1. End of Year Report: Proposed Changes for FY17 and FY18
April 13, 2017
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

2. Agenda Introduction (5 min.) EOYR-EPIMS alignment (20 min.)
More detailed grant spending (5 min.)
Contract survey (15 min.)
More useful PD spending (10 min.)
Next steps (5 min.)
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

3. The Department has been collecting district finance data for many years.
This data serves several purposes, but of late there’s been growing demand to provide better data back to districts.
For districts: how do we know we’re getting the best outcomes for kids in an efficient way? Compared to our peers? What resource allocation models work best?
For state and local policymakers: Are our investments making a difference? Are they sufficient? What does it cost to educate certain subgroups?
For the public: Are our tax dollars being invested well? Equitably? Efficiently? Compared to our neighbors?
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

4. Our goal is to improve finance data by making it:
More detailed – there are specific kinds of questions, of interest to district leaders and state policymakers, that cannot be fully answered using our current data set
More comparable – the clarity and detail of our current guidance on how to report on the EOYR varies across types of spending. Some parts are quite detailed, and others offer a lot more flexibility, which makes using the data to compare across districts challenging and of limited utility
More actionable - our current data is compliance-focused and has not been updated to reflect current education practices
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

5. Short term Steps FY17 & FY18 EOYR
Involve clarifying and aligning data definitions, and modest EOYR changes
Planning and review work to make these changes between now and May 2017
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

6. Planned EOYR Changes, FY17 & FY18
Based on internal discussions and feedback from you, we’re planning to make the following clarifications and changes.
Clarification
FY17
EPIMS/EOYR Crosswalk
Improve/Create definitions for certain EPIMS job classes
Proposed to DESE Education Data Services Team
Add
Collect full expenditure detail for Title I and IDEA grants in Schedules 1 & 3
Survey schedule to collect data primarily on teacher contracts
Change
FY18
Combine functions related to curriculum directors, department heads and instructional coordinators into 1 or 2 functions
Combine classroom and specialist teachers into 1 function
Add/Change
Eliminate all currently reported PD functions, except PD leadership, and replace with new PD functions
Separate reporting of expenditures for long-term substitutes from short-term (daily) substitutes
FY19
Revise technology expenditure functions: On hold while more research is done
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

7. EOYR-EPIMS Alignment This crosswalk is a guide to support reporting that districts can move to adopt over time
Improve alignment between the two systems
Update guidance for both EOYR and EPIMS
Improve data quality: Add validations to EOYR
Improve comparability
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

8. EOYR-EPIMS Alignment FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
There are several functions in the End of Year Report where districts makes different reporting choices.
Expenditures in those areas are less comparable statewide.
We’re proposing reducing the number of functions we collect to make the state data more useful. You may decide that data is useful locally and therefore continue to organize your local reporting that way.
The following section outlines the proposed changes.
An updated COA with revised language will be available in July.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

9. EOYR-EPIMS Alignment FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
Because the definitions are so similar, reduce functions related to curriculum directors, department heads and instructional coordinators to 1-2 functions
2110
Curriculum Directors (Supervisory)
Change to Curriculum Directors & Dept Heads
Report former 2120, 2220 and 2315 in 2110
Record expenditures for Curriculum Directors (2110) and Department Heads by program (e.g. Regular Day) and object (e.g. Professional Salaries). Include salaries and expenses for managers responsible for delivery of student instructional programs at all levels (district and school), regardless of supervisory role. This should correspond to EPIMS job codes 1211 through 1223, 1312 and 1320.
2120
Department Heads (Non-Supervisory) possibly remove from COA
2220
Curriculum/Dept Leaders (School Level) remove from COA
2315
Instructional Coordinators (Non-Supervisory) remove from COA
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

10. EOYR-EPIMS Alignment FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
Classroom and Specialist Teachers mean different things in the EOYR and in EPIMS
It’s clear that districts interpret this category in different ways that make comparisons difficult
For all state purposes, those two functions are added together, so we’re proposing to report all teachers in one category
2305
Classroom Teachers
Change to “Teachers”
Record expenditures for salaries of certified teachers, including all in-service days.  Include all stipends paid to teachers that relate to providing instruction. Stipends related to non-teaching functions (e.g. athletics coaches, clubs should not be included here.) This should correspond with EPIMS job codes
2310
Specialist Teachers Remove from COA
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

11. EOYR-EPIMS Alignment FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
Long term subs are collected in EPIMS; all other subs are not
The EOYR tracks subs as all one category (except for PD, see PD recommendation)
If long term subs were tracked separately, they could be lined up with EPIMS data and potentially factored into average teacher salaries
2324
Long Term Substitutes New
Record expenditures for long term substitutes who cover extended absences or vacant positions (30 days or greater).
This should correspond to EPIMS job code 2325 (EPIMS definition: An individual temporarily assigned to a specific teaching assignment for a minimum of 30 days.)
2325
Substitutes, Short Term Revised
Record expenditures for substitutes who provide daily coverage (less than 30 days). Do not include personnel who are reported as long term subs in EPIMS.
When a person has left or is on a long-term leave involving a no pay period some SBO's charge the long-term substitute to the absent teachers pay line. We need to provide some guidance on this because we want the salary reported as long-term sub to match EPIMS
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

12. Collect More Detailed Grant Spending Reporting Title I and IDEA expenditures
Current report format combines reporting of federal grant expenditures
Looking to collect more detail on largest federal titles
Starting with FY17 EOYR, will add additional columns to Schedules 3 and 1 C.2 to disaggregate Title I (FC 305) and IDEA (FC 240) at the school and district levels
Other ESE administered federal grants will be aggregated in a single column
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

13. Add a EOY Schedule focused on collecting teacher contract detail
A survey-style schedule to collect key contract data starting with the FY17 EOYR
ESE collects contracts, but it is difficult to extract information from these documents
The survey will:
Be short
Collect key metrics
Be collected annually, questions may rotate or vary
Collect information that is now gathered informally
Provide comparable information
Based on your earlier feedback, we have developed a draft survey
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

14. Collect more useful spending data on professional development FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
Keep
2351 PD Leadership
Eliminate
2353 Instructional Staff‐PD Days
Reporting is not consistent, PD spending requirement is no longer in force. Teachers’ salary should be reported in “Teachers”
2355 Substitutes for PD
Reporting is not consistent. PD spending requirement is no longer in force. All subs should be reported in “Substitutes, Short Term”
2357 PD Stipends, Providers, Expenses
Combines several kinds of spending that we’d like to disaggregate.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

15. Collect more useful spending data on professional development FY18 Chart of Accounts Changes
Add
2352 Instructional Coaches
Report expenditures for the salary and expenses of staff whose primary function is to provide instructional coaching to teachers. This should correspond to EPIMS job code 2330.
2354 Stipends for teachers providing instructional coaching
Report expenditures for stipends paid to teachers who act as instructional coaches, master teachers, mentor teachers, or who otherwise deliver in-district professional development, in addition to their primary instructional responsibilities.
2356 Costs for instructional staff to attend professional development
Report expenditures for teachers and instructional support staff to participate in  professional development, both inside and  outside the district, including stipends, tuition reimbursements, and registration fees.
2358 Outside professional development providers
Report expenditures for outside professional development providers to deliver training to district staff, includes object codes 04, 05, and 06.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

16. Next steps Continue to refine changes based on today’s feedback
Present at the Law Institute in April
Consolidate and update EOYR guidance
Final changes will be presented at the Annual Institute in May
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education