FDOE: Florida’s school district data reporting systems are highly regarded and are used as models for other states.
Editor's note: On redefinED last week, Jason Bedrick at the Cato Institute offered suggestions to the Florida Department of Education on improving its financial transparency, including how to make fuller, more accurate per-pupil spending figures easily available to the public. The post drew the following response from the FDOE communications office.
The Florida Department of Education staff is concerned the Cato Institute’s release on financial reporting failed to explore or consider important elements of the Florida financial reporting process. In the process of grading all states, researchers often use a one-size- fits-all research model that does not necessarily accommodate state variation in financial reporting. To validate initial findings, it is appropriate to share the findings with information sources before publication. Below is a summary of available Florida school district finance data.
Transparency Florida
Florida’s school district financial reporting systems for approximately 2.7 million students and over 321,000 full-time employees have long been considered among the best in the nation. With the enactment of the Transparency Florida Act established in Section 215.985, Florida Statutes, by the 2011 Florida Legislature, the FDOE has improved the availability of school district financial data for taxpayers, parents, and education advocates. Governmental agencies, including the FDOE and school districts, provide current budget data and the most recent year’s revenue and expenditure information on their websites. Within the next year, school districts also will provide current-year expenditure information and vendor contract information on a regular basis.
Profiles of Florida School Districts
The Profiles of Florida School Districts – Financial Data is an annual publication that summarizes school district Annual Financial Report data that is available on the department’s webpage at https://www.fldoe.org/fefp/sdafr.asp. The Annual Financial Report presents data at the district level detailing revenue by source and presenting expenditures by fund, function, and object. For ease of use, the FDOE condenses the data, in part, into the profiles publication, which is available at https://www.fldoe.org/fefp/profile.asp. (more…)
by Jason Bedrick
Florida earns high marks for its innovative education reforms and strong academic performance, but its level of financial transparency leaves much to be desired. In a new report from the Cato Institute on financial transparency, the Florida Department of Education earned a D for the data published on its website.
The report, “Cracking the Books: How Well Do State Education Departments Report Public School Spending?”, examines the spending data that all 50 state education departments make available to the public on their websites. The report reveals that very few state education departments provide complete and timely financial data that is understandable to the general public.
As in school, these grades are intended to be informative, not punitive. Since Florida has a record of striving to improve, here are a few ways the FLDOE could be more transparent with its data:
1) Report total per pupil expenditures, not just operating. Half of all state education departments publish total per pupil expenditure (PPE) figures but Florida does not. At present, the FLDOE’s “Financial Profiles of Florida Districts” only includes “current expenditures per UFTE (unweighted full-time equivalent),” which excludes expenditures for capital projects and debt service. While these expenditures are reported separately, citizens looking for the total cost per pupil would have to break out a calculator.
The differences between total and operating PPE can be quite significant. According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (2009-10), Florida’s total PPE was $10,283 on average that year while Florida’s Financial Profiles reported that operating PPE was only $8,578.
Moreover, citizens looking for the change in PPE over time would have to gather the data from multiple reports since the FLDOE does not provide a single chart or table displaying that data. By contrast, the FLDOE does provide a table showing the change in average employee salaries over time.
2) Break down total salary data and publish average employee benefits. (more…)
