Massachusetts Charter Schools

2020 Claim Form Reporting

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's school finance regulations require Commonwealth charter schools report enrollment as of February 15th of each year. This reporting represents the final claim period for fiscal year 2020 and is used to determine each school's final, June tuition payment. When February 15th falls on a weekend, the reporting date will be the next business day. In 2020, enrollment should be reported as of February 17, 2020.

The claim form workbook is available for download from the Charter School Claim Form Drop Box at https://gateway.edu.state.ma.us. The file is named 20febxxxx.xls, where "xxxx" is the school's four digit LEA. Inside each workbook users will find several tools to assist them in data reporting. There is an instruction sheet, a FAQ (frequently asked questions) sheet, a Certification Form, as well as the main document, the claim form.

The submission deadline for the claim form is 5:00 p.m. Monday, March 2, 2020. Any charter school that fails to submit their claim form by this date and time may be subject to the withholding of their March 31, 2020 tuition payment.

Please keep in mind the following requirements when completing this critical data submission:

• Any pupil that has been enrolled at any time, and for any length of time, since the first day of school through February 17th, must be included on the claim form;
• As many data fields on the claim form are not collected by SIMS, data from the FY19 charter school database and the October 2019 sibling claim will be provided, where available. The school is responsible for verifying the accuracy of all pupil data, as well as providing the remainder of the information; and
• The claim form submission is considered incomplete without the concurrent submission of a signed, original Certification Form attesting to the accuracy of the data submitted. The signed, original Certification Form should be submitted via postal mail to:

Hadley Cabral Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
School Finance Office
75 Pleasant Street
Malden, Massachusetts 02148

If you have any questions, I may be reached at (781) 338-6586 or by email.