Principal Responsibilities in Student Counts

By Glen Abshere, OAESP Executive Director and Will Parker, OASSP/OMLEA Executive Director

As the annual child count day approaches in Oklahoma on October 1, let’s take a look at the weights that affect child count and the funding for school districts. Principals have a responsibility to make sure their data is correct in their school information system.

Students are given certain weights when calculating the state aid for school districts based on their grade and any of their category identifications (listed in the chart on this page). The weights assigned to students show the importance of making sure your data is correct in your student information system. A few areas for principals to review at the beginning of school include:

Free/Reduced Lunch Forms: Try to get as many of these forms completed and turned in to child nutrition as possible. Explain to parents that having these forms turned in, even when breakfast and lunch are provided free to everyone, is important to Title 1 funding for your school.

Home Language Surveys: While a new HLS form is no longer required to be collected from every student each year, each student must have a completed HLS form on file with your district. If a student re-enrolls in your district after being gone for a year or more, that student is required to complete a new HLS form. Having families mark if English is spoken “more often” or “less often” is important for additional funding if they qualify as a bilingual student.

Special Education Referrals: If you have a student that has begun the process of testing for any learning disability, work with your special education department to complete these PRIOR to October 1. Try to have those meetings with parents of identifying students for special education services early. Waiting until October 2 or later will leave money on the table.

Gifted Education (GT) Referrals: Just like referrals for special education, the process for testing and identifying students for GT services must be completed by October 1. GT student count data is pulled from your district’s Student Information System (SIS) via the Wave. The student count page of your Gifted and Talented Education Report (due October 15) will be automatically populated with this information.

View the full article on page 29 of Better Schools Magazine for a breakdown of the grade weights for students and their categories. It is important for school building administrators to ensure their data is correct to make sure dollars are not left on the table.

As your superintendents are asking for a count of students physically in your classrooms, remember they not only want to know how many students are in your building but the categories of students as well. Accurate student counts mean appropriate funding and subsequent appropriate services for students during the school year ahead. ■