	Introduction

Congress has been actively engaged in efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), most recently amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; P.L. 107-110 ). As part of the reauthorization debate, Congress has focused on the federal role in education, particularly in the area of educational accountability, where federal efforts to hold states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools accountable for student achievement and teacher performance are under debate. In these discussions, issues related to the burden that complying with the statutory and regulatory reporting requirements associated with the ESEA have put on state educational agencies (SEAs), LEAs, and schools have been considered. This report was undertaken in response to concerns about state and local reporting burden having increased in recent years since the enactment of NCLB. It examines the hour and cost burden associated with complying with the ESEA statutory and regulatory reporting requirements associated with 16 information collection packages. Across all respondents (i.e., SEAs, LEAs, schools, and other entities), the estimated annualized state and local aggregate annual burden hours associated with responding to each of the 16 information collection packages examined ranged from 200 hours to 4.7 million hours, while the estimated annualized cost of responding ranged from $6,000 to $118.1 million. The average number of estimated annualized burden hours and estimated annualized cost burden is generally spread across numerous respondents, and the burden placed on an individual respondent for a given information collection package varies. Within information collections there can be substantial variation in the number of underlying reporting requirements or activities that are applicable to a given type of respondent. On average, the annualized burden for each of these activities ranges from 4.8 to 960 burden hours and from $120 to $24,000 per school. While some schools will not need to address any of the requirements, others may need to address one or two requirements. The overall number of estimated annualized burden hours for the information collection package prior to the enactment of the NCLB was about 564,000. Following the enactment of the NCLB, the estimated annualized burden hours associated with this information collection package peaked at 7.9 million hours (an increase in burden hours of almost 1,300%). While the hour and cost burdens associated with ESEA reporting requirements have clearly increased since the enactment of NCLB, it is important to highlight that the data collected and reported play an important role in supporting core components of the federal education policies enacted through NCLB. SEAs, LEAs, and schools use such data to gauge student performance and determine the progress schools are making in enhancing student academic achievement. Parents use these data to inform choices about their child's education, and ED uses these data to inform technical assistance efforts and monitor SEA work in a number of areas in which educational accountability is expected under the provisions of NCLB. Table 6 provides ED's estimate of the current annualized cost to the federal government for each information collection package. For a given type of respondent within a single information collection package, the respondent may not have to address every item on a given information collection package, and the cost of responding to the information collection package may vary by item (e.g., the hourly cost of responding to one item may be different than the cost of responding to another item). For example, for the "State Educational Agency, Local Educational Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA Title I, Part A" (accountability issues) information collection package, there are three types of activities or information that schools may need to address. State Educational Agency, Local Education Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA Title I, Part A: Accountability Issues

Of the 16 information collection packages examined in this report, the "State Educational Agency, Local Education Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA, Title I, Part A" (accountability issues) information collection package has the largest estimated number of annualized burden hours (4.7 million) and cost burden ($118.1 million). As of August 21, 2013, ED had approved ESEA flexibility package applications for 41 states and the District of Columbia as well as for a consortium of eight LEAs in California, and was reviewing applications from several other states. Changes in Burden over Time

Changes in the estimated annualized burden hours and cost burden associated with the "State Educational Agency, Local Education Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA, Title I, Part A" information collection package have been examined over time, beginning prior to the enactment of NCLB and continuing through the implementation of the ESEA flexibility package. Following the enactment of NCLB, the estimated number of annualized burden hours increased by over 350% to about 2.6 million hours. The most recent version of the information collection package includes an estimated decline of about 3.2 million (40%) annualized burden hours due to an adjustment in estimate. In the relevant information collection package, ED indicates that this decline is directly related to 43 SEAs having requested or indicated that they will request ESEA flexibility. Mirroring the increase in estimated annualized burden hours, the estimated annualized cost burden associated with the information collection package increased by almost 160% from the version of the information collection package that expired on October 31, 2006, to the version of the information collection package that expired on December 31, 2009 ( Table 8 ). The estimated annualized cost burden continued to increase, peaking at $169.4 million for the version of the information collection package that expired on April 30, 2012. As with the estimated annualized changes in burden hours, however, it is unknown whether the projected reduction in cost burden attributed to the ESEA flexibility package will be realized. Appendix C. Description of Statutory and Regulatory Requirements Associated with the Title I-A Accountability Issues Information Collection Package
In the Supporting Statement accompanying the State Educational Agency and Local Educational Agency and School Data Collection and Reporting under ESEA, Title I, Part A (accountability issues) information collection package, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) provides an accounting of the statutory and regulatory requirements associated with the information collection package and the related burden on state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools.
Congress has been actively engaged in efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), most recently amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; P.L. 107-110). It is anticipated that the 113th Congress may continue to work on ESEA reauthorization issues. As part of the reauthorization debate, Congress has focused on the federal role in education, particularly in the area of educational accountability, where federal efforts to hold states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools accountable for student achievement and teacher performance are being discussed. In these discussions, issues related to the burden that complying with the statutory and regulatory reporting requirements associated with the ESEA have put on state educational agencies (SEAs), LEAs, and schools have been considered.
While the burden hours and annualized costs (also referred to as cost burden) associated with ESEA reporting requirements have clearly increased since the enactment of NCLB, it is important to highlight that the data collected and reported play an important role in supporting core components of the federal education policies enacted through NCLB. SEAs, LEAs, and schools use such data to gauge student performance and determine the progress schools are making in enhancing student academic achievement. Parents use these data to inform choices about their child's education, and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) uses these data to inform technical assistance efforts and monitor SEA work in a number of areas in which educational accountability is expected under the provisions of NCLB.
This report was undertaken in response to concerns about state and local reporting burdens having increased in recent years since the enactment of NCLB. It examines the time and cost burden associated with complying with the ESEA statutory and regulatory reporting requirements associated with 16 information collection packages. For each information collection package, information is included on the purpose of the collection and data are provided on burden hours and cost burden as defined in the Paperwork Reduction Act. There is also a discussion of the current annualized cost to the federal government for each of the information collection packages. Finally, a more detailed analysis is provided for the information collection package that accounts for the largest number of the burden hours and largest cost burden of all the information collection packages examined. Currently, for respondents at the state and local levels, the overall annualized estimate of burden hours per information collection package ranges from 200 hours to 4.7 million hours and the estimated annualized cost associated with the information collection packages ranges from $6,000 to $118.1 million per information collection package.
Respondents to the 16 information collection packages include SEAs, LEAs, schools, parents, and other entities. The average number of estimated annualized burden hours and estimated annualized cost burden is generally spread across numerous respondents, and the burden placed on an individual respondent for a given information collection package varies. Within information collections there can be substantial variation in the number of underlying reporting requirements or activities that are applicable to a given type of respondent. For a given type of respondent within a single information collection package, the respondent may not have to address every item on a given information collection package, and the cost of responding to the information collection package may vary by item (e.g., the hourly cost of responding to one item may be different than the cost of responding to another item). For example, for the "State Educational Agency, Local Educational Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA Title I, Part A" (accountability issues) information collection package, there are three types of activities or information that schools may need to address. On average, the annualized burden for each of these requirements ranges from 4.8 to 960 burden hours and from $120 to $24,000 per school. While some schools will not need to address any of the requirements, others may need to address one or two requirements.
Of the information collection packages examined in this report, the "State Educational Agency, Local Education Agency, and School Data Collection and Reporting Under ESEA, Title I, Part A" information collection package, which focuses on Title I-A accountability requirements that are a core component of the federal education policy incorporated in NCLB, has the largest number of estimated annualized burden hours (4.7 million) and greatest estimated annualized costs ($118.1 million). The burden associated with this information collection package has increased substantially since the enactment of NCLB. For example, the overall number of estimated annualized burden hours for the information collection package prior to the enactment of NCLB was about 564,000 hours. Following the enactment of NCLB, the number of estimated annualized burden hours increased by over 350% to about 2.6 million hours. The number of estimated annualized burden hours associated with this package peaked at 7.9 million burden hours. The most recent version of the information collection package, however, includes an expected decline of about 3.2 million (40%) burden hours from the peak level. The changes over time in the estimated annualized cost associated with this package mirror those for the changes in burden hours, peaking at an estimated $169.4 million. The most recent version of the information collection package expects the estimated annualized cost to decrease $51.4 million (30.3%) from the peak level. ED indicated that the decline in burden hours and cost burden is directly related to 43 SEAs having requested or indicated that they will request the ESEA flexibility package being offered to states by the Administration, which provides waivers of several of the Title I-A accountability requirements included in current law. It is unknown whether the reductions in burden hours and cost burden attributed to the ESEA flexibility package will be realized. As of August 21, 2013, ED had approved ESEA flexibility packages for 41 states and the District of Columbia, as well as for a consortium of eight LEAs in California.