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Tuition School districts are required to pay tuition for resident students attending charter schools or receiving special education services from other public or private schools. The amount paid per student is based on rates established by the New York State Education Department (SED). How Should District Officials Verify that Tuition Payments Are Accurate and Supported? The board and district officials are responsible for adopting written policies and procedures which provide sufficient guidance for employees involved in the payment of tuition. These procedures should involve periodically reviewing tuition payments to ensure the district is only billed for students residing within the district and tuition charges have been calculated correctly using the appropriate SED rate. Charter school invoices should be supported by sufficient documentation to verify both residency and attendance such as a roster of resident students, which includes physical mailing addresses and parent/guardian names, adequate proof- of-residency and attendance records. Tuition costs are based on attendance or full-time equivalent (FTE) attendance. FTE is the decimal expression of the enrollment of a student in a school compared to the length of the annual school session.1 Prior to payment, district officials should use these records to verify that tuition charges have been calculated correctly. Tuition invoices from private and other public schools for special education costs should be properly itemized and provide all pertinent information, including supporting documentation, required for audit. Prior to payment, invoices should be compared to the student’s individualized education program (IEP) to ensure that the services provided and the recommended frequency are accurate, residency information is up-to-date and that the district is charged the appropriate rate. Tuition Payments Were Not Accurate We reviewed the FTE calculations for a sample2 of 37 students (26 charter school students and 11 special education students) for whom the District was billed $504,000 in tuition. We recalculated tuition costs and FTEs using attendance records for charter school students and IEPs for special education students to verify that the District was billed for the correct services and frequency. We found that tuition was 1 A student who is enrolled for the full school year has an FTE of 1.0, while a student who is only enrolled for half of the school year has an FTE of 0.5. 2 See Appendix B Audit Methodology and Standards for information on the sample selection process. 2 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller