Communication Materials

Common Core of Data (CCD) School-Level
Finance Survey (SLFS) 2022-2024

Appendix A
Communication Materials

OMB# 1850-0930 v.4

September 2022
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Contents:
A.1. SLFS 2022 Announcement letter to Respondents
A.2. SLFS 2022 File Submission Instructions

March 27, 2023
Dear State Fiscal Coordinator:
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education
and the U.S. Census Bureau would like to thank you for your participation in the FY 2022
School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS). Policymakers, researchers, and the public have voiced
concerns about the distribution of school funding within elementary-secondary school districts.
This survey provides a central source of data for examining the extent to which school-level
education resources are distributed across and within school districts. Your assistance enables
us to collect and report school-level education finance information that is valuable to a variety
of data users. Please be aware that public records retained from this collection do not require
confidentiality.
NCES, within the U.S. Department of Education, is authorized to conduct this study by the
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002; 20 U.S.C. § 9543).
Section 203(c)(1) of the 1979 Department of Education Organization Act (DEOA) conveys to
the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights the authority to “collect or coordinate the collection of
data necessary to ensure compliance with civil rights laws within the jurisdiction of the Office
for Civil Rights.” See 20 U.S.C. § 3413(c)(1). The civil rights laws enforced by OCR for
which the CRDC collects data include Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits
discrimination based on race, color, or national origin; Title IX of the Education Amendments
of 1972, which prohibits discrimination based on sex; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Also, Section 203(c)(3)
of the DEOA authorizes OCR “to enter into contracts and other arrangements … with public
agencies … as may be necessary to carry out [its] compliance and enforcement functions ….”
OCR is working with NCES to assist OCR with collecting school level finance data as part of
the CRDC.
The purpose of this letter is to officially announce the opening of the collection for the FY
2022 survey. I have enclosed the FY 2022 survey form and the materials you need to
participate, which will assist you with your data submission. If you need additional
information or have questions about any of the data items, please feel free to contact me or the
SLFS staff at the Census Bureau at (800) 622-6193 or erd.slfs.list@census.gov.
We also ask that you please provide contact information for any state education agency
personnel that can be reached by the SLFS staff with any questions about your state's SLFS
submission. Please provide the following information in response to this letter:
1) State coordinator name, title, phone number, and email
2) If you have delegated someone else to be the primary contact for data inquiries,

please provide this person's name, title, phone number, and email address
We look forward to working with your state on this survey. The success of this collection will
be due to your cooperation, and we greatly appreciate your efforts.
Sincerely,

Stephen Q. Cornman, Project Director
School-Level Finance Survey
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
Stephen.Cornman@ed.gov
(202) 245-7753

FY 2022 SLFS FILE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - Send a File Utility
This is a user-friendly method of sending your data files to the Census Bureau.
1. Go to the URL: https://secure.census.gov/cgi-bin/sendfile
2. When prompted, login with your User-ID and Password. (User-ID = slfs; the
Password will arrive in a separate e-mail.)
3. Browse to the file to be uploaded.
4. Select the file to be uploaded in the directory browser pop-up.
5. Click “Open” button in the directory browser pop-up. This closes the pop up, and
places the file name (and its full path) in the text field labeled “File to Send.”
6. Optionally, provide a different name in the “New File Name” text field. This new
name will be used to save the file on the target server.
7. Provide sender’s email address in the text field labeled “Sender’s Email Address.”
8. Please enter erd.slfs.list@census.gov in the text field “Census Bureau Employee’s EMail Address.” An e-mail will be sent to this e-mail address when the upload process
is complete letting staff know your data have been uploaded to the Census Bureau.

Note: If you cannot locate the password, please contact SLFS staff by phone or e-mail.
E-mail: erd.slfs.list@census.gov
Phone: (800) 622 – 6193