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Pupil Accounting

Michigan has two official pupil count days – the first Wednesday in October and the second Wednesday in February. The count days are used to determine the amount of state aid each district will receive. The Pupil Accounting Office works with local school districts to ensure that both the local districts and Char-Em ISD have an accurate count of students, verifies that all Michigan Department of Education (MDE) procedures are followed, and serves as a resource to local districts.

Additionally, the State School Aid Act mandates that the MDE require each district, public school academy and ISD to have a pupil membership audit by an ISD auditor. A desk audit is performed for every district each count. A field audit is performed based on a rotation schedule. The MDE requires a field audit be done on high school buildings at least once every two school years and on all middle school and elementary school buildings at least once every four school years. After completion of the audits, narratives are sent to the MDE, as well as the districts.

The Pupil Accounting Office also verifies that every district provides at least the minimum required hours of instruction for the school year and that each district had at least 75 percent of the students scheduled for instruction in attendance on scheduled days counted.