400 MARYLAND AVE. SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20202 

www.ed.gov 

The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering 

educational excellence and ensuring equal access

June 28, 2017 

Dear Colleague: 

Thank you for your continued efforts to implement the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). To help facilitate this process 

and ensure a smooth transition to the new law, I am writing to inform you that the U.S. Department of 

Education (Department) will provide State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies 

(LEAs) an additional year to implement the new requirement under Title I, Part A of the ESEA to 

include on annual State and LEA report cards per-pupil expenditures of Federal, State, and local funds 

for each LEA and school for the preceding fiscal year, disaggregated by source. In addition, I would like 

to highlight steps the Department is taking to support SEAs and LEAs in implementing this important 

new requirement. 

Timeline for Implementation 

While the Department recognizes that some SEAs and LEAs are prepared to include per-pupil 

expenditure information on annual report cards for reporting on the 2017-2018 school year, and 

encourages those SEAs and LEAs to move forward with expediency, we recognize that many SEAs and 

LEAs face significant technical challenges associated with meeting this requirement in a timely manner. 

Therefore, consistent with section 4(b) of the ESSA, which authorizes the Department to ensure an 

orderly transition to the new law, an SEA and its LEAs may delay, until the 2018-2019 school year, 

reporting information on per-pupil expenditures of Federal, State, and local funds on annual report cards 

as required under section 1111(h)(1)(C)(x) and (h)(2)(C) of the ESEA. If the SEA elects to delay 

reporting per-pupil expenditures, the SEA and its LEAs must provide on report cards for the 2017-2018 

school year a brief description of the steps the SEA and LEAs are taking to ensure that information on 

per-pupil expenditures will be included beginning with report cards for the 2018-2019 school year. 

The Department anticipates the additional year will allow SEAs and LEAs to update systems and 

processes in a manner that ensures the public has access to accurate and reliable data on school 

spending. In particular, it provides additional time to those SEAs and LEAs who are building statewide 

systems to support school-level reporting of expenditures. Please note, however, that SEAs and LEAs 

are required to disseminate annual State and LEA report cards with all other required information as 

specified in the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, for the 2017-2018 school year. 

Additional Support

The Department recognizes that reporting per-pupil expenditures on State and LEA report cards will 

improve the availability of school spending information to parents, students, teachers, school leaders, 

researchers, and the public. Given the importance of this information, the Department is committed to 

supporting SEAs and LEAs as they move forward with implementation of this requirement. 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Page 2

In the short term, the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center (BSCPC), one of seven national 

content centers supported under cooperative agreements with the Department, is supporting a financial 

transparency working group to provide support and resources to States on their financial transparency 

efforts, including reporting on per-pupil expenditures. Most recently, BSCPC held a webinar that

outlined the per-pupil expenditures reporting requirement and clarified how SEAs and LEAs can meet 

this requirement. Materials from the webinar, and other resources related to financial transparency, can 

be found at http://www.bscpcenter.org/FinancialTransparency.

1 Additionally, the State Support 

Network, a technical assistance initiative offered by the Department, is available to States looking for 

individualized technical assistance or opportunities to participate in communities of practice on topics of 

interest. Information about the State Support Network can be found at

https://statesupportnetwork.ed.gov/. 

In the long term, the Department plans to review and revise non-regulatory guidance on State and LEA 

report cards, including on per-pupil expenditure reporting. The Department also encourages SEAs to 

contact the BSCPC or their regional Comprehensive Centers (see list here) for additional assistance in 

this area. Finally, the National Center for Education Statistics, through its work administering the 

National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) and School District Finance Survey (F-33), will 

continue to support State fiscal coordinators with regular technical assistance, including through the 

administration of the School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS), a school-level reporting pilot, which is 

currently helping States test whether systems and processes are sufficient for accurate statewide 

reporting of expenditure data. 

Thank you for the work that you continue to do for a successful transition to the new law. If you have 

any questions or need additional information, please contact your Office of State Support program 

officer at OSS.[State]@ed.gov (e.g., OSS.Nebraska@ed.gov). 

Sincerely,

/s/

Jason Botel

Acting Assistant Secretary 

cc: State Title I Directors

State Fiscal Coordinators

 

1 This webinar was created by BSCPC, and the Department does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, 

or completeness of the information contained in these materials. This link is being provided for information purposes only. 

The inclusion of these materials is not intended to reflect its importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or 

products or services offered. The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or 

policies of the Department.