and to supplement the teaching process. This includes expenditures for guidance, health, attendance, and speech pathology services etc.	Same
2200	Support services – instructional staff	These are activities associated with assisting the instructional staff with the content and process of providing learning experiences for students. This includes, for example, expenditures for staff involved in curriculum development, staff training, operating the library, media and computer centers.	Same
2400	Support services- school administration	These activities relate to the overall administrative responsibility for a school.	Same

Table A-3

Specifications for Data to Be Included in LEA and SEA Reports

on School-Level Expenditures in 2008-09

Field	Item	Notes
1	State Name	To be pre-populated from EDFacts.
2	LEA ID (NCES ID code)	To be pre-populated from EDFacts.
3	LEA Name	To be pre-populated from EDFacts.
4	School ID (NCES ID code)	To be pre-populated from EDFacts.
5	School Name	To be pre-populated from EDFacts. (Should include all public schools in each Title I LEA, i.e., both Title I schools and non-Title I schools.)
6	School Title I Status	To be pre-populated from EDFacts. (Indicates whether school is a Title I school or a non-Title I school.)
7	Personnel Salaries at School Level – Total	This would include the salaries for all school-level staff associated with the functions shown in Table A-2, i.e., teachers, paraprofessionals, principal, and other specialized staff who work at the school. The expenditures for a school would be the sum of the salaries for all such staff employed at the school; however, these expenditures should not include salaries paid from federal program funds or from special education funds.
8	Personnel Salaries at School Level – Instructional Staff Only	This is a subset of item 7 and should include salaries for instructional staff only.
9	Personnel Salaries at School Level – Teachers Only	This is a subset of item 8 and should include salaries for teachers only.
10	Non-Personnel Expenditures at School Level (if available)	This would include any non-personnel expenditures that the district or state accounts for at the school level. However, these expenditures should not include expenditures from federal program funds or from special education funds.
11	Student Enrollment (Fall 2008)	To be pre-populated from EDFacts.
12	Personnel Salary Expenditures per Student Enrolled	Calculate Line 7 divided by Line 11. States are asked to perform this calculation as a check on the accuracy of the reported data.

Table A-4

Checklist on Definitions of School-Level Expenditures

(asterisk indicates preferred definition)

	Included	Excluded	Not Applicable
Definitions for All School-Level Expenditures
Expenditures paid from federal funds except Impact Aid and State Fiscal Stabilization Fund if used under the Impact Aid authority	____	____*	____
Expenditures paid from federal Impact Aid funds and State Fiscal Stabilization Fund if used under the Impact Aid authority	____*	____	____
Special education	____	____*	____
Adult education	____	____*	____
School nutrition programs	____	____*	____
Summer school programs	____	____*	____
Preschool programs	____	____*	____
Expenditures made by regional educational agencies on behalf of schools	____	____	____
Definitions for Personnel Expenditures
Incentive pay and/or bonuses	____*	____	____
Supplemental pay for additional roles	____*	____	____
Employee benefits	____	____*	____
Definitions for Non-Personnel Expenditures
Professional development	____*	____	____
Instructional materials/supplies	____*	____	____
Computers/software/technology	____*	____	____
Contracted services	____*	____	____
Library books/media center materials	____*	____	____
Other non-personnel expenditures (please specify ________________________________________)	____	____	____

Table A-5

Estimated Number of Hours Spent Responding to This Data Collection

School Districts: Average number of hours per school that the district used to prepare each school’s expenditure data.	_____ hours per school
School Districts: Additional number of hours for the district to review existing data systems, communicate within the district or with their SEA concerning any procedural questions for preparing the estimates, and time to review and submit their datafiles to their SEA.	_____ hours per district
States: Number of hours spent reviewing existing data systems, developing plans to conduct this data collection, requesting the data from school districts, answering questions from districts, following up with non-responding districts, compiling and reviewing the datafile, and submitting the datafile to the Department of Education.	_____ hours per state

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