SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under section 153(a)(1)(I) of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, 20 U.S.C. 9543(a)(1)(I), which authorizes NCES to gather data on the financing and management of education, NCES collects data annually from SEAs through ED Form 2447. The report from SEAs includes attendance, revenue, and expenditure data from which NCES determines a State's “average per-pupil expenditure” (SPPE) for elementary and secondary education, as defined in section 8101(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 7801(2)).

In addition to using the SPPE data as general information on the financing of elementary and secondary education, the Secretary uses these data directly in calculating allocations for certain formula grant programs, including, but not limited to, title I, part A, of the ESEA, Impact Aid, and Indian Education programs. Other programs, such as the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program under title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants under title IV, part A of the ESEA make use of SPPE data indirectly because their formulas are based, in whole or in part, on State title I, part A, allocations.

In January 2021, the Census Bureau, acting as the data collection agent for NCES, will email ED Form 2447 to SEAs, with instructions, and will request that SEAs commence submitting FY 2020 data to the Census Bureau on Thursday, January 29, 2021. SEAs are urged to submit accurate and complete ( printed page 75) data by Friday, March 26, 2021, to facilitate timely processing.

Submissions by SEAs to the Census Bureau will be analyzed for accuracy and returned to each SEA for verification. SEAs must submit all data, including any revisions to FY 2019 and FY 2020 data, to the Census Bureau no later than Friday, August 13, 2021. Any resubmissions of FY 2019 or FY 2020 data by SEAs in response to requests for clarification or reconciliation or other inquiries by NCES or the Census Bureau must be completed by Tuesday, September 7, 2021. Between August 13, 2021, and September 7, 2021, SEAs may also, on their own initiative, resubmit data to resolve issues not addressed in their final submission of NPEFS data by August 13, 2021. All outstanding data issues must be reconciled or resolved by the SEAs, NCES, and the Census Bureau as soon as possible, but no later than September 7, 2021.

In order to facilitate timely submission of data, the Census Bureau will send reminder notices to SEAs in June and July of 2021.

Having accurate, consistent, and timely information is critical to an efficient and fair allocation process and to the NCES statistical process. The Department establishes Friday, August 13, 2021, as the final date by which the SEAs must submit data using either the interactive survey form on the NPEFS data collection website at: https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/​ccdnpefs or ED Form 2447. This date is established to ensure that the best, most accurate data will be available to support timely distribution of Federal education funds.

Any resubmissions of FY 2019 or FY 2020 data by SEAs in response to requests for clarification or reconciliation or other inquiries by NCES or the Census Bureau must be completed through the interactive survey form on the NPEFS data collection website or ED Form 2447 by Tuesday, September 7, 2021. If an SEA submits revised data after the final deadline that result in a lower SPPE figure, the SEA's allocations may be adjusted downward, or the Department may direct the SEA to return funds. SEAs should be aware that all of these data are subject to audit and that, if any inaccuracies are discovered in the audit process, the Department may seek recovery of overpayments for the applicable programs.

Note:

The following are important dates in the data collection process for FY 2020 data and revisions to reports for previous fiscal years:

Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT , individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible format.

Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register . You may access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this document, as well as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal Register , in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.

You may also access documents of the Department published in the Federal Register by using the article search feature at www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published by the Department. ( Authority:20 U.S.C. 9543.)

86 FR 74