USB clarifies 'school of record' field, funding and graduation-rate consequences for LEAs

USB data staff walked LEA data contacts through the meaning and consequences of the UTRAC 'school of record' field, demonstrating how coding choices affect membership funding and federal graduation-cohort calculations.

Speaker 3 explained the field is optional on the student (S1) record: leaving it blank indicates the record is a school of record; submitting 'N' indicates that the enrollment is not a school of record for membership and funding. "If you submit a value of n, then... it will not receive membership for the student," the presenter said, adding that SOEP providers must mark 'N' and receive funding separately through SOEP business rules.

Speaker 3 emphasized graduation-rate effects: records marked 'N' are excluded from the federal four-year cohort graduation-rate calculation. If a student transfers and the receiving school reports the student as school-of-record 'N', the sending LEA may still retain responsibility for graduation counting, meaning a transfer can appear as a dropout in the sending LEA’s cohort unless exit codes are accurately used and follow-up research is done. USB staff recommended careful use of exit codes and proactive data checks to resolve cases where external enrollments are marked 'N.'

USB offered follow-up support and encouraged LEAs to contact staff with specific student-record questions.