NYS SCHOOL FUNDING TRANSPARENCY FORM
Beginning with the 2018-19 school year, Education Law §3614, which was passed by the Legislature and became law as Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2018 requires school districts to “annually submit to the commissioner of the State Education Department and the director of the budget … a detailed statement of the total funding allocation for each school in the district for the upcoming school budget year” in a “form developed by the director of the budget, in consultation with the commissioner of the State Education Department.” The New York State School Funding Transparency Form is the outcome of this process.
Based on existing financial information that school districts already report to the State Education Department on a district-wide basis, the form seeks to capture school districts’ methodologies and/or rationales for school-level funding determinations, including funding from State, local, and federal sources. In addition, the form surveys school districts’ projected centralized district costs, school-level student and staff information, school-level allocations for various programs, and, if applicable, school-level allocations under any locally implemented funding formula.
Source: NYS Division of Budget
The above requirement requires the district to report its funding information to NYS on a prospective basis, meaning it is reported on budgeted, not actual, dollars. As a result, this report includes all the estimates that are included in preparing the budget.
Click here for the latest School Funding Transparency Report
EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT (ESSA) FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY REPORTING
In December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law as the successor to the No Child Left Behind Act enacted in the early 2000s, as amended by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Among a multitude of changes to the education landscape resulting from this federal legislation was the creation of a new financial transparency reporting requirement, whereby all local education agencies (LEAs) would annually provide information about: “the per-pupil expenditures of Federal, State, and local funds, including actual personnel expenditures and actual nonpersonnel expenditures of Federal, State, and local funds, disaggregated by source of funds, for each local education agency and each school in the State for the preceding fiscal year.” (Public Law 114-95, 129 STAT. 1802)
Source: NYSED
The above requirement requires the district to report its funding information to NYS and the federal government. The data reported is for the latest completed fiscal year, meaning the report includes actual expenditures.
Click here for the latest ESSA Report