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Frequently Asked Questions ESSA PPE Reporting

Frequently asked questions regarding the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE) reporting requirement.

General Questions

  1. What is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) per-pupil expenditure (PPE) reporting requirement? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  2. Are all local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools, required to report ESSA PPE data?
  3. When were LEAs required to start reporting ESSA PPE data? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  4. What is the due date for reporting the ESSA PPE data to the CDE? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  5. Do LEAs report ESSA PPE data via the School Accountability Report Card (SARC)? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  6. How do LEAs report ESSA PPE data to the CDE? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  7. Is there guidance available to assist LEAs with the ESSA PPE reporting requirement? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  8. Does the ESSA PPE information need to be approved by the LEA’s school board?
  9. Are there any plans to collect the per-pupil expenditure data through the Standardize Account Code Structure (SACS) Web System? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  10. Where should LEAs direct questions concerning ESSA PPE reporting? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)

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ESSA PPE Web-based Data Reporting Application

  1. How does the LEA access the ESSA PPE data reporting application? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  2. Are there data elements already preloaded in the ESSA PPE data reporting application? Can changes be made to this data? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  3. Why are the preloaded data elements for some LEAs showing as 0 or N/A in the ESSA PPE data reporting application? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  4. How does the LEA enter the data in the ESSA PPE data reporting application?
  5. How should per-pupil expenditures be reported for single-school school districts – school level, district level, or both?
  6. What data can be included in the ESSA PPE import file? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  7. Can the LEA re-import or make edits after importing a data file? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  8. Can the LEA make changes to the data once it is certified and submitted to CDE? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)

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Per-pupil Expenditure Calculation

  1. Will the CDE provide a specific methodology for LEAs to calculate their PPE?
  2. Is there a list of SACS codes (e.g., funds, resources, goals, functions, objects) that CDE recommends we include in the calculation?
  3. What are considered current expenditures?
  4. Should LEAs report actual or budgeted expenditures?
  5. What funds should be included in the ESSA PPE calculation?
  6. Should deferred maintenance expenditures reported in Fund 14, Deferred Maintenance Fund, be included? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  7. How should unrestricted resources be categorized?
  8. Should general administration and school administration expenditures be included? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  9. Are excluded expenditures deducted before calculating the per-pupil expenditure amounts?
  10. What are LEA-level per-pupil expenditures? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  11. What is the difference between school-level expenditures and central expenditures?
  12. When calculating a school’s share of central expenditures, what should the LEA include and what allocation methodologies should be used? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  13. For a single-school school district, should all expenditures be classified as school site, or should central expenditures be separately identified?
  14. Is the PPE calculation different for a charter school than for a COE or school district? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)
  15. Should private donation funds be included?
  16. Should special one-time restricted funds benefiting one particular site be included?

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Special Education Expenditures

  1. Should special education expenditures be included? If so, should expenditures from all funding sources be included? (Updated 23-Nov-2022)
  2. Should the LEA use general education enrollment per school or special education enrollment to allocate the central special education expenditures to schools? (Updated 24-Dec-2024)

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Preschool and Child Development and Expenditures

  1. Should early education expenditures, such as preschool, be included? (Updated 24-Dec-2024))

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Cafeteria Expenditures

  1. Should cafeteria expenditures be included in the PPE calculation?
  2. Should cafeteria expenditures be identified directly to each school, or can they be allocated as central expenditures?
  3. How can cafeteria expenditures be identified as federal versus state and local, since the majority of funding from all sources is reported in one SACS resource code?

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Questions:   Financial Accountability & Information Services | essappe@cde.ca.gov
Last Reviewed: Friday, January 3, 2025
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