ESSA Accounting/Reporting Requirement State of New Jersey ~ Department of Education Office of School Finance NJASBO Professional Development ESSA Accounting/Reporting Requirement December, 2017

New Jersey Department of Education Office of School Finance: Director: Yut’se Thomas Office of Fiscal Policy and Planning Director: Michael Mindlin Planning Associates: Stephanie Gorman Jacqueline Grama Patricia Lagarenne Heather Leary Peter Noehrenberg Montu Patel

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) 2017-18 School Level Reporting Data Collection

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015. NJDOE website (http://www.nj.gov/education/ESSA/ ) has all you need to know about ESSA- For Local Education Agency’s (LEA’s)(refers to school districts, charter schools and renaissance school projects) business offices, the most notable change is the requirement to segregate expenditures charged to the general fund and special revenue funds at the school level for submission to the DOE for reporting purposes.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance ESSA Sec 1111 (h)(1)(c )(x) – A State that receives assistance under this part shall prepare and disseminate widely to the public an annual State report card for the State as a whole that meets the requirements of this paragraph. Each State report card required under this subsection shall include the following information: ……

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance ESSA Sec 1111 (h)(1)(c )(x) – “The per pupil expenditures of Federal, State and Local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and nonpersonnel expenditures of Federal, State and Local funds, disaggregated by source of funds for each LEA and each school in the State for the preceding fiscal year”

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Prior to this regulation, schools reported data (testing) outcomes without any information on their access to financial resources. For the last decade-plus, the federal government has required districts to report student outcomes by school. Spending was the missing piece. Data for school-level spending is now required in order to be able to understand school-level student outcomes in context.

DOE home webpage… Easy Access!

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Possible presentation of school level data on the performance reports: Per Pupil Expenditures from: Total: Federal funds- school level $ 599 State and Local funds- school level 5,099 Federal funds- district expenditure allocated to school 250 State and Local funds- district expenditure allocated to school 7,500 $ 13,448

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Who has to comply with the school level reporting requirement? Everyone must comply! Regardless of the amount of ESSA grant funds- Regardless of LEA type (includes CSSD’s, ESC’s and Voc’s) Single-school districts and charter schools do not have to segregate expenditures by school as we will calculate report card from Audsum submission. Former Abbott districts using Fund 15- no change in their data submission to the DOE.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How will the DOE collect data? Unaudited school level expenditure data will be collected via a new tab in Audsum (beginning 2017-18). This school expenditure tab will open data collection tables for each school identified with the district. Such data will be entered by the School Business Administrator (SBA) and submitted to the DOE after data is entered and the district certifies such data via Audsum.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How will the DOE collect data? Data will be unaudited, and will be tested to match audited budgetary basis statements data entry (Schedule C-1 of the CAFR) once the LEA activity has been certified by Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Data field screens for school level data must be completed prior to SBA certification of Audsum. Must be done before CAFR due date, or December 5, 2018. (hint--prepare schedules in advance)

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Note that the sum of the expenditures entered here will be tested to match the total audited budgetary basis statements submitted by the CPA. 8. Unallocated District expenditures

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: As of today, we are still awaiting regulatory guidance from the US Department of Education. Until then--- Statute says “The per pupil expenditures of Federal, State and Local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and nonpersonnel expenditures of Federal, State and Local funds , disaggregated by source of funds for each LEA and each school in the State for the preceding fiscal year” therefore…..

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Begin segregating expenditures by school as soon as possible. (current fiscal year) Applicable for all function codes 100-223 and 240 in all funds. School segregation can happen “off-line”- does not need to be part of the Board Secretary Report! Method of recording school level expenditures is a LEA decision pending payroll system, accounting software, staffing, etc.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Software vendors received instruction to allow for chart of account school code appendix last Spring. Some allocation issues, such as segregating PO’s is a vendor specific issue- check with vendor for assistance. Benefits will be allocated by the DOE- no need for LEA’s to allocate benefits. Total benefit expenditures will be allocated to each school based on the salary reported in each school by the LEA.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Expenditures that are not readily identifiable to a school shall be reviewed at the end of the year to see if costs can be distributed to school level at the end of the year. District can determine procedures to further allocate such costs. Procedures and calculations are not subject to financial audit, but should be well documented and retained in the event of an inquiry from the program or grant office.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Examples- Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), Child Study Teams (CST), substitutes, or the like. May wish to allocate CST based on elementary, middle or high school as served. May wish to allocate OT/PT based on location of students served. May wish to allocate Home Instruction at end of year when students served are identified.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Examples- Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), Child Study Teams (CST), substitutes, or the like. (continued) May want to allocate substitutes across all schools as needed. May wish to perform a year end allocation of staff that float among buildings, based on percentage of time assigned to each building. (such as PT/OT/Speech)

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Any “unallocated” expenditures reported to the DOE will be distributed equitably as district-wide expense. All other district level costs reported in cost centers 230 and 250 and above will be allocated in an approved manner to be determined. (such as via ADE or equally across buildings)

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Possible presentation of school level data on the performance reports: Per Pupil Expenditures from: Total: Federal funds- school level $ 599 State and Local funds- school level 5,099 Federal funds- district expenditure allocated to school 250 State and Local funds- district expenditure allocated to school 7,500 $ 13,448

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) The DOE will allocate other district expenditures such as the Superintendent cost center, facility costs and transportation costs equitably across each school. May be fixed amount for each school, may be based on ADE in each school, awaiting further guidance. The DOE will calculate per pupil cost based on ADE reported by the LEA.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance How to allocate data: (continued) Whatever allocation method district implements must be used consistently year to year for Title I Supplement-not-Supplant measures. If LEA decides to change allocation method for whatever reason, prior year school level expenditures reports shall be restated.

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Resources: http://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/af/ See first two bullets

ESSA 2017-18 School Level Reporting Compliance Questions? Comments? doecafr@doe.state.nj.us Remember- Regulatory Guidance is forthcoming from USDE. We will be in communication with ECBO’s and ASBO as we receive information.