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Education Laws and Regulations

603 CMR 10.00:

School Finance

Section:

  • 10.01: Authority, Scope and Purpose
  • 10.02: Definitions
  • 10.03: Accounting and Reporting: School Districts
  • 10.04: Financial Accounting and Reporting: Other Municipal Departments
  • 10.05: Documentation Requirements
  • 10.06: Annual School Spending Requirements
  • 10.07: Special Education Payments and Reimbursements
  • 10.08: Transportation Reimbursement, Resident Students
  • 10.09: Transportation Reimbursement, School Choice, Homeless and Charter School Students
  • 10.10: Audit Procedures
  • View All Sections

Most recently amended by the Board of Education: June 25, 2013.

10.03: Accounting and Reporting: School Districts

(1) Student Data. Each school district shall adopt and maintain a reliable data collection and retention system in which the student data required by 603 CMR 10.00 shall be recorded. This system shall be the basis for the district's periodic reporting of student data to the Department.

A school district shall record at least the following information for each student enrolled in the district's schools:

  1. (a) identifying information (name, date of birth, parent or guardian);
  2. (b) demographic information, (race, national origin, gender, primary language);
  3. (c) residence information (student and parent(s));
  4. (d) custody/guardianship information;
  5. (e) eligibility for free or reduced price school lunch;
  6. (f) enrollment information (date enrolled; date withdrawn);
  7. (g) grade, school, and classroom assignment;
  8. (h) program enrollment, membership, and personnel, in accordance with 10.03(2);
  9. (i) transportation assignment, if any;
  10. (j) daily attendance record;
  11. (k) structured learning time schedule;
  12. (l) individual education plan (if any);
  13. (m) student assessment results;
  14. (n) transcript;
  15. (o) discipline record

(2) Program Data. Districts shall maintain enrollment, membership, and personnel data, in accordance with the program classification descriptions and reporting criteria set forth in guidelines published by the Department, for each of the following programs operated by the district:

  • Regular education (pre-school – 12)
  • Special education (preschool – 12 and ungraded)
  • English Language Learners
  • Career/Vocational Technical education (secondary and post-secondary)
  • Adult/continuing education
  • Mc Kinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
  • Other programs

When reporting program data to the Department, school districts shall apportion instructional personnel time in accordance with Department guidelines.

(3) Financial Data. Each school district shall adopt and maintain a financial accounting system, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and requirements prescribed by the Commissioner of Revenue, in which all revenue and expenditure data shall be recorded. This system shall be the basis for the district's periodic reporting of financial data to the Department.

  1. (a) Each school district shall utilize a financial accounting system that permits the reporting of all school district expenditures by fund source, object, and function, and permits the reporting of certain costs by program and school. The fund source, object, function, program and school classifications for which reporting shall be required shall be those identified and described with specificity in guidelines published by the Department
  2. (b) In attributing expenditures to a specific reporting category, school districts shall calculate and allocate expenditures in accordance with reporting instructions, formulas, and any special reporting rules set forth in the guidelines published by the Department.

(4) Reporting

  1. (a) Foundation Enrollment and Student Information Every school district shall report to the Department, as of October 1st, data required to determine the district's foundation enrollment and other student information. The data required shall be compiled and reported in accordance with guidelines published by the Department and any supplementary instructions issued by the Department.

  2. (b) School Choice: On or before April 15th of each year, every school district that enrolls non-resident students under the school choice program shall provide to the Department, the school choice enrollment and attendance information required by M.G.L. c. 76, § 12B(e). The required data shall be compiled and reported in accordance with guidelines published by the Department and any supplementary instructions issued by the Department, and shall be utilized to calculate the tuition assessments and payments provided for by M.G.L. c. 76, § 12B.

  3. (c) Charter School: Each charter school shall conduct its pre-enrollment and enrollment processes in accordance with M.G.L. c. 71, § 89, and guidelines issued by the Department. On or before October 15th and March 1st of each year, each charter school shall report to the Department its actual enrollment as of October 1st and February 15th of that year. The data required shall be compiled and reported in accordance with guidelines and any supplementary instructions issued by the Department, and shall be utilized to calculate the tuition assessments and payments provided for by M.G.L. c. 71, § 89.

  4. (d) End-of-Year Financial Report. Each city, town and regional school district shall submit an End-of-Year Financial Report to the Department on or before September 30 of each year. A district's actual expenditure and revenue data of the prior fiscal year and estimated expenditures and revenues of the current fiscal year shall be reported in the form prescribed by the Department, in accordance with the category definitions and reporting criteria set forth in guidelines published by the Department.

    1. Cities, towns and regional school districts shall file any corrections to the annual End-of-Year Financial Report as soon as they become aware of any errors or omissions in the information reported. Such corrections may be filed until June 30 of the next year. Any corrections to the End-of-Year Financial Report so filed are subject to verification by the Department and may be rejected if not supported by proper documentation.
    2. Cities, towns and regional school districts shall file an amendment to the annual End-of-Year Financial Report indicating any supplemental budget action for the current school year. Such amendments shall be filed within 30 days of the vote approving any such supplemental appropriations.
    3. Upon review of a district or municipality's End-of-Year Financial Report, the Department may require submission of supporting documentation in cases of unusually large increases or decreases in actual or estimated expenditures or revenues from the previous reporting period, and may supply its own determination where the documentation is not forthcoming or does not support the expenditures or revenues.

  5. (e) Every school district shall compile and report, in a timely manner, such other student, financial, programmatic and personnel data as the Commissioner or Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall, from time to time, request.

  6. (f) The Commissioner may, at the written request of a school district, extend the time for submission of any report required under 603 CMR 10.03.

  7. (g) At the discretion of the Commissioner, the Department may withhold release of all or some part of a district or municipality's quarterly state school aid if the school district has not filed the reports required under 603 CMR 10.03 in an acceptable form by the required filing deadlines or any extensions of those deadlines granted by the Commissioner.

  8. (h) In instances of gross non-compliance with the reporting requirements set forth in 603 CMR 10.03, the Commissioner may, after giving school district and municipal officials notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct the district's non-compliance with one or more of the reporting requirements set forth in 603 CMR 10.03, impose a financial penalty upon the district as provided for by M.G.L. c. 72, § 6. The Commissioner shall determine the amount of the penalty to be imposed, up to a maximum of one hundred and eightieth of the district's annual M.G.L. c. 70 school aid for each day that the report is overdue.

Disclaimer:
 For an official copy of these regulations, please contact the State House Bookstore, at 617-727-2834 or visit Massachusetts State Bookstore.

Last Updated: July 2, 2013

 
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