EFS Report

The Education Finance System (EFS) is a data collection tool designed for local and regional boards of education, including charter schools and regional educational service centers (RESCs). Its purpose is to report financial data to the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). The EFS supports two main types of reporting:

• State education financial reporting, which includes requirements set by the Uniform Chart of Accounts (UCOA) legislation.

• Federal education financial reporting, which includes requirements from the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the F-33 School-Level Finance Survey.

The EFS report enables LEAs to upload expenditure records obtained from local accounting systems, thereby minimizing the need for manual data entry.

Menu path

From the Fund Accounting menu, select State. From the State - CT menu, select EFS Report.

Submission period

On or before September 1.

Selection rule

Expenditure ledger accounts for the chosen year are selected and reported.

Prerequisite

Complete the Setup procedure.

Setup

Before generating the EFS State report, you must create the setup information to associate the LEA’s account structures with the CSDE-assigned parameters, such as Fund Source and Function Code.

The setup information needs to be established, and then the data loaded from the ledgers. The initial setup may be tedious, but the reporting information changes infrequently, so future reporting should be efficient.

This information is used when loading the data from the ledger files. When the selected organizational keys of the ledgers match the Budget Code and Account, then the ledger information will be associated with the EFS information on the CT EFS Report - Setup page.

Use the CT EFS Report - Setup to associate the LEA's account structures with the CSDE-assigned parameters.

1. On the CT EFS Report page, select Setup.

2. Filter records using the filter criteria. To enter filter criteria:

   1. Select an option in the first field.

   2. Select or enter a value.

   3. Select Add if the button is enabled.
      Refer to Search for records for more information.

      • To add a record, select Add Record. Refer to the Field descriptions and enter valid information in the required fields. Select Save, and then Yes.

      • To edit a record, select the ellipsis in the Actions column and then select Edit. Update the information and select Save.

      • To delete a record, select the ellipsis in the Actions column, select Delete, and then select Yes.

Field descriptions

The following table describes the fields on the EFS Data form of the CT EFS Report - Setup page.

Load Setup

The Load Setup process creates setup records for all expenditure ledgers for a given fiscal year. It will then be necessary to add valid values to the EFS fields associated with each ledger account.

Use the CT EFS Report - Setup - Load Setup page to create the setup information for the EFS report from the indicated expenditure accounts.

1. On the CT EFS Report - Setup page, select Load Setup.

2. Select the Year.

3. Select Load.

4. Save the Load Setup Summary report file and select OK.

5. Navigate to the file location.

6. Inspect the file. Refer to Setup and update it as necessary.

7. Repeat these steps until all required data is loaded.

Mass Change

The Mass Change process enables EFS information to be associated with multiple ledger accounts, depending on the breakdown of the ledger account number.

Using Fund codes, along with other values associated with the budget distribution of the expenditure ledger accounts, you can assign the EFS field values to the appropriate account setup entries. For example, enter 01 into Fund and 1-Local Budget Appropriation into Fund Source. All setup records with a Fund value of 01 will then receive the Fund Source code of 1-Local Budget Appropriation.

Use the CT EFS Report - Setup - Mass Change page to make mass changes to the setup information for the CT EFS report using values from the distribution information.

1. On the CT EFS Report - Setup page, select Mass Change.

2. In the Selection Criteria section, enter the required criteria.

3. In the Replacement Values section, enter or select the required values.

4. Select Submit, and then Yes.

5. Save the Mass Change report file and select OK.

6. Navigate to the file location.

7. Inspect the file. Update the data as necessary.

8. Repeat these steps until all the data is accurate.

Load data

The Load process retrieves the LEA expenditure account information, including the balance, as well as the associated EFS information from the setup records, and creates the report records. The accounts must be present in the setup data to be included.

Use the CT EFS Report - Load page to specify the criteria for loading the required data for the report.

1. On the CT EFS Report page, select Load.

2. Select the Year.

3. Select Load, and then Yes.

4. If data for the selected criteria is loaded, select Yes to delete and reload the data.

5. Save the Load Summary report file and select OK.

6. Navigate to the file location.

7. Inspect the file. Refer to Maintain data and update it as necessary.

8. Repeat these steps until all required data is loaded.

Maintain data

If errors are encountered during the Load data process, you can correct the source data on the Education Finance System Data form of the CT EFS Report page. After corrections, you must purge and reload the data.

PowerSchool recommends that you correct the report’s source data that is retrieved from the Core application.

1. On the CT EFS Report page, filter records using the filter criteria. To enter filter criteria:

   1. Select an option in the first field.

   2. Select or enter a value.

   3. Select Add if the button is enabled.
      Refer to Search for records for more information.

      • To add a record, select Add Record. Refer to the Field descriptions and enter valid information in the required fields. Select Save, and then Yes.

      • To edit a record, select the ellipsis in the Actions column and then select Edit. Update the information and select Save.

      • To delete a record, select the ellipsis in the Actions column, select Delete, and then select Yes.

Field descriptions

The following table describes the fields on the Education Finance System Data form of the CT EFS Report page.

Create file

Use the CT EFS Report - Load page to specify the report criteria and create the report file.

1. On the CT EFS Report page, select Report.

2. Select the Year.

3. In the Selection Criteria section, enter or select the required criteria.

4. Create a hard copy of the report to verify data before you create the electronic file:

   1. Select Hard Copy.

   2. Select PDF or Excel.

   3. If you have the security permission to view the entire Social Security Number (without masking) and want to include it, select Print Full Social Security Number.
      The required access privileges are granted by assigning the appropriate security resource.

   4. Select Create, and then Yes.

5. Save the file and select OK.

6. Navigate to the folder containing the report file.

7. Inspect the file. Refer to Maintain data and update it as necessary.

8. Repeat these steps until all the required data is included.

9. Create the electronic file:

   1. Select Electronic File.

   2. Select Create, and then Yes.

   3. Save the file and select OK.
      The default file name is efsect.csv.
      For detailed information about the report’s file layout, refer to EFS Report - File Layout and Data Mapping.

Follow the state's submission procedures.

Purge data

If you need to correct setups or employee data, purge the existing records and reload the data.

1. On the CT EFS Report page, select Purge.

2. Select the Year.

3. In the Selection Criteria section, enter or select the required criteria.

4. Select Submit.

5. Select Yes, and then OK.