Every K-12 Dollar Counts: Making Sure Your SIS is Working for State Reporting and Funding

The Right K-12 Student Information System Can Help with Accurate, On-time State Reporting

School districts worried about state reporting and K-12 funding are not alone. No two schools or districts are alike, but everyone shares the common concerns of tight budgets and shrinking funding.

That’s why it’s essential to streamline state reporting and ensure accurate, on time, and relevant data. Any data inefficiencies or inaccuracies in this complex process can prove costly—because of lost or late funding, which can impact students, staff, and programs.

“Data is often used to determine how billions of dollars in education funding is distributed to states and school districts, making it all the more imperative that it’s accurate,” says Lauren Camera, in the U.S. News & World Report article, “When the Data’s No Good.”

Stacy Novoshelski, District Data Coordinator at New Milford Public Schools, NJ, agrees. “If your state reporting doesn’t work, you’re not getting any funding, and then nobody is happy,” she says.

This is especially true with new ESSA requirements that have changed the information that states need from schools and districts. An example is information required for chronic absenteeism. Previously, schools were required to only submit daily attendance. Now, new ESSA reporting requirements ask for more: the number of students who were missing so much school that they were considered at risk academically.

Changes like these can be difficult for districts using rigid reporting software that doesn’t adapt.

Start with the right tools.

Dealing with changing reporting needs requires flexible data management tools, starting with a modern K-12 student information system (SIS) at the heart of a district’s educational ecosystem.

“State reporting is critical because half of our funding comes from that,” adds Tim Wulfhoop, Data Management & Accountability Coordinator, Olmsted Falls City Schools, OH. “Our student information system has become a very solid product, particularly for state reporting. There’s a lot of support for it; the data is easy to get to. And the key is you can get to what you need.”

But not every district enjoys the luxury of smooth, simple, supported state reporting like Olmsted Falls City Schools. To help you get there, here are three ways the right SIS can impact state reporting and funding:

1. Keep it Clean: The Value of Updated, Accurate Data

A student information system (SIS) that integrates with your other edtech tools makes sure that data is secure and entered only once. Student data flows between systems, so staff doesn’t have to re-enter information, which is when errors are likely to happen. As an example, when parents enter their student’s information through an online, digital enrollment solution, that information can flow directly into the SIS—accurately and securely.

“Our enrollment product seamlessly imports into our SIS so that way we don’t have to track down pieces of paper and do the data entry from those pieces of paper. It’s just all one package,” says Kim Byrne, PowerSchool Administrator, Teton County School District, WY.

“We use the information that we record in PowerSchool SIS for all our state funding reports. Accurate reporting is what allows us to have the funds to continue and improve education programs for our students,” adds Crystal Brewer, SIS Administrator, Blount County Schools, TN. “We also pull all kinds of data for teachers and administrators that are applying for grants to develop new programs to better serve our students and community.”

2. Take it Easy: Convenient Access to Data to Build the Reports You Need

Your student information system should make it easy and intuitive to report the right data. A good SIS should feature a fully integrated data validation tool so you can run validation reports before submitting for state reporting. Additional reporting capabilities to look for include:

• Library of pre-built reports most commonly used across schools/districts
• Push-button reporting capabilities
• Ability to easily run standard reports
• Custom report building functionality

“State reporting is probably my favorite thing about PowerSchool SIS because there isn’t a report that the state wants us to do that can’t be pulled from PowerSchool,” says Novoshelski. “Every single report that I pull out of PowerSchool and upload to NJ Smart is seamless. I have a zero-error rate on my state reports, which is just incredible.”

Easy-to-use also translates to saving you time, which has become an important benefit to Dustin Ludwig, Information Specialist at Wyoming’s Goshen Co. School District 1. “PowerSchool’s state reporting compliance solutions save me so much time every year. Compiling required state and federal reports can be a daunting, time-consuming endeavor, but PowerSchool has developed many tools that collect and tabulate the results in moments, drastically reducing the effort I must put into it.”

3. Team Up for Reporting Success: Working with a Compliance Team Specific to Your State

Continually changing state reporting requirements, including new ESSA reporting, pose a significant challenge. SIS vendors need to create, update, and monitor custom reporting for each state. When choosing an SIS strong in state reporting, the most robust systems are built to respond to these changes and—with the support of an experienced and sizable compliance team—deliver the required information efficiently and accurately.

For Ludwig, PowerSchool’s state-specific compliance team, as well as the company’s largest and most active user community in K-12 edtech, has had a direct impact on his district’s state reporting success.

“PowerSchool collaborates with our state education department and the other Wyoming school districts to develop these tools, so when I use these solutions, I am confident that the information I am sending to our state is accurate,” he says. “If we didn’t have PowerSchool, I would most miss the collaborative community that has grown around the product over many years. To me, the helpful user community is the strength of PowerSchool. PowerSchool’s state reporting team facilitates and participates in this collaborative effort and adds a tremendous amount of value.”

The right SIS should feature expert, dedicated state-specific teams to ensure compliance with reporting requirements. The product should support a comprehensive list of reports and submissions required for your state, as well as user and focus groups to communicate timely state reporting changes and requirements.

Turning Extra Time into Extra Productivity

The right SIS not only can help you deliver timely, accurate state reporting, but it also can make your staff more efficient. That gives them more time to focus on what’s important for the district.

Here’s what one SIS administrator in Washington says, “Having solid state reporting with PowerSchool SIS saves me a ton of time, which ultimately helps me focus on what’s most important—impacting students’ learning in the classroom. Ten years ago, I would have to cancel school club meetings that I ran frequently because I’d be staying late working on state reporting issues. Now, my time goes to the kids.”