Highlights of School-Level Finance Data: Selected Findings from the School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS) School Years 2015-16 (FY 16) and 2016-17 (FY 17) (NCES 2021-305)

This statistical analysis report presents key findings and other data highlights from School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS) in school years 2015-16 and 2016-17. The report focuses on (1) the completeness and comparability of SLFS data and (2) how the SLFS can be utilized to evaluate differences in resource allocation (as measured by school-level expenditures) across schools, school districts, and states. In discussing the findings, the report presents district- and state-aggregated information on school-level expenditure data collected through the SLFS, including:

• universe coverage and survey item response rates, by state;
• comparison of SLFS finance data with comparable state-level finance data collected through the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS); and
• statistics on a wide variety of school-level expenditures (and school-level expenditures per pupil), by school characteristics such as urbanicity and school poverty indicators such as Title I eligibility.

The report also includes an assortment of tables and figures to support its key findings on school-level expenditures collected through the SLFS.