General Educational Terms

Accounts - In school budgeting and finance, the category of revenue or expenditure within a fund for various functions or activities.

ADA - Average Daily Attendance - Attendance Days (or hours) divided by Instructional Days (or hours).

ADM - Average Daily Membership - The sum for all pupils of the number of days of the school year each pupil is enrolled divided by the number of days the schools are in session.

ALC - Alternative Learning Center (state approved) - Must operate year round (school year starts in June) and serve at-risk students from two or more districts (except for Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth). Students must have a CLP (Continual Learning Plan) and can generate more than 1.0 ADM when membership exceeds statute minimums (refer to “LYPS”); can apply to provide an independent study component.

AMCPU - Adjusted Marginal Cost Pupil Unit - The greater of the total of weighted average daily membership for the current school year multiplied times .77 plus the total of the weighted average daily membership for the prior school year multiplied times .23, or the actual current weighted average daily membership count.

ANTC - Adjusted Net Tax Capacity - The property value used for calculating most school taxes. ANTC is determined by equalizing differences in tax capacities by property type in different counties. This equalization process compares market values to actual sales and is intended to neutralize the effect of differing assessment practices. Also, the ANTC reflects the application of the classification rates to the market value of property.

APU - Adjusted Pupil Units - A weighted count of pupils used to determine revenue in many funding formulas. Kindergarten through sixth grade students are weighted 1.0 pupil units. Students in grades 7-12 are weighted 1.2 pupil units.

Bid - An offer, usually written, to furnish materials or services for a specified sum of money in accordance with the terms of a contract proposal.

Bond - Written promise, generally under seal, to pay a specified sum of money (face value) at a fixed time in the future (date of maturity) and carrying interest at a fixed rate, usually payable periodically; often used by school districts to raise construction money.

Categorical Aid - Educational support funds provided from a higher governmental level and specifically limited to (earmarked for) a given purpose; e.g., special education, transportation, or vocational education.

Child Count - The name applied to the federal reports that generate federal special education dollars; a count of all students who have IEPs or IFSPs on December 1 of any given year (also referred to as the “Unduplicated Child Count”).

Debt Service Equalization Aid - Debt service equalization aid provides state funding to local school districts to help repay the bonds issued to finance construction. The amount of aid a school district receives is based on a complex calculation that relies in part on the amount of the district’s debt and in part on the district’s taxable property tax base.

Dual Enrolled - Senior high level students who are full-time at the high school and receive ALC instructional services outside the normal high school day and year, i.e., summer and after school. Both report the instructional time it provides to the student. A senior high school student may be enrolled in a post-secondary class or program.

E-Rate - The universal service Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as “E-rate,” provides discounts of up to 90% to help eligible schools and libraries in the United States obtain affordable telecommunications and internet access. The program is intended to ensure that schools and libraries have access to affordable telecommunications and information services.

ESSA - Every Student Succeeds Act - The nation’s latest pre-kindergarten through grade 12 education law, was signed into law in December 2015. ESSA is the newest version of the 50-year-old federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act and replaces the 2001 reauthorization known as No Child Left Behind. ESSA emphasizes equity and gives states and schools more latitude to innovate, while maintaining a focus on accountability and an emphasis on state and local systems of improvement (MDE, 2016).

Extended Time Revenue - This revenue may be used for extended day programs, extended week programs, summer school, and other programming authorized under the learning year program.

FTE - Full-Time Equivalent - The amount of employed time required in a part-time position expressed in proportion to that required in a full-time position with “1.0” representing one full-time position. FTE may be expressed as a percentage or as a fraction and is derived by dividing the amount of employed time required in the part-time position by the amount of employed time required in a corresponding full-time position.

FY - Fiscal Year - A 12-month period between settlements of financial accounts. The school district fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. For example, fiscal year 2007 is equivalent to the 2006-2007 school year (July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007).

General Education Revenue - General education revenue is the primary formula for providing general operating funds to school districts and charter schools and is composed of basic general education revenue; extended time revenue; declining pupil revenue; local optional revenue; gifted and talented revenue; basic skills revenue, including EL and compensatory revenue; sparsity revenue; operating capital; equity revenue; small schools revenue; and transition revenue.

LEA - Local Education Agency - An educational agency at the local level which exists primarily to operate schools or to contract for education services. LEAs may/may not be coterminous with county, city, or town boundaries, and the term is used synonymously with the terms, “school district,” “school system,” and “local basic administrative unit.”

Levy - (Verb) to impose property taxes or special assessments on property. (Noun) the total of property taxes or special assessments on property imposed by a governmental unit.

Long Term Facility Maintenance (LTFM) - The state of Minnesota provides school districts with the financial authority to address ongoing maintenance problems in buildings through a combination of non-voter-approved property taxes and state aid, which is called LTFM. How does it work? State Statute reference.

MARSS - Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System.

MDE - Minnesota Department of Education.

Net Tax Capacity - Property taxes in Minnesota are primarily levied on a measure called net tax capacity, which is simply the taxable market value of a property multiplied by its class rate.

Open Enrollment - Enrollment Options - Various legislative-enacted programs that allow students to attend a district other than the district of residence or a post-secondary institution without paying tuition charges. More on Open Enrollment.

Open Meeting Law - State statute governing an elected board’s ability to conduct meetings in public or in private. M.S. 13D Operating Funds - General fund, food service fund, pupil transportation fund, community services fund.

P-20 – Reference to all education of students from preschool, elementary, secondary and post-secondary.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio - Average number of pupils per teacher in a system or school. PU - Pupil Units - See APU (Adjusted Pupil Units)

Q Comp - Additional revenue to be used for teacher compensation provided to districts which have an MDE-approved agreement between the school board and teachers’ union (also known as the “Alternative Teacher Professional Pay System” or “ATPPS”).

Referendum - A vote by the whole of an electorate on a specific question(s) put to it by the school board.

Statutory Operating Debt - A school district’s net negative unreserved general fund balance as of June 30 of each year.

Targeted Services (ALC) - A state-approved program for at-risk elementary and middle/junior high students during the summer or outside of the normal student day, but which is only available if the ALC has a school-within-a-school program for such students and if those students have CLPs and receive ALC services year round.

Targeted Services (Title l) - Federal program to provide additional instructional services to targeted students. No additional general education revenue is provided.

Tax Capacity - Amount of tax base of taxing jurisdiction obtained by multiplying the market values of all property in the taxing jurisdiction by the tax capacity percentages.

Tax Capacity Percentages - Statutory classification percentages that are applied to market values. Tax Capacity Rate - The rate arrived at by dividing the district.

UFARS - Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards - Rules and instructions adopted by the MDE under legislative mandate to govern the methods by which school districts record financial transactions and inform the MDE about their finances.

WADM - Weighted Average Daily Membership (refer to “Pupil Units”).

ZED - Zumbro Education District is a coop that provides educational services and funding for special education programs, staff development, extended and alternative summer school services.