Financial Information Database
School districts and charter schools must also file information with the Michigan Department of Education’s Center for Educational Performance and Information. CEPI maintains a “Financial Information Database” based on reports prepared by conventional school districts, ISDs and charter schools. This database, known as FID, is publicly accessible on the Web at www.michigan.gov/cepi.
Michigan Electronic Grant System
The Michigan Electronic Grant System was established by the Michigan Department of Education in 2001 to streamline the grant application, award, research and management process.[ccxxx] Conventional and intermediate school districts and charter schools that wish to receive education-related grants are required to submit forms related to the grants, and the Michigan Department of Education makes these forms available online at http://megs.mde.state.mi.us/megsweb/Grants_Detail.asp?catID=10.
Special Education Actual Cost Report (Form SE 4096)
In the Special Education Actual Cost Report, submitted annually to the Michigan Department of Education, a conventional school district, ISD or charter school must report the expenditures associated with more than 30 categories of special needs students, such as those who have an emotional impairment or autism. Expenditure categories include personnel salary and benefits, school supplies and purchased services. [399]
Transportation Expenditure Report (Form SE 4094)
This report details transportation expenditures by school district and is submitted to the state on an annual basis. It records how many “full time equivalent employees”[ccxxxi] work in transportation by each category (“bus driver,” “supervision,” “clerical” and “other”). The report also tallies the cost of “purchased services” related to the actual use of the vehicle; “purchased services” unrelated to the vehicle; and supply costs, such as the money spent on gasoline.[400]
[ccxxx] See “About MEGS,” (Michigan Department of Education), http://megs.mde.state.mi.us/megsweb/AboutMEGS_Detail.asp?catID=6 (accessed May 1, 2007).
[ccxxxi] “Full time equivalent” is similar in meaning here to the “full time equivalent” students mentioned in “Pupil Counts.” Because some people work only part time, their hours are added to determine how many how many full-time employees their hours would represent. Two employees each working 20 hours per week would typically equal one “full time equivalent,” or “FTE.”