Ensuring Equity and Adequacy of Fiscal Resources

Financial Information (per pupil)

Data source: In$ite®

What you are looking at

The In$ite financial reporting system breaks down all school-level expenditures into the four major categories indicated in bold in the key at the lower left-hand of this field. The first bar graph shows the allocation of all school expenditures that include every school program, such as Special Education and Vocational Education. The bar graph just below shows the state average for that school’s level: elementary, middle, or high. The state average is not a recommended standard or ideal, but merely an anchor for the purposes of comparison. The table at the lower right shows the per pupil expenditure in each program.

What you are looking for

You are looking to get a sense of how your school allocates its resources. Expenditures might reflect the especially high or low challenges of the children in the building or educational decisions that require a different-than-average investment, such as a full-time social worker for Instructional Support.

Per-pupil Expenditures (By Program)

All expenditure dollars on the school and district charts are expressed as a per-pupil figure. These per-pupil expenditures are based on the Average Daily Membership (ADM) of students. In previous years, per-pupil expenditures were calculated on a full-time equivalency (FTE) basis. A student attending kindergarten half-time, for example, was counted as 1/2, or 0.5, FTEs. We now calculate In$ite data on a head-count basis. Each enrolled student is counted as a full student when we calculated per-pupil expenditures.

In$ite’s school-to-school, district-to-district comparisons

Each school district in Rhode Island uses its own accounting systems and will probably continue to do so. Differing systems make specific district-to-district or school-to-school comparisons impossible, obscuring any clear understanding of the state’s education finances as a whole. In$ite does not replace an accounting system, but is designed to be a reporting tool that aids fiscal management. As a relational database, In$ite brings managerial accounting capabilities to the education field. In$ite is a management aid that provides decision-makers with relevant, timely, and user-friendly information that can illuminate how schools might become more efficient and productive.

In$ite category structure and definitions

Classroom teachers

Includes: Salaries and related employment costs for teachers who interact with pupils face-to-face; classroom, hospital and homebound teachers; cost of third-party instructional services for district students (e.g., advanced college courses or specialized classes provided by another district); the cost of travel for hospital, homebound and itinerant teachers; only the teaching portion of an expenditure for department chairpersons who also teach; driver education teachers if taught during normal school hours, offered without a fee and restricted to students (otherwise code to Extracurricular); music instruction (e.g., band) that is taught during the day as part of the curriculum, and tutoring (e.g., SAT, ESL); school-to-career staff, if doing face-to-face teaching

Excludes: nurse teachers even if face-to-face teaching occurs; school-to-career staff involved in placement (code to Guidance and Counseling); teachers working with classroom teachers (code to Staff Development)

Substitute teachers

Includes: teachers substituting for other teachers unless the reason is staff development (code to Staff Development)

Excludes: teachers substituting because of staff development; substitutes not in the classroom (e.g., Library, Cafeteria Monitor) (Code as appropriate)

Paraprofessionals

Includes: paraprofessionals who spend the majority of their time in the classroom or with the teacher

Excludes: One-on-one paraprofessionals whose primary responsibility is that of physical attendants (code to Therapists); non-instructional paraprofessionals, aides and graders of student work (code to In-Service, Staff Development and Support)

Classroom technology

Includes: technology and software that pupils use; salaries and related employment costs of staff who are dedicated to support technology instruction, pupil-use network management, or computer lab support personnel; expenditures for dedicated telephone lines, maintenance and repair, and service contracts; purchases and/or lease payments for pupil-use computer equipment

Excludes: Technology instruction (code to Face-to-face Teaching); technology instruction of professional and support staff (code appropriately); technology and software for purposes other than pupil-use (code appropriately); printer, paper, ribbons, diskettes, etc. (code to Instructional Materials)

Classroom materials

Includes: the cost of instructional materials and supplies; staff dedicated to managing the selection of those materials and supplies including textbooks, paper, lab materials, test forms, workbooks, chalk, markers, maps and charts; all classroom instructional equipment other than pupil-use computer equipment; tests; field trips that are instruction related; equipment used for presentations by master teachers; televisions dedicated to the classroom; equipment used for distance learning instruction; salaries and employment costs of staff that manage classroom materials

Excludes: test-related research and development and the personnel involved in that process (code to Curriculum Development); non-instructional trips (e.g., band, glee club) (Code to Extracurricular); projectors, video players, video-conferencing equipment, TVs mounted in classroom (code to Library and Media)