SUMMARY: LC 33 6172  LC 33 6398S  HB 659/AP

The bill requires posting and accessibility of school district and school level financial information.

In the final version SB 310, SB 357, and SB 374 were included 

REQUIREMENTS:

• Boards of education and state charter schools shall make the following school site budget and expenditure information readily accessible to the public:
  • cost of all materials, equipment, and other nonstaff support
  • salary and benefit expenditures for all staff
  • cost of all professional development including training materials and tuition
  • total cost of facility maintenance and small capital projects
  • cost of new construction or major renovation reported on a cost-per-square-foot basis
• Each local board shall make readily available to the public the following school system level information: 
  • school district annual budget
  • annual audits on the system finances
  • ratio of expenditures to revenues
  • total dollar amount of local property tax revenue the system is authorized to collect and the total program mill levy
  • total dollar amount of all other tax revenue collected by the school system
• Local boards and state charter schools are to publish in a prominent location on its website the following preexisting information or a link to where such information can be found:
  • Annual budget submitted to the State Board under O.C.G.A. 20-2-167(c)
  • Annual personnel report prepared by the state auditor under O.C.G.A. 50-6-27
  • Most recent audit conducted by the Department of Audits and Accounts and any additional independent audits conducted under 50-6-6
  • Any findings of irregularities or budget deficits reported by the Department of Audits pursuant to 20-2-67
  •  SPLOST revenue information provided to the Department of Audits under 50-6-32
• Each public school which maintains a website shall post in a prominent location on its website links to the following information
  • The financial efficiency ratings for the school published by the Office of Student Achievement pursuant to 20-14-34
  • The webpage where the local school system posted the information listed above

• The Office of Student Achievement shall:
  • report the percentage of students with each state funded characteristic included in 20-2-161 at the school and system level
  • create and publish an online sortable list for each school and school system on per student expenditures used to determine the financial efficiency rating calculated by them pursuant to 20-14-33, if the Office of Planning and Budget determines funding to be available
  • report the relative financial performance of schools and school systems
• The Department of Education shall publish annually on its website all underlying fiscal data that informs the financial efficiency rating calculated by OSA and an explanation of the fiscal data that informs the financial efficiency rating on a disaggregated basis
• All state and local government entities shall cooperate with and assist each other in complying with these requirements 

EFFECTIVE DATE:  

July 1, 2016 with other effective dates