Communication Materials

Common Core of Data (CCD) School-Level Finance
Survey (SLFS) 2016-2018

Appendix A
Communication Materials

OMB# 1850-New v.1

September 2016
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Contents:
A.1. SLFS 2016 Announcement letter to Respondents
A.2. SLFS 2016 Instructions

1

[Date], 2017
Dear Fiscal Coordinator:
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the U.S. Census Bureau would like to
thank you for your participation in the FY 2016 School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS).
Policymakers, researchers, and the public have voiced concerns about the distribution of school
funding within elementary-secondary school districts. This survey provides a central source of
data for examining the extent to which school-level education resources are distributed across
and within school districts. Your assistance enables us to collect and report school-level
education finance information that will be valuable to a variety of data users. Please be aware
that public records retained from this collection do not require confidentiality.
The purpose of this letter is to officially announce the opening of the collection for the FY 2016
survey. I have enclosed the FY 2016 survey form and the materials you need to participate,
which will assist you with your data submission. If you need additional information or have
questions about any of the data items, please feel free to contact me or the SLFS staff at the
Census Bureau at (800) 622-6193 or [email protected].
We look forward to working with your state on this pilot survey. The success of this voluntary
collection will be due to your cooperation, and we greatly appreciate your efforts.
Sincerely,

Stephen Q. Cornman, Project Director
School-Level Finance Survey Pilot
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
[email protected]
(202) 245-7753

FY 2016 SLFS FILE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - Send a File Utility
This is a user-friendly method of sending your data files to the Census Bureau.
1. Go to the URL: https://secure.census.gov/cgi-bin/sendfile
2. When prompted, login with your User-ID and Password. (User-ID = govselsec; the
Password will arrive in a separate e-mail.)
3. Browse to the file to be uploaded.
4. Select the file to be uploaded in the directory browser pop-up.
5. Click “Open” button in the directory browser pop-up. This closes the pop up, and
places the file name (and its full path) in the text field labeled “File to Send.”
6. Optionally, provide a different name in the “New File Name” text field. This new
name will be used to save the file on the target server.
7. Provide sender’s email address in the text field labeled “Sender’s Email Address.”
8. Please enter [email protected] in the text field “Census Bureau Employee’s EMail Address.” An e-mail will be sent to this e-mail address when the upload process
is complete letting staff know your data have been uploaded to the Census Bureau.

Note: If you cannot locate the password, please contact SLFS staff by phone or e-mail.
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (800) 622 – 6193