Dear Colleague Letter on Per-Pupil Expenditures – June 28, 2017
The U.S. Department of Education released this letter to inform state and local education agencies that an additional year will be granted to implement per-pupil expenditure information on annual report cards. Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act, requires state and local education agency report cards to include information on per-pupil expenditures, disaggregated by federal, state, and local funds. This information must be provided for each local education agency and school for the preceding fiscal year.
Instead of being implemented for the 2017-2018 school year, state and local education agencies will have the option to instead implement this provision in the 2018-2019 school year. For states that choose to delay implementation to 2018-2019, report cards in 2017-2018 must provide a brief description of the steps being taken to ensure this information will be included in report cards beginning in 2018-2019. For support, state and local education agencies can look to the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center for resources on financial transparency.