State to finalize school-level financial reporting

State education officials received one comment at an Oct. 11 public hearing in Lewes seeking input on standardized financial reporting for all Delaware schools.

Chuck Longfellow, Delaware Department of Education operations support team associate secretary, said Delaware has previously required districts to report education spending.

S.B. 172, signed into law Aug. 29 to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, requires states to report per-pupil, school-level expenses.

“Senate Bill 172 was adopted to increase school funding transparency and provide comparable statewide financial data to use in policy-making decisions,” Longfellow said.

By December 2018, the Department of Education will create a standardized report that categorizes expenses, defines the method of determining student enrollment counts and allows for spending comparisons among schools. Data for the 2018-19 school year will be released in December 2019.

During the public hearing, Delaware School Board Association Executive Director John Marinucci gave the only public comment.

Marinucci suggested education officials consider using information compiled by the Data Service Center, a state agency that helps school districts with data collection and reporting, and that school districts should have input on allocation percentages of various administrative costs.

Public hearings were also held in Dover and New Castle.