How does your local school spend its money? If your district received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Arne Duncan knows:
Provided further, That each local educational agency receiving funds available under this paragraph shall be required to file with the State educational agency, no later than December 1, 2009, a school-by-school listing of per-pupil educational expenditures from State and local sources during the 2008?2009 academic year: Provided further, That each State educational agency shall report that information to the Secretary of Education by March 31, 2010. (p. 67 of the ARRA.)
These data came up at the Center for American Progress?American Enterprise Institute event on Title I a few weeks ago. As I recall, Carmel Martin, Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, said ED is still sifting through the data, and no decision has been made about whether they will ask for something like this on an ongoing basis from more school districts.
The Department should release these data (which they've had for a year) to the public, and they should strongly consider incentivizing states to require annual public reporting of school-level data. Rhode Island is already doing it, as I mentioned earlier this week. Releasing the data will ensure they get used to improve school spending and efficiency rather than sitting on a shelf somewhere.
? Chris Tessone
