Notice2025-08018
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Annual Survey of School System Finances
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 8, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentCensus Bureau
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed extension of the Annual Survey of School System Finances, prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19465-19466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08018]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Annual Survey of School System Finances
AGENCY: Census Bureau, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the
proposed extension of the Annual Survey of School System Finances,
prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to
OMB for approval.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before July 7, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a4f0cccbc9c5d78aee8af7c9cdd0cce4c7c1cad7d1d78ac3cbd2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d581bdbab8b4a6fb9ffb86b8bca1bd95b6b0bba6a0a6fbb2baa3">[email protected]</span></a>. Please reference Annual Survey of
School System Finances in the subject line of your comments. You may
also submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2025-0004, to
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. All
comments received are part of the public record. No comments will be
posted to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> for public viewing until after the
comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted without
change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe
PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Kaitlin Hanak, Survey Statistician, Educational Finance Branch, 301-
763-0229, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3a5f485e145c0909145653494e7a595f54494f49145d554c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="385d4a5c165e0b0b1654514b4c785b5d564b4d4b165f574e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U. S. Census Bureau plans to extend the
current Office of Management and Budget clearance for the Annual Survey
of School System Finances. The Annual Survey of School System Finances
is a comprehensive source of prekindergarten through 12th grade public
elementary-secondary school system finance data collected on a
nationwide scale using uniform definitions, concepts, and procedures.
The collection covers the revenues, expenditures, debt, and assets of
all public elementary-secondary school systems. This data collection is
cosponsored by and coordinated with the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) under interagency agreement in conjunction with the
National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) (OMB #1850-0067) and
the School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS) (OMB #1850-0930).
The NCES uses this collection to satisfy its need for school
district-level finance data. Data from this survey is included in the
Annual Surveys of State and Local Government Finances (OMB No. 0607-
0585) to produce state and national totals of government spending. The
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses data from the survey to develop
figures for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to assess other public
fiscal spending trends and events.
Data will be collected from State Education Agencies (SEAs) for all
50 states and the District of Columbia. SEAs appoint state fiscal
coordinators to work with NCES and the U.S. Census Bureau to provide
accurate and comparable data across states and jurisdictions. SEAs
typically collect finance data from school districts for their own
uses. Many states produce a state-specific chart of accounts or
accounting manual to assist school districts in classifying and
reporting finance data and producing government-wide financial
statements. Uniform definitions and concepts of revenue, expenditure,
debt, and assets are defined by the NCES handbook Financial Accounting
for Local and State School Systems.
Data on resources and spending patterns is helpful for parents to
make choices for the education of their child. Uniform and comparable
data helps states measure the effectiveness of resource allocation. The
products of this data collection make it possible for data users to
search a single database to obtain information on such things as per
pupil expenditures and the percent of state, local, and federal funding
for each school system. Elementary-secondary education related spending
is the single largest financial activity of state and local
governments. Education finance statistics provided by the Census Bureau
allow for analyses of how public elementary-secondary school systems
receive their funding and how they are spending their funds.
II. Method of Collection
A letter is mailed electronically at the beginning of each survey
period to solicit the assistance of the state
[[Page 19466]]
education agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This
letter officially announces the opening of the data collection period
and requests some administrative data, such as their estimated date of
submission, any change to the reporting format from prior year, and
updated contact information for the state coordinator for the survey.
The survey form (F-33) contains item descriptions and definitions
of the elementary-secondary education finance items collected jointly
by the Census Bureau and NCES. It is used primarily as a worksheet and
instruction guide by the state education agencies providing school
finance data centrally for the school systems in their respective
states. The Census Bureau collects almost all of the finance data for
local school systems from state education agency databases through
central collection arrangements with the state education agencies. The
states transfer this information in electronic format over the internet
via file transfer protocol. The Census Bureau has also facilitated
central collection of school system finance data by accepting data in
multiple formats.
Supplemental forms are sent to local school systems in states where
the state education agency cannot centrally provide information on
assets (F-33-L1), indebtedness (F-33-L2), or both (F-33-L3). School
systems have the option of completing a paper form to mail back to the
Census Bureau or completing the survey using an online web application.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-0700.
Form Number(s): F-33, Supplemental forms: F-33-L1, F-33-L2 and F-
33-L3.
Type of Review: Request for an Extension, without Change, of a
Currently Approved Collection.
Affected Public: State and local governments.
Estimated Number of Respondents: F-33: 51, Supplemental: 3,426.
Estimated Time per Response: F-33: 70 hours, 45 minutes,
Supplemental: 15 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 4,465.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services
required specifically by the collection.)
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Census: Title 13 U.S.C. 8(b), 161, and 182. NCES:
Title 20 U.S.C. 9543-44.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address,
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-08018 Filed 5-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
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