What is the Education Freedom Account program?

The Education Freedom Account (EFA) program was launched in school year 2021-2022. It provides per-pupil education adequacy grants directly to families to use for their choice of educational programming for their school age children.

EFA Students and Public School Districts

Students who are participating in the EFA program CANNOT enroll full time in their resident district.

EFA students MAY enroll full time in districts other than their resident district, provided the district agrees. The district may charge tuition directly from the family.

Reporting EFA students enrolled in the public school

1) EFA Students attending school in their resident district:

If an active EFA student is taking classes in a public school in their resident district, they should be reported as follows:

• Enrollment status: 10

• Town of responsibility: 990

• District of responsibility: 930

• Full Day Percentage: The full day percentage field should indicate how much of the school week the student spends in the public school

  • 10% is equivalent to one half day per week

  • Full day percentage can only be reported in quantities of 5

If a student withdraws from the EFA program and re-enters the district as a traditional full time student, the district should exit the student from their enrollment status 10 record and re-enter them as a regular district student.

2) EFA Students attending school in a district OTHER than their resident district:

EFA students may attend a public school in a district OTHER than their resident district, provided the attending district agrees, on either a part-time or full time basis.

Part-time enrollments (one or two classes):

• Enrollment status: 10

• Town of responsibility: 990

• District of responsibility: 930

• Full Day Percentage: The full day percentage field should indicate how much of the school week the student spends in the public school

  • 10% is equivalent to one half day per week

  • Full day percentage can only be reported in quantities of 5

Full time enrollments:

• Enrollment status: 2

• Town of responsibility: 990

• District of responsibility: 930

• Full Day Percentage: Full day percentage is only required for a full time EFA student if the student is in Kindergarten.

  • The EFA program does not cover preschool

Overlapping enrollments between the EFA program and the public school district

Since EFA participants may enroll in public school, it is not unusual to see overlapping enrollment records between the EFA program and the public school district. Some of these overlaps may be dismissed, but others require follow-up.

If districts encounter overlaps with the EFA program during reporting, they should investigate as follows:

 1) Verify if the student is in fact enrolled in the district and has not withdrawn. 

• If the student has withdrawn and is enrolled in the EFA program, the district should update its data to reflect the date of withdrawal and withdrawal code W16 

• If the student was a summer withdrawal, the district should report the student as enrollment status 7 in the BOY and use withdrawal code W16

2) Check if the student has withdrawn from the EFA program

• If the student is enrolled in the district, the district should check and see if the EFA program’s enrollment record has a withdrawal date associated with it.

  • If the student has withdrawn from the EFA program and there is no significant overlap between the EFA program enrollment and the district’s enrollment, there is no need to pursue the anomaly further

    • For example, if the EFA record has an entry date of 9/1/2022 and an exit date also of 9/1/2022

  • Significant overlaps should be communicated to the EFA program to determine if the district or the EFA program should update its records. These overlaps should be handled the same as any other overlap between districts, with the students withdrawal from one enrollment preceding the students entry into the other enrollment.

3) Check if the student is a resident student, and their level of district participation (full time or part-time)

• EFA students who return to their resident district for one or two courses may do so if the district agrees, but students may NOT enroll full time in their resident district.

  • See the instructions earlier in this article (“Reporting EFA students enrolled in the public school”) to determine how to report part-time EFA enrollments

• EFA students who are enrolled FULL TIME in their resident district must withdraw from one or the other.  Districts should provide a list of such students to the EFA program for follow-up. It will be up to the family if they prefer to remain enrolled in the district as a traditional student, or withdraw from the district to continue in the EFA program.

4) If the student is NOT a resident student, verify that they are reported correctly

• If the student is enrolled in the district and is NOT a resident of the district, the district should report the student per the instructions earlier in this article (“Reporting EFA students enrolled in the public school”)

• These overlaps are considered explained anomalies, provided the students have been reported correctly by both the district and the EFA program, and may be disregarded in any overlapping anomaly reports