MASBO Bi-Monthly February 8, 2017 EOYR-EPIMS Alignment MASBO Bi-Monthly February 8, 2017 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The Department has been collecting district finance data for many years. This data serves several purposes, but of late there’s been growing demand to provide better data back to districts. For districts: how do we know we’re getting the best outcomes for kids in an efficient way? Compared to our peers? What resource allocation models work best? For state and local policymakers: Are our investments making a difference? Are they sufficient? What does it cost to educate certain subgroups? For the public: Are our tax dollars being invested well? Equitably? Efficiently? Compared to our neighbors? Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Our goal is to improve finance data by making it: More detailed – there are specific kinds of questions, of interest to district leaders and state policymakers, that cannot be fully answered using our current data set More comparable – the clarity and detail of our current guidance on how to report on the EOYR varies across types of spending. Some parts are quite detailed, and others offer a lot more flexibility, which makes using the data to compare across districts challenging and of limited utility More actionable - our current data is compliance-focused and has not been updated to reflect current education practices Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Plan to Improve School Finance Data Based on internal and external stakeholder feedback, we’ve laid out a tentative set of tasks and timeline for implementation So far we’ve held webinars to discuss the teacher contract survey and PD expenditure functions Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Goals for today Evaluate a proposed crosswalk between EOYR-EPIMS Identify possible changes to the COA: Including function codes and guidance Identify possible changes to EPIMS Data collection has asked us to submit recommendations by February 24 Guidance updates are more realistic in the short-term, but we want to hear all suggestions Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

These systems are run by different units and were created for different purposes End of Year Financial Report (EOYR) Collected and managed by District and School Finance Collected 3-4 months after close of the FY Actual and budgeted revenues and expenditures Primary purpose to assess progress towards goals of Education Reform Act (Net School Spending) Secondary purpose to understand district resource decisions and compare across districts Education Personnel Information Management System (EPIMS) Collected by Education Data Services Collected in October of that school year Demographic data and work assignment information on individual public school educators Original purpose was to enable MA to accurate reporting on highly qualified teachers in compliance with NCLB Also used to perform workforce analyses to identify high need areas, evaluate current educational practices and programs, and assist districts with their recruiting efforts. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

A crosswalk is critical to providing value to the data we collect Improve alignment between the two systems Update guidance for both EOYR and EPIMS Improve data quality Improve comparability Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Plan for discussion Brief introductory discussion (10 minutes) Topical discussions (60 minutes) We’ll introduce topics 1 or 2 at a time, 5 topics in total divided into 3 rounds (5 minutes per round) You’ll discuss each set of topics and complete the response sheet, one per table (15 minutes per round) Report out (15 minutes) Wrap-up and next steps (5 minutes) Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Materials available Today’s slides (hard copies and electronic) EPIMS-EOY crosswalk, including 2015 expenditures and FTEs (hard copies and electronic) EOYR function guidance (electronic) EPIMS Data Handbook: Appendix E (hard copies and electronic) Issues list response sheet (hard copies and electronic) Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Review EPIMS-EOY crosswalk Statewide salary data from EOYR broken out by object Statewide staff data from EPIMS broken out by central office and school locations Where possible, we’ve lined up the function and job codes. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Take 10 minutes to discuss and record at your tables What are your biggest EOYR/EPIMS alignment concerns? What staff or categories of staff are you most interested in comparing against other districts? Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue A: Districtwide administrators Statewide the dollars reported in these functions don’t clearly align to the EPIMS job categories Questions: Which positions do you include in these EOYR functions? What’s your district’s practice for assigning staff to Other District Administrators? Is the HR administrator included in that category? Function Professional Salaries EPIMS Job FTEs Average Salary 1220 Assistant Superintendents $21,167,015 1201 Assistant/Deputy Superintendent 162.9 $129,931 1230 Other District-Wide Administration $10,325,790 1205 Other District Administrator 1,062.8 $9,716 1410 Business and Finance $34,760,374 1202 Business Official 225.7 $154,026 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue B: Clerical and other salaries There are several administrative aide-type categories in EPIMS. It’s unclear whether all clerk positions that are accounted for in the EOYR are reported in EPIMS. Questions: What positions do you report in clerical (02) vs. other (03) salaries? How are these personnel reported in EPIMS? EPIMS Job FTEs 6100 Administrative Aide 544.9 6110 Administrative Clerk 5,470.3 6120 SPED Administrative Aide 54.8 6130 SPED Administrative Clerk 478.6 6140 Information Services/Tech Support 1,279.1 6150 Other Administrative Support 1,431.7 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue C: Classroom teachers vs. specialist teachers It’s unclear whether teachers are being classified the same way in both EOYR and EPIMS Function Professional Salaries EPIMS Job FTEs Average Salary 2305 Teachers, Classroom $4,330,204,393 Teacher 57,582.6 $71,437 - 2306 Co-teacher 2,475.6 2307 Virtual Course Teacher 4.2 2325 Long-term Substitute 553.5 2310 Teachers, Specialists $473,513,710 Teacher - Support Content 8,647.5 $54,757 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue C: Classroom teachers vs. specialist teachers Discuss and respond to these questions: On what basis, are you currently assigning costs to “specialist” teachers? Does this align with “Teachers – Support Content Instruction” in EPIMS? Is “classroom” and “specialist” teachers a meaningful distinction when you use this data for comparisons? Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue D: Instructional leaders Function Professional Salaries Other Salaries Clerical Salaries EPIMS Job FTEs 2110 Curriculum Directors (Supervisory) $100,925,166 $4,763,076 $30,110,313 1211 Director Pupil Personnel 43.5 2120 Department Heads (Non-Supervisory) $16,489,920 $328,595 $1,663,282 1212 SPED Administrator 252.9 2220 Curriculum/Dept Leaders (School Level) $61,747,748 $937,118 $4,953,017 1213 to 1223 Directors (Arts-Science) 566.7 2315 Instructional Coordinators (Non-Supervisory) $37,422,088 $5,182,978 $816,480 1312 School Special Education Administrator 239.8 1320 Other School Administrator 781.5 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue D: Instructional leaders These four EOYR functions have similar definitions There is no clear crosswalk to specific EPIMS job codes Discuss and respond to these questions- How do you differentiate between these four functions? What are the criteria? The table included in your packet represents our best guess as to which EPIMS job classes are part of these functions. Are there other EPIMS jobs that you include in these functions? What functions do you assign them to? How do you differentiate between EPIMS 1211 and 1212? Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Issue E: District and school information management and technology It’s unclear what staff is associated with each of these functions, and whether they, all or in part, are reported in EPIMS What positions’ salaries do you include in these functions? Function Professional Salaries Other Salaries Clerical Salaries EPIMS Job FTEs 1450 District-wide Info Mgmt & Tech $27,117,549 $17,479,314 $5,452,524 1201 Asst/Deputy Supt 162.9 1224 Director Technology 169.5 6140 Information Services/Tech Support 1,279.1 2250 Admin. Tech (School Level) $13,364,512 $11,357,043 $1,940,417 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Report out Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Wrap-up and next steps Compile and consider your feedback Make recommendations to EDS as needed Refine crosswalk, we may ask for another round of feedback Present final crosswalk and any related COA or EPIMS changes at the annual institute in May Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education