Page 36 - AASBO EDGE Spring 2025

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BY KIMBERLY DUGDALE
The Century Mark That Counts: Arizona's 100-

Day School Count, Funding, Federal Influences,
Kimberly Dugdale
And The Averaged Celebration

Arizona's school funding model, a complex system Auditor General's Office provides resources such as
rooted in the 100-day count, is pivotal in determining the Uniform System of Financial Records (USFR)
the financial resources allocated to schools. While which guides financial reporting.
grounded in data and policy, this system also
embraces a lighthearted tradition: students and staff While the 100-day count primarily impacts state
dressing up as elderly individuals, adding a touch of funding, federal programs also utilize enrollment
whimsy to the milestone. and attendance data, creating a connection to the
information gathered during this period. Federal
The foundation of this system lies in the 100- Programs such as Title I, Part A, which improves
day school count, established in 1980 as part of basic programs operated by local educational
a significant school finance reform. This count agencies, often consider school enrollment and
calculates the Average Daily Membership (ADM), poverty data for funding allocations.
a crucial metric for state funding allocation. It
is important to remember that this is an averaged Similarly, funding under the Individuals with
figure, not a single-day count, ensuring stability in Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is often tied to
financial distribution. the number of students with disabilities served by
a school district, making enrollment data crucial
ADM is calculated by summing the total number for determining these allocations. Eligibility and
of students enrolled each day for the first 100 days funding for the National School Lunch Program are
and dividing that sum by 100. This process creates also influenced by student enrollment and income
an average, smoothing out daily fluctuations in data. Although federal funding does not directly use
enrollment, providing a more stable and representative the 100-day count in the same way that the state
figure of student enrollment than a single-day count. does, the data that is collected during the 100-day
Similarly, Average Daily Attendance (ADA) is also count period is often used to supplement and verify
an average of actual attendance over those 100 days. data used for federal funding. Federal audits will
often compare state-collected data to federal data to
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE), ensure accuracy.
through the Arizona Education Data System
(AzEDS), manages this process. Schools report On or around the 100th day, many Arizona elementary
their daily enrollment and attendance data, which schools celebrate with students and staff dressing up
is then used to calculate the ADM and ADA. as elderly individuals. While this tradition coincides
Arizona Revised Statue § 15-902 provides the ADM with the culmination of the 100-day count, it is a
adjustment legal framework. The ADE publishes separate, celebratory event. It marks the completion
information and guidelines regarding the calculation of a significant portion of the school year, provides
of ADM and ADA and the use of AzEDS. The an opportunity for educational activities related to
CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

|
36 THE EDGE SPRING 2025