Corrections

2026-10-05: October 5, 2026: Georgia district pages described an amount from the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) Financial Efficiency Star Rating file as "Expenditures excluded from the ESSA figure (GOSA)" and said it was the district's expenditures GOSA left out of the ESSA per-pupil figure. That description was wrong. The GOSA file names the column "District Excluded Expenditures" but does not define it, and for fiscal 2025 the amount is larger than the district's total K-12 spending in GOSA's revenue and expenditure report in 178 of the 180 districts that have it, so it cannot be spending left out of the per-pupil figure. The 180 Georgia district pages that show it now label it with GOSA's own column name and note that the file does not say what the amount contains; it is no longer offered in the trend chart. No figure changed, including the per-pupil spending figures. September 28, 2026: The school lists on New York district pages showed a free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) share of exactly 100% for 5,097 of 5,308 schools across 687 district pages, and 0% for four schools (Avon Primary, Willow Avenue Elementary in Cornwall, Franklin Central and Newfane Early Childhood Center). Both were wrong. The enrollment shown for each school was the lunch-eligibility file's own count rather than its enrollment, so the share divided that count by itself; for schools on universal free meals (the Community Eligibility Provision) federal data records every student as eligible, a placeholder rather than a means-tested count. The 0% figures were suppressed or unreported cells in the NCES file read as zero. Those enrollment and FRPL figures are withheld and are being replaced with enrollment from the NCES school membership file and lunch counts from the NCES lunch file, with suppressed counts left blank; no district's share of low-income students should be read from the withdrawn figures. Each affected school list carries a dated note. September 22, 2026 (later): A full review of the site removed further unsupported content. New York district pages showed automated "flags" that compared each district to benchmark figures with no documented source; they have been withdrawn, along with generated "audit findings" that used accounting and statutory language no auditor or statute supports. The Long Island page listed per-pupil spending and tax rates for named districts that did not match our own data (for example Jericho was shown at $42,150 and $18.10 per $1,000 instead of $39,650 and $14.48); town tax pages carried hand-typed rates; tax pages labeled 2025 rates as 2026–27; and some grievance calendars were wrong (Nassau County filings go to the Assessment Review Commission by March 1). All now come from the same data as the district pages, or were removed. The Hendrick Hudson superintendent was ranked highest-paid in New York at $704,444, the total NYSED reported; the salary and benefits it reported add to $352,222, so the total is now withheld with a note. Modeled teacher salary schedules shown for named districts were removed; no reviewed contract is published yet. Connecticut and Pennsylvania finance labeled "audited" is district-reported. September 22, 2026: A new source-verification check found two more errors. Connecticut district pages showed the state share of school revenue as 25.7% for all 199 districts that had it; that number was the statewide special-education average, read from the wrong table. Each district now shows its own share from its CSDE Profile and Performance Report (for example Hartford 61.2%, Andover 26.4%, Greenwich 1.0%). Six districts whose report has no revenue-source table no longer show a share. Pennsylvania showed an enrollment of 5,450 for Bryn Athyn School District that was a generated placeholder, not an NCES count; it has been withdrawn. An unsourced New Jersey salary file that could be downloaded directly, though it was not displayed on any page, was also removed. September 21, 2026:Connecticut and Pennsylvania district pages published on September 21 again showed property-tax and reserve figures that were generated estimates, not agency data: Pennsylvania millage rates, Common Level Ratios, unassigned General Fund balances and Section 688 reserve caps for 500 districts, and Connecticut mill rates, equalized net grand lists and § 10-248a reserve caps for 210 districts. Their source citations did not correspond to STEB, PDE or OPM files. All of those figures have been withdrawn; no finding about any district's taxes or reserves should be drawn from them. Source-linked PDE spending and graduation figures and CSDE Profile and Performance Report figures are unaffected. September 19, 2026: A source review found that previously published Connecticut and Pennsylvania financial and school metrics included generated estimates, and New Jersey financial fields did not consistently distinguish proposed budgets from audited results. Those unsupported claims were withdrawn. This release restores source-linked NJDOE 2023–24 TGES spending totals for 573 districts; CSDE 2023–24 reported finance for 193 districts and four-year graduation for 134; and PDE 2024–25 General Fund actual expenditures and other financing uses for 482 districts and district four-year graduation for 495. Each fact retains its own period and scope: PA finance includes other financing uses and is not audited, and NJ TGES totals must not be summed across districts. Missing, suppressed, conflicting and unmatched values remain withheld, never zero or a finding of noncompliance. Existing district directory identities remain unchanged. Demonstration educator records remain withdrawn; salary simulator grids are illustrative models, not verified contract schedules. Paid filing and audit packs remain unavailable while evidence and fulfillment checks are completed. 2026-09-22: Retracted "The ESSER cliff: which Long Island districts spent the most federal relief per student". We have retracted this article. Its ESSER per-student spending figures — Hempstead $4,200, Brentwood $3,100, Central Islip $2,850, Freeport $1,900 and a Long Island median of $1,850 — were not taken from any NYSED, ST-3 or other public filing, and we cannot source them. The correction it carried (dated June 21, 2026, about Central Islip) concerned one of those unsourced figures and is withdrawn with the article. No conclusion about any district’s federal relief spending should be drawn from it.

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