[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53944-53945]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-21191]


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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

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on August 25, 2020 during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: Annual Survey of School System Finances.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0700.
    Form Number(s): F-33, F-33-L1, F-33-L2, F-33-L3.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 3,681.
    Average Hours per Response: 1 hour and 11 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 4,367.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau, on behalf of the U.S. 
Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics 
(NCES), requests an extension with revisions of approval for the Annual 
Survey of School System Finances, OMB Number 0607-0700. The Census 
Bureau's collection of school district finance data and associated 
publications are the most comprehensive sources for pre-kindergarten 
through grade 12 finance data.
    These data are collected from the universe of school districts 
using uniform definitions and concepts of revenue, expenditure, debt, 
and assets as defined by Financial Accounting for Local and State 
School Systems: 2014 Edition. This survey and the Annual Surveys of 
State and Local Government Finances (OMB No. 0607-0585) are conducted 
as part of the Census Bureau's State and Local Government Finance 
program. Data collected from cities, counties, states, and special 
district governments are combined with data collected from local school 
systems to produce state and national totals of government spending. 
Local school system spending comprises a significant portion of total 
government spending. In 2019, public elementary-secondary expenditures 
accounted for 35 percent of local government spending.
    This comprehensive and ongoing time series collection of local 
education agency finances maintains historical continuity in the state 
and local government statistics community. 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 and spend funds. Increased focus on education 
has led to a demand for data reflecting student performance, graduation 
rates, and school finance policy--all of which are related to the 
collection of this local education finance data. State legislatures, 
local leaders, university researchers, and parents increasingly rely on 
data to make substantive decisions about education. School district 
finance is a vital sector of the education data spectrum used by 
stakeholders to form policy and to develop new education strategies.
    The revisions, which will be incorporated in the FY 21 collection 
scheduled for mailing in January 2022, will expand the collection of 
data items in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to include additional 
federal assistance funds. In addition to continuing the collection of 
several data items for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic 
Security (CARES) Act, four new data items will be added for the 
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 
(CRRSA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP Act). The Coronavirus 
Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSA), 
Public Law 116-260, was enacted on December 27, 2020. CRRSA authorizes 
$82.00 billion in support for education. The American Rescue Plan Act 
(ARP Act) was enacted in March 2021. Under the ARP Act, $169.46 billion 
was allocated to the U.S. Dept. of Education to support ongoing state 
and institutional COVID-19 recovery efforts. The ARP included 
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) allocations in 
the amount of $121.97 billion.
    The Census Bureau also plans to modify the expenditure items 
collecting data on the CARES Act to include expenditures from all 
COVID-19 federal assistance funds, accounting for the passage of these 
two laws by Congress. The collection of expenditures for COVID-19 
federal assistance funds will also be expanded with two new data items 
for operation and maintenance of plant support services expenditures, 
and food services operation expenditures by local education agencies. 
These two new data items and their definitions exactly match data items 
collected on the National Public Education Financial Survey, a state-
level school finance collection also sponsored by NCES and administered 
by the Census Bureau.
    In addition to these changes, the Census Bureau will also remove 
two revenue data items from the COVID-19 federal assistance funds 
section of the survey; the data items collecting revenue amounts for 
local education agencies for the CARES Act Education Stabilization 
Fund--Rethink K-12 Education Models (ESF-REM) Discretionary Grant and 
the CARES Act Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project 
SERV). The finance amounts received by local education agencies for 
these two grants were minimal or nonexistent, and therefore no longer 
necessitated the collection of these two data items on the survey.
    The education finance data collected and processed by the Census 
Bureau are an essential component of the agency's state and local 
government finance collection and provide unique products for users of 
education finance data.
    The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses data from the survey to 
develop figures for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). F-33 data items 
specifically contribute to the estimates for National Income and 
Product Accounts (NIPA), Input-Output accounts (I-O), and gross 
domestic investments. BEA also uses the data to assess other public 
fiscal spending trends and events.

[[Page 53945]]

    The Census Bureau's Government Finances program has disseminated 
comprehensive and comparable public fiscal data since 1902. School 
finance data, which comprised 35 percent of all local government 
spending in 2019, are currently incorporated into the local government 
statistics reported on the Annual Surveys of State and Local Government 
Finances. The report contains benchmark statistics on public revenue, 
expenditure, debt, and assets. They are widely used by economists, 
legislators, social and political scientists, and government 
administrators.
    The Census Bureau makes available detailed files for all school 
systems from its internet website, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances.html. This website currently contains data 
files and statistical tables for the 1992 through 2019 fiscal year 
surveys. Historical files and publications prior to 1992 are also 
available upon request for data users engaged in longitudinal studies. 
In addition to numerous academic researchers who use F-33 products, 
staff receive inquiries from state government officials, legislatures, 
public policy analysts, local school officials, non-profit 
organizations, and various Federal agencies.
    The NCES use these annual data as part of the Common Core of Data 
(CCD) program. The education finance data collected by the Census 
Bureau are the sole source of school district fiscal information for 
the CCD. NCES data users utilize electronic tools to search CCD 
databases for detailed fiscal and non-fiscal variables. Additionally, 
NCES uses F-33 education finance files to publish annual reports on the 
fiscal state of education.
    Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal government.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 8(b), 161 and 182; Title 
20 U.S.C., Sections 9543-44.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0700.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-21191 Filed 9-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P