(FRANKFORT, KY) – Kentucky residents can now see how much schools spend per student and other financial expenditures with a new update of the Kentucky Department of Education’s School Report Card, which was released May 8. The new update also offers the ability to compare the data of up to four different organizations at the school, district and state levels.

The information contained in the financial transparency section of the School Report Card is from the 2017-2018 school year. It includes data on funding, grants, spending and taxes for each school district, as well as school-level spending per student. The financial data is released later than the rest of the School Report Card domains to allow districts to use audited financial information in their calculations, which promotes greater accuracy of the district financial data.

“The expenditure data shared on the School Report Card will undoubtedly create new conversations at the local level about resource allocation. Context is incredibly important, so we encourage healthy conversations between citizens and district officials,” Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis said.

The new compare feature allows visitors to the Kentucky School Report Card to view a side-by-side comparison of the landing page data for up to four organizations – including views of any combination of state, district and/or schools. The compare tool can help add context and foster productive conversations about how particular schools or districts are performing compared to the state as a whole, as well as with neighboring districts or schools. Keep in mind that not all data applies to every type of school – such as elementary schools don’t have graduation rates – and this data is only part of the full story of any school or district.

“We are doing everything we can to increase transparency for parents and taxpayers. I am very pleased to be able to share data on school expenditures at a new level of detail,” Lewis said.

There are four components to Kentucky School Report Card, all of which can be found KDE’s school data website at raisethebar.education.ky.gov. Components include:

  • Accountability information via the school report card
  • Proficiency dashboard
  • Student/Parent Portal
  • Research data

Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, each state in the U.S. was required to create an online school report card as part of its statewide accountability system. No new assessment data is part of this release.

For comprehensive instructions for how to access and navigate the School Report card, refer to the SRC Public Website User’s Guide.