Financial Efficiency Rating
Financial Efficiency
In 2016, the State of Georgia began evaluating the public's return on the investment of state and federal funds to each public school district. Each district and its schools are evaluated for their per-student expenditure in relation to student achievement. This is reported annually by the Georgia Department of Education and the Governor's Office of Student Achievement as a Financial Efficiency Star Rating.
Visit the Governor's Office of Student Achievement's Financial Efficiency Ratings dashboard for the most recently reported rates for our district and each of our schools.
Ratings are reported on a scale of one to five stars. A five-star district can be described as having strong academic outcomes and lower levels of expenditures (proportionate to the district’s size) in comparison with other districts.
Background
OCGA § 20-14-33 requires that the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, in coordination with the Georgia Department of Education, create a financial efficiency rating. The law requires that the Governor's Office of Student Achievement and the Georgia Department of Education collaborate to develop "indicators of the quality of learning by students, financial efficiency, and school climate for individual schools and for school systems."
The law states that financial efficiency "may include an analysis of how federal and state funds spent by local school systems impact student achievement and school improvement, and components used to determine financial efficiency may include actual achievement, resource efficiency, and student participation in standardized testing." The rating must be based upon five stars.
How is the rating calculated
The Financial Efficiency Star Rating utilizes a three-year average of per-pupil expenditures and College and Career Ready Performance Index scores to determine a district’s rating.
How can I access ratings
Visit the Governor's Office of School Achievement. You can also visit the College & Career Ready Performance Index area of the Georgia Department of Education's website , choose a school district, and select one of the following report types: elementary, middle, or high school. Then, click on the "Financial Efficiency" tab. The overall district rating is displayed in each of the three report types. All school districts have been given an opportunity to provide a response or additional information which they believe will assist their constituents in understanding the expenditures included in the calculation and the effect on the district’s rating.
Centralized Financial Information (HB 139)
Georgia Department of Education
House Bill 139 requires the aggregation and publication of a variety of financial information for all school districts, such as revenue and expenditure data, capital construction costs, recent audits, and similar reports. All of information on this site consists of data and other information which the Georgia Department of Education already collects and in most cases published in some existing form, or which is collected and published by another department within state government such as the Department of Audits and Accounts. The website linked above is the required centralization of this information into a single web site.