Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Guidance Relating to the ESSA School-Level Reporting
Who is required to comply?
All districts, charter schools, and renaissance school projects, regardless of amount of Federal Funding received, must comply with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reporting of school-level expenditures which will be included as a data point on the school performance report. Please be aware that any school district and charter schools operating under a single school structure (one school code per Local Education Agency [LEA]), is required to enter additional data beyond the CPA certified information.
What law governs this new reporting requirement?
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:
“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.”
Why is school-level reporting needed?
Data for school-level spending is required in order to provide fiscal information alongside school- level student outcomes. Prior to this regulation, schools reported data (testing) outcomes without any information on their access to financial resources. Data collected is used for the supplement-not-supplant calculation for Title I and published as part of the NJ School Performance Reports.
When is this requirement effective?
Beginning with the 2018-19 fiscal year, the NJDOE is required to comply with the federal requirement to publicly report school-level fiscal data as part of the School Performance Reports.
How districts should allocate the expenditure
The following table expands upon accounting guidance provided to districts. That guidance provided instructions to record and report certain actual expenditure data for each school maintained by the district. In accordance with ESSA reporting requirements, the NJDOE identified the specific general ledger function codes required for school-level accounting and reporting.
Guidance Relating to the ESSA School-Level Reporting
To provide school districts with maximum flexibility in reporting their school based expenditures, districts further allocate costs to individual schools beyond the allocations performed in their general ledger through a data entry table available in the Audit Summary (Audsum) web application. For example, a district that accounts for Special Programs (2XX) in a centralized school location but charges school code “000” (unallocated) in their general ledger may elect to allocate those costs for purposes of
ESSA reporting to individual schools through a data entry table in Audsum. To maintain the disaggregation required for ESSA reporting, any amounts remaining in school level accounts as “unallocated/000” of the data entry table will appear in the summary ESSA report as “School-Level Expenditures Not Assigned to a School.”
Fund 15 School Based Budget reporting districts should be aware that, for purposes of general ledger maintenance, the school-based accounting requirements of ESSA are met thorough the fund 15 accounting process. However, school districts maintaining fund 15 accounting will be offered the opportunity through a data entry table provided through Audsum to also allocate fund 11 expenditures to specific schools (for example, 11-000-216-XXX- Speech/OT/PT).
Fund 20 expenditures are collected in line item detail and included in the data entry table provided through Audsum. Inclusive of all Title Grants, IDEA grant, and other Federal Projects, school districts are offered the opportunity to further allocate district level costs to individual schools through this Audsum table. Please be aware that out-of-district preschool and non-public expenditures do not need to be reported at the school level.
The school-level expenditure data provided to the NJDOE through Audsum will not be included in the audited financial statement; however, the sum of the direct and indirect school-level expenditures reported through Audsum will be compared to the audited district expenditures on the budgetary basis (actual expenditures from Schedule C-1) prior to submission to the NJDOE.
Advice regarding select Cost Centers is shown in the table on the following pages.
Guidance Relating to the ESSA School-Level Reporting
| Fund-Program- Function-Object Codes | Function Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 11-1XX-1XX- XXX | Instruction | Instruction costs include the activities involving the interaction between teachers and students in grades K-12. Instructional costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If teachers cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-150-100- XXX | Home Instruction | Home instruction costs, as defined in N.J.A.C. 6A:16-1.3 and 6A:16-10.1 and .2, are recorded under program 150. Instructional costs should be linked to each school based on tracking which of their students are receiving home instruction. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-2XX-100- XXX | Special Education | Special Education costs include activities primarily for students having special needs that require services outside the realm of general education. Districts that have structured their general and subsidiary ledgers to report data at the school locations where the services are delivered may elect to report those costs at the location(s) as recorded in their general ledger. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-2XX- XXX | Support Services | Support services provide administrative, technical (such as guidance and health), and logistical support to facilitate and enhance instruction. These activities are designed to assess and improve the well-being of students and to supplement the teaching process. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-422-XXX- XXX | Summer School | Includes Summer school instruction and support services. Districts with structured general and subsidiary ledgers which report data at the school locations where the services are delivered may elect to report those costs at the location(s) as recorded in their general ledger. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-211- XXX | Attendance & Social Work Services | Includes activities designed to improve student attendance at school and which seek to prevent or solve student problems. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-213- XXX | Health Services | Includes physical and mental health services that are not direct instructional costs. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-216- XXX | Speech/Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy and Related Services | Includes costs of related services as a result of individualized education programs (IEPs). Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-217- XXX | Other Support Services-Students- Extraordinary | Includes services other than related services provided to students as a result of an IEP that are unique to individual students such as one-to-one aides. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-218- XXX | Guidance Services | Includes guidance services and any other activities, supplemental to the teaching process, that are designed to assess and improve the well-being of students other than functions 211, 213, 216, 217 and 219. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-219- XXX | Child Study Teams | Includes services provided by child study team members, including psychologist, social workers, learning consultants, and speech-language specialists, along with other services related to the classification of students and the development of IEPs. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-221- XXX | Improvement of Instruction Services | Includes activities primarily for assisting instructional staff in planning, developing, and evaluating the process of providing learning experiences for students. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-222- XXX | Educational Media Services/ School Library | Includes activities concerned with the use of School Library, all teaching and learning resources, including hardware and content materials. Includes school library services, audiovisual services, educational television services, and computer assisted instruction services. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-223- XXX | Instructional Staff Training Services | Includes activities that contribute to the professional or occupational growth and competence of members of the instructional staff during the time of their service. Costs should be identified to each school based on the actual activity performed at each location. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-230- XXX | Support Services- General Administration | Activities concerned with establishing and administering policy for operating the LEA. These include board of education services and executive administration services. These costs will be treated as district-level program costs which will be included with other district-level central expenditures. |
| 11-000-240- XXX | Support Services- School Administration | Includes activities concerned with overall administrative responsibility for a school. They include the activities performed by the principal, assistant principals, and other assistants while they supervise operations of the school, evaluate school staff members, supervise and maintain the records of the school and coordinate school instructional activities with those of the LEA. Also included here would be the activities of department directors such as guidance, athletic, and special education. If staff cross program categories, their salaries and benefits should be prorated based on the time spent in each program. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 11-000-251- XXX | Central Services | Includes activities that support other administrative and instructional functions including fiscal services, human resources, strategic planning, purchasing, warehousing and distribution services, and printing services including public information services. The chief business official expenditures are included here. These costs will be treated as district-level program costs which will be included with other district-level central expenditures. |
| 11-000-252- XXX | Administrative Information Technology | Includes activities concerned with supporting the school district’s information technology systems, including supporting administrative networks, maintaining administrative information systems, and processing data for administrative and managerial purposes. These costs will be treated as district-level program costs which will be included with other district-level central expenditures. |
| 11-000-26X (261, 262, 263, 266)- XXX | Operation & Maintenance of Plant Services | Includes activities concerned with keeping the physical plant open, comfortable, and safe for use, and keeping the grounds, buildings, and equipment in effective working condition. Includes security, custodial, and grounds. These costs will be treated as district-level program costs which will be included with other district-level central expenditures. |
| 11-000-291-XXX | Benefits-Unallocated | Districts will allocate benefit costs to a school if they are able to readily identify such costs accordingly. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 12-XXX-XXX-730 | Equipment | Districts will allocate capital outlay for equipment purchases to a school if they are able to readily identify such costs accordingly. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
| 20-XXX-XXX-XXX | All Title Grants, IDEA Grants | Includes activities pursuant to the approved grant directive. Costs are reported in line item expenditure detail for the school year in the same account codes as required pursuant to grant regulations. Any costs not reported to a location by a district will be considered unallocated. |
How NJDOE will collect the data
- School-level fiscal data is collected in Audsum for the purpose of reporting a school-level per pupil cost in the performance report required under ESSA Sec 1111(h)(1)(c)(x), and for ESSA compliance monitoring of supplement-not-supplanting under Title I.
- Single school districts, charter schools and renaissance school projects do not have to report data in a separate schedule. The school-level report card for single entities will be calculated from the auditor’s district-wide submission. Charter Schools should ensure the data is compliant with the chart of accounts required for audited data submission which is different than their budget data submission.
- Districts have a tab in their Audsum tables which will open a screen for data entry per school. This school screen looks like the district-level data entry screen but has separate columns for distributing school-level costs to individual locations. A table summarizing all school-level data entry will be available for final review, and to test data entry against the audited financial information per line.
- For districts not using fund 15 school-level, data is not required on the Board Secretary Reports or the CAFR schedules, nor are transfers required for school to school adjustments. Blending federal funds is also not necessary. Districts may record the school-level expenditures in any effective manner they desire, however the data must be entered to Audsum under the location code assigned to the school by the NJDOE.
- The school-level data submitted to the NJDOE through Audsum is unaudited data. Edits will ensure that the sum of the data collected for each school plus the unallocated amounts will equal the audited Audsum values per line. Per-pupil calculation will use the district submitted school-level expenditure and the October 15 ASSA student count or the ADE submitted for the school.