U46 officials concerned some parents may misinterpret new financial data in state report cards

Jul. 17--School-specific spending will be part of new data families at School District U46 and other schools will see on the state-issued school report cards this fall.

The report cards from the Illinois State Board of Education -- created for both schools and school districts -- will include financial data on per-pupil spending and expenditures for each school. In preparation, U46 officials previewed the changes to the school board Monday night.

Sixty locations in U46 will get unique data specific to the school or program, said Robyn Cornelissen, financial controller for U46. The 60 sites include the U46 schools, the Dream Academy, the district's four preschool programs, and others.

The financial data will inform families on how and why a school allocates its funding. The requirement comes from the state as part of the federal mandate under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal law overseeing U.S. education. The data will report per-pupil spending, personnel expenditures like teacher salaries, and non-personnel spending in an effort to improve school accountability and transparency in its finances.

"We're just going to use the numbers to tell the story," Cornelissen said.

Each school's report card will include a narrative explaining the spending, and each narrative will be different, said Cornelissen. Combined together, the narrative and the financial data will help families understand a number of items, such as why one school may spend more per student than another or why elementary schools spend differently than secondary schools and vice versa.

Board member Melissa Owens anticipates a learning curve for families to understand the financial data. Context will be key in explaining the differences in spending among schools inside and outside U46, she said.

"People will just look at the (per-pupil) number," added board president Sue Kerr. "A $14,000 (per-pupil) number versus $12,000 -- well, that means each kid is getting $2,000 more for education in this school (versus the other). And that's not the case."

Cornelissen said it will be more difficult for larger districts like U46 to explain the data and spending to families, as there will be more than four dozen schools to compare and contrast. One of the items to address in the rollout is a communications plan between the schools and families to understand the financial data, Cornelissen added.

The district is working on compiling the school-specific data to send to the state in mid-August, said Cornelissen. The state report cards are scheduled to come out in the fall.

raguerrero@tribpub.com

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