Fiscal Auditing

Fiscal Auditing staff with the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) provide auditing services on behalf of the Kansas State Board of Education. The Fiscal Auditing team's work focuses on ensuring the accuracy of state aid provided to school districts to support classroom instruction and day‑to‑day operations. Staff also conduct audits of Special Education and Driver Education programs, as well as Child and Adult Care Food Programs and School Nutrition Programs that support meal services. Well-established audit guides define the scope and criteria for this audit work and are available below in the “Audit Guides” section. 

Enrollment Handbook Available for 2026-27 School Year

The Enrollment Handbook for 2026-27 is available and posted under the "Audit Guides" section on this webpage. The Enrollment Handbook is a resource to assist schools in reporting data for student enrollment and funding purposes. Substantive changes for the 26-27 school year are highlighted in yellow.

For the 2026-2027 school year, KIDS will remain the official data source for school funding purposes. However, districts should plan to submit enrollment (ENRL) data to both KIDS and to the Kansas Education Data System (KEDS). KEDS is the new statewide longitudinal data system that will help automate student data collection and eventually replace KIDS. For the 2026-2027 school year, both KIDS and KEDS will run in parallel.

Counting KIDS 2026 Workshops

Thanks to all participants and host sites for a successful tour of KSDE's annual Counting KIDS workshops, led by Fiscal Auditing Director Laurel Murdie and Information Technology Assistant Director Kyle Lord. During each workshop, participants received important updates on the information needed to enter for funding purposes prior to student Count Day. (Note: Since Sept. 20, 2026, was a Sunday, Count Day moved to the first school day following the 20th). Count Day in 2026 was Monday, Sept. 21.

Both sets of Counting KIDS workshop presentation slides from 2026-27, including the session on KEDS updates and expectations, are available under the Additional Resources section of this webpage.

Audit Guides

Audit Guides are prepared by staff at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). Organized by topic, these guides outline the criteria and procedures used by the KSDE Fiscal Auditing team when conducting audits on behalf of the Kansas State Board of Education. The purpose of the guides is to help school districts and other entities regularly audited by KSDE Fiscal Auditing be aware of the criteria and steps used to audit state aid entitlement and prior year expenditures. Each Audit Guide may be downloaded by selecting from the document links below.

Calculators

Downloadable Calculators are resource tools built by staff at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). These Calculators are designed to help school districts and other Local Education Agencies (LEAs), including special education interlocals and cooperatives, be prepared for annual audits conducted by KSDE's Fiscal Auditing staff. Each Calculator is a spreadsheet-based document that includes an instruction tab for correctly using the workbook. Each Calculator may be downloaded by selecting from the document links below. 

Forms and Documents to Support Claims

A number of forms and documents are available to help school districts and other Local Education Agencies (LEAs) record and verify information needed to support audited state aid entitlement claims. Each resource may be downloaded by selecting from the document links below. 

Additional Resources

Additional resources are made available to school districts and other Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to help them prepare for audits conducted by KSDE Fiscal Auditing staff. These resources can be used to help auditees gather, monitor and provide accurate data. Each one may be downloaded by selecting from the links below.

For more information, contact:

Auditing
(785) 296-4976

Fiscal Auditing