School Finances: Site-Based Expenditures
Average spending per student at each school in the district, as collected through the unaudited Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Site-Based Expenditure Report. Districts report the actual dollars spent in the previous school year, including site-level costs (like school staff) and district-wide centralized costs allocated to each individual school (like transportation and central office staff), divided by the school's enrollment. Districts also report whether federal or state/local sources funded the spending. Learn More
Only certain expenditures like capital outlay (facilities, property, and major equipment purchases) and debt service (such as payments on bonds/longer-term debt) are excluded from the spending reported here, as explained in Reporting Guidance available at www.isbe.net/site-based. The enrollment used for per-student calculations is “student full-time equivalent,” meaning that students attending only part of each day are counted proportionally (e.g., a half-time pre-kindergarten student is counted as 0.5). More resources for understanding this report are available at www.isbe.net/Pages/site-based-ilreportcard.aspx.
This school finance data set is best suited for comparisons within a district rather than across different districts. There are many reasons why a district may spend different amounts of money on different schools. This report is a starting point for understanding and exploring where dollars go within a district. It may be used for starting deeper conversations on important topics such as resource equity and connections between spending and academic outcomes.
Because districts understand their own resource policies and practices best, they are best positioned to develop, interpret, and communicate their data. Questions regarding any district’s school finance data should be addressed to the district directly. Questions regarding the Illinois Report Card can be directed to ISBE at reportcard@isbe.net. Questions regarding the site-based expenditure reporting requirement can be directed to ISBE at site-based@isbe.net.