FAQs

• How does one determine if an expenditure is to be reported as district-level or school-level?
  Answer:

  For the most part, the level is determined by the defined level of the function and object (see the function and object code definitions in Sections 4.3 and 4.4 of the EFS User Guide). 

  • If function level is “district”, the expenditure is district-level and should be reported using the CSDE Location Code for your district central office.
  • If function level is “school”, the expenditure is school-level and should be reported using the CSDE Location Code for the appropriate school, or if the expenditure applies to more than one school and needs to be allocated use the CSDE Location Code for your district central office code along with an EFS Allocation code.Note that expenditures for staff assigned to one school may not be allocated; these must be identified to the proper school using the school location code.
  • If function level is “both”, school or district level is determined by object level.
• Is it necessary to break down teachers' salaries, supplies, and other expenses by school location?
  Answer:

  • If the teachers/staff are assigned to a particular school, their salary expenditures must be segregated and reported using the location code for each school.  If their time is split between schools, and it is not practical to segregate expenditures for each location, the EFS allocation function may be used to allocate to each school based on enrollment; see section 4.7.2 of the user guide for instructions. 
  • For supplies and other expenses, the distinction between a district and school-level expenditure is determined by the level of the function and object codes used; if the expenditure needs to be broken down to a school level and it is not coded to a specific school on the district’s general ledger, the EFS enrollment allocation may be used (see section 4.7.2).
• What is the difference between the two types of special education?
  Answer:

  • Education Type 2- Special Education Other.  These are special education expenditures not eligible in the computation of "net costs of special education" per subsection (h) of section 10-76f of the Connecticut General Statutes.These are expenditures that in past years would have been reported in Column 1 on ED001 Schedule 4.
  • Education Type 3- Special Education 10-76f.  These are special education expenditures eligible in the computation of "net costs of special education" per subsection (h) of section 10-76f of the Connecticut General Statutes.These are expenditures that in past years would have been reported in Column 2 on ED001 Schedule 4.
• What are some common causes of validation errors?
  Answer:

  • Using an enrollment allocation code (2-9) with district-level expenditures.
    • District-level expenditures are defined in the user guide at section 4.8. Enrollment allocation codes may not be used with district-level expenditures.
  • Using an allocation code with a school location code.
    • Expenditures already identified to individual school locations should not use an allocation code. The purpose of allocation codes 2-9 is to allocate school-level expenditures which have not been identified to individual school locations –if you have already determined the proper location, it would be improper to allocate to other locations.
  • Using salary expenditure Object Code S1 or S2 with functions other than 1XXX - 22XX.
    • See the validation table in user guide at section 2.3.4. Objects S1 and S2 are for teachers and aides in the classroom so should be for instructional or student support service functions.
• Should Charter Schools report expenditures for student transportation to and from home?
  Answer:

  • Yes, if the charter school is incurring expenditures for providing the transportation this should be included on the EFS Charter School Transportation Schedule Line TC102, similar to the expenditures reported in prior years on Form ED001C Line 213.The number of students transported should be reported on Line TC101.
• Should Charter Schools separately report district-level and school-level administrative expenditures?
  Answer:

  • Yes, to the extent practicable.District-level administration should be reported using Function 23XX, and School-level administration should be reported using Function 24XX, similar to prior reporting on Lines 204 and 205 on ED001C Schedule 2.It is noted that some charter schools did not previously separate these expenditures, and particularly for smaller schools this may not be practicable.It is acceptable to use a reasonable allocation between these functions where expenditures are combined.Also, for 2017-18 reporting, it is acceptable to continue to combine both levels of administrative expenditures consistent with reporting in prior years on ED001C.
• Is there a way to allocate expenditures between regular and special education in EFS?
  Answer:

  • No, expenditure records must identify regular or special education (or one of the other education types) using the Education Type Code.In some cases, districts may need to allocate expenditure records on their expenditure file by splitting one record into separate records for regular and special education before uploading.
  • The employee benefits allocation function in EFS does not allocate benefits between regular and special education; districts must separately report benefits applicable to each education type.
• What object code should be used for certified administrator salary expenditures?
  Answer:

  • Use B1 for administrators, and for all other salary expenditures except teachers, aides, and uncertified staff in positions requiring certification.
• Where can a user find instructions for each line on a schedule?
  Answer:

  • Click on the question mark in the upper right corner of any EFS screen to open the user guide instructions that apply to that screen.The user guide includes specifications for each schedule line.
• When should an expenditure record use an object code of level "school" vs. "both"?
  Answer:

  • In most cases, either may be used.Generally it is recommended that the more detailed school-level codes be used if the district’s general ledger accounts include that detail.These are the specific rules:

  • Object codes S1 and S2, for teacher and aide salary expenditures may be used only with function codes 1XXX-22XX, and are always school-level so the record must use either the location code of a school, or the location code for the district along with an allocation code of 2-9.
  • When the level of the function code is “Both”, and the level of the object code is “School”, the system interprets this as a school-level expenditure, so the record must use either the location code of a school, or the location code for the district along with an allocation code of 2-9.If the expenditure is actually district-wide, use the appropriate object of level “Both”, and the location code for the district.
• How are actual expenditures for individual high cost special education students, formerly collected in the ED001 HCSESR module, to be reported for 2017-18 and later years?
  Answer:

  • These costs are now reported in the Special Education Excess Cost Grant system.Refer to https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Fiscal-Services/Special-Education/Documents for information.
• Will there be desk audit findings and trending analysis reports generated after certification?Will our auditors be expected to review them?
  Answer:

  • We do expect to have at least some desk audit findings and trending reports available.  The annual update of audit instructions for the local auditors to follow will be published soon by our Office of Internal Audit.
• How do I code salaries paid from a grant if I do not want employee benefits allocated to that salary amount?
  Answer:

  • The system allocates benefits based on salaries by function and school; it doesn’t have a built-in method to exclude certain salary records from the allocation.  One way around this is to temporarily code the salary records that you want to exclude to a different education type, such as “9”, in your upload file, then after the file is uploaded and processed, manually change those salary records back to the proper education type; OR
  • You can exclude those salaries from your upload file and enter manually later.