State of Iowa

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as reauthorized by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires all state education agencies and local education agencies to report school-level per pupil expenditure data. Department staff worked with districts across the state and the Department's School-Level Reporting Advisory to develop and implement Statewide School-Level Financial Coding Practices beginning with FY19 reporting. FY19 (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019) reflects spending during the 2018 - 2019 school year.

The state level per pupil amounts, while informative, provide an incomplete framework in which to understand statewide expenditure levels. A wide range of per pupil expenditure values exist as the result of a multitude of district and school differences statewide. Some of these differences include enrollment, geography, salary schedules, teacher tenure, programming, additionally funded programs, local coding practices, and additional revenue sources. Examples of revenue variances may include local, state, or federal grants and payments (e.g., Early Literacy Implementation, Title funding, Perkins funding, and National School Lunch Program); local tax levies (e.g., Cash Reserve Levy, Physical Plant & Equipment Levy, and Management Fund Levy); transportation fees or equity payments; enterprise operations (e.g., construction program); funding for specially funded programs (e.g., special education and English Language Learners); operational sharing; tax payments (e.g., property tax payments); enrollment make-up (e.g., tuition-in or tuition-out students); student activity program; and donations from private sources. A broader look at statewide differences may be found in the document titled “Per Pupil Expenditure Amounts in Context”.