You asked several questions about when and how student data is collected for state and federal education grants. The questions and answers are listed separately below.

School districts report student data to an online database called the Public School Information System (PSIS) administered by the State Department of Education (SDE). This is a statewide electronic data collection system designed to help districts comply with state and federal reporting requirements, improve school-to-school and district-to-district information exchanges, and maintain data confidentiality. Local school districts and preschool programs that receive state or federal funding are required to participate in the PSIS (CGS §10-10a).

The student data used for state and federal grants depends on the particular grant. According to Lynn Nauss of SDE's Grants Management Division, most state and federal education grants use the PSIS enrollment data, but some do not. For example, federal Title I grants, which help school districts educate low-income children, have a distribution formula that includes Census Bureau estimates of the numbers of low-income students in each town. The state's priority school district grants are based on town population, also provided by the Census. Grant distribution formulas are specified in the statutes that establish each state and federal grant.

Data submitted by local school districts is subject to local and state audits as part of local district financial reporting and grant monitoring by the state and federal governments (see Question 8 below). Local districts' annual data reports are also reviewed by the State Department of Education's Office of Internal Audit. As part of the required independent audit of information reported in the PSIS and in annual financial reporting required at the end of each school year, SDE procedures require auditors to review the district's supporting documentation and to review the data's reasonableness using SDE's analysis of data trends for the district (State Department of Education, Review Package for Form ED001, ED001 PC ISI Data Adjustment Forms, Form ED006S, and PSIS Data Elements, 2005-06 (revised August 2006), p. 6).

By law, school districts are required to report data for students enrolled in their public schools as of October 1, or the last full school day immediately preceding October 1, each year. The deadline for entering the information into the PSIS is usually about two weeks after that date. For example for 2006-07, since October 1, 2006 was a Sunday, the enrollment data was as of September 29 and the filing deadline was October 16.

Special education grants, which reimburse school districts for a portion of their actual special education costs, require two counts per year, one in December, when school districts apply for their annual reimbursements and one in March, when a district can apply for reimbursement for any additional special education students.

The SDE also takes two other “snapshots” of school enrollment in January and June each year, but uses these counts only for research and not to allocate grants.

As noted above, the student counts for federal Title I grants to school districts are based on U. S. Census Bureau estimates. The SDE receives those counts from the U. S. Education Department, not local school districts. A description of the requirements for Title I student counts can be found in OLR Report 2006-R-0620 (copy attached).

The enrollment count used for most state and federal grants is the October 1 count described above. That is the time when adjustments in enrollment are made for grant purposes. Grants are based on the enrollment count for the year prior to the year in which the grant is paid, so for example, a grant for the 2006-07 school year would be based on the enrollment count from October 1, 2005.

No. Since most grants are based on the preceding year's enrollment count, for those grants, the impact of any child who withdraws between October 2 and the following October 1 would be reflected in the same grant. The special education grants are reimbursement grants and are adjusted through the year based on actual special education costs.

As already mentioned, school districts that receive state and federal education grants are subject to state and federal audits, which require that local school district have annual audits performed by independent certified public accountants. These audits are then subject to review by the Office of Policy and Management and the State Department of Education for state grants and by the federal Office of Management and Budget and the U. S. Education Department for federal grants. In addition, most state education grants have separate reporting and monitoring requirements. A more detailed description of accountability requirements for state education grants can be found in OLR Report 2002-R-0897, copy attached. Federal and state audit requirements and instructions can also be found in this letter to school district business officials from Ray Inzero of the SDE's Internal Audit Division (copy attached).

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