IN$ITE Questionnaire

What is In$ite™?      In$ite Manual

In$ite™ – the Finance Analysis Model for Education - is software designed as an easy-to-understand information and finance reporting system for school district expenditures.

• The State Legislature in collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Education has established a more detailed and informative system of reporting education expenditures for all school districts. This project was originally called "Coopers and Lybrand" or In$ite™. (Fox River Learning, Inc. now owns the In$ite™ program.)

• In$ite™ includes all sources of funding (federal and state grants, town/city general revenue funds, state aid, and other specialized funds that each district may receive) to analyze each district's expenditures.

• With the millions of dollars being spent to educate our young people, it makes sense that decision-making data be available to district leaders, school leaders, and state leaders regarding where our resource dollars are being spent. In$ite™ is a system tool that helps greatly in this effort, as it provides consistent ways to review expenditures for every school district and in the near future for every school.

• Every district's costs should not be the same - there are many policy and education program decisions for their particular student body that every district has the ability to make in the best interests of their students and with the resources available to them. In$ite™ will provide a consistent method to look at the related financial information for each district.

How does In$ite™ group school district expenditures?

By Function

In$ite™ categorizes each district expenditure into one of five broad categories (called functions):

These functions provide a simple overview of how district funds are used to operate schools and to educate students. See below for details of each major function area.

By Education Program

In$ite™ also assigns each expenditure to one of six broad program categories found in most school districts:

These programs provide a simple overview of the costs for each district’s specific educational programs for their students.

By School Site and Grade Grouping Levels

In$ite™ groups the same expenditure dollars described above (by Function and by Education Program) and also views them for each school location in a district. In$ite™ combines dollars for individual schools into grade level totals for each district:

What is included in each major function area?

Each major function is divided into sub-functions, and then into detail functions as shown on the following list:

Instruction
	Face-to-Face Teaching
		Instructional Teachers
		Substitutes
	Classroom Materials
		Pupil Use Technology and Software
		Instructional Materials, Trips, and Supplies

 

Instructional Support
	Pupil Support
		Guidance and Counseling
		Library and Media
		Extracurricular
		Student Health & Services
	Teacher Support
		Curriculum Development
		In-Service, Staff Development and Support
		Sabbaticals
	Program Support
		Management/Administration
		Therapists, Psychologists, Evaluators, Personal Attendants, and Social Workers

 

Operations
	Non-Instructional Pupil Services
		Transportation
		Food Service
		Safety
		Student Health and Services
	Facilities
		Building Upkeep, Utilities, and Maintenance
	Business Services
		Data Processing
		Business Operations

 

Other Commitments
	Contingencies
		Budgeted Contingencies
	Capital
		Debt Service
		Capital Projects
	Out-of-District Obligations
		Public, Parochial, Private, and Charter School Pass-Throughs
		Retiree Benefits and Other
		Enterprise/Community Service Operations
	Legal Obligations

 

Leadership
	School Management
		Principals & Assistant Principals
		School Office
	Program/Operations Management
		Deputies, Senior Administrators, and Researchers (Superintendent’s Cabinet)
	District Management
		Superintendent and School Board
		Legal Services

For each of the above detail functions, there are specific definitions which are used by all Rhode Island school districts. Use of these function definitions will enable consistency in reporting to occur throughout the state.