New Jersey Department of Education

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School Finance

School Register

School Register
Common Questions and Answers

Q: I have fatal edits that are telling me that I have enrollments that are not consistent with the budgeted cost data submitted on the revised audsum column of the budget?

A: Beginning with the 2014-15 school year, edits have been added to the SRS to ensure that the enrollments entered to the various grade or special education program categories are consistent with the budgeted costs for these grades and programs. Please verify that the program in which you have entered students is correct and corresponds to the direct costs entered to the revised audsum column of the budget.

Q. Why are the NCLB reporting screens no longer included on the SRS?

A: Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, the data will be collected elsewhere. We will no longer be collecting this data as part of the SRS.

Q: What transfer code do I use when a student leaves a program/school/district to attend another?

A: Refer to NJ Smart Sid Management Student Handbook for a list of all acceptable transfer and dropout codes.

Q: Whose responsibility is the transfer card?

A: The transfer card must be completed by the transferring school and sent directly to the student's new school. The card must be sent the first day after the student's last day of attendance.

If the student's former school fails to send the transfer card, it should be requested by the new school with the request for the student's records.

No child shall be excluded from public school due to a school's failure to provide a transfer card.

Q: What if a student transfers from a school in another state and a transfer card is not sent?

A: New Jersey does not have jurisdiction over the register procedures of other states. The new school should make efforts to obtain the transfer information from the student's former school when requesting the student's records.

Q: When may a student who is in the district for the full school year be enrolled for less than 180 days?

A: In some instances preschool handicapped students may have four days a week of attendance because the fifth day of the week is used for evaluations and conferences. For that reason a preschool handicapped class may have less than 180 days of possible enrollment and attendance.

Q: What about a student with an IEP that states that the student is not required to attend 180 days of school?

A: This is a very unusual situation, and should be reserved for only those students with very fragile health. When a child study team has determined that it is not in the best interest of a student to attend school, the district may wish to consider transferring the student to home instruction. A student may be placed on home instruction only if the placement meets the requirements of N.J.A.C. 6:28-4.5.

Q: What absences are excused?

A: Absences are excused for religious observances. The school register only recognizes attendance of enrolled students as being present, absent or excused for religious observance, bring your child to work day, college visits (limited allowance) or closure of busing district.

Q: How many days must I keep a student on the register when the student does not attend?

A: It is the school's responsibility to account for the student within ten days of the student's first day of absence. The school must determine that the student is absent for a specific reason, has transferred, is receiving an approved alternate form of instruction or has dropped out of the school system. Unless the student is absent and plans to return to school, the appropriate transfer, dropout, or ceasing to attend code must be entered in the register. The school must make a good faith effort to determine the reasons for the absence or the student's school status before recording the student as a dropout. If the student's school status is unknown after the investigation period, the student must be recorded as a dropout (D8) "reason unknown."

Q: What school register software or other computerized register systems are approved by the State?

A: The State does not approve or endorse any school register software or other computerized register system. A school district may elect to record enrollment and attendance data on a computerized register, if the computer program meets the requirements of the manual system and can produce the same reports upon request.

A school district using a computerized register system does not need to produce "hard copy" of the data each month. They must, however, maintain their data files on electronic media and maintain access to software that wrote the data files for retrieval purposes.

If the register information is computerized or kept manually in a central location, each classroom teacher must keep a separate record of daily attendance.

Q: How do I report shared-time students?

A: Shared-time students are the only students who may appear on two registers simultaneously. A shared-time class is counted as a full day each day for the number of days open (must be at least 180 days), but each student is reported as either ½ day present or ½ day absent.