STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Department of Education

Division of Education Analytics & Resources Bureau of School Finance

RFI 2026-NHED-BSF-01

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR:

School Finance Data System

ISSUED: February 6, 2026

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 2 of 8

PURPOSE & BACKGROUND

The State of New Hampshire Education Department’s (NHED), Bureau of School Finance (BSF), is seeking information from vendors experienced in systems used to collect, store and publish school finance data. This information will assist us with the subsequent preparation of a Request for Proposal (RFP) to upgrade and replace our current system. To identify potential solutions available in the marketplace, estimate associated costs, and assess implementation requirements and ease of adoption by NH school districts, the NHED is issuing this Request for Information (RFI).

The school finance data collection process in New Hampshire is overseen by the BSF and consists of an annual submission each fall of the “DOE25” excel spreadsheet. The DOE25 is a 25-page workbook submitted by all New Hampshire public school districts and charter schools. The report details the previous financial year including balance sheet information, detailed revenue and expenditures, and supplemental schedules. The backbone of school finance data is the NH Accounting Handbook for data standardization and the DOE25 for data collection, consolidation and analysis (see Appendix A). Both the NH Accounting Handbook and the DOE-25 were published 25 years ago and need an upgrade. School finance data is used at a local, state and federal level to produce various deliverables, as follows:

• Local: set tax rates, calculate the district cost-per-pupil and district profile, calculate indirect cost rate (see Appendix A)

• State: consolidate all DOE-25 data submissions to calculate a state-wide cost-pupil and state-wide profile, and use the data for various ad-hoc data analysis to support the NHED and the legislature

• Federal: fulfill various required annual federal reporting (see Appendix A)

As mentioned above, the backbone of school finance data will be an updated NH Accounting Handbook II (the data dictionary) which defines each segment of an account code string. To streamline the data collection process, New Hampshire is considering a Uniform Chart of Accounts (UCOA) to collect data

– see Appendix A. However, BSF recognizes that switching to a UCOA will be costly and labor-intensive for our school districts. In addition, not all our districts may be able to make the switch due to incompatible software or city districts which fall under a municipality. To that end, this RFI seeks solutions that may avoid the requirement of a UCOA or could make the implementation of a UCOA easier for our school districts.

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 3 of 8

The RFI also seek a solution to address the deficiencies in the current school finance data collection process, including but not limited to the following:

• Manual entry excel spreadsheet prone to errors and time consuming

• Inconsistency in coding via the data dictionary

• Accounting errors

• Rolled-up data that lacks granularity

• Inability to interface school finance data with other NHED data

(demographic data, etc.)

The NHED’s envisioned system would include, at a minimum, the following functional and technical elements:

Feature Description Architecture User access levels and roles, testing/training/production databases, data dictionary, flexible timing, historical data Features Bi-directional workflow, notification system, feedback, flexible submission files, data which can be calculated, consolidated, aggregated, rolled-up, and suppressed

Reporting Maintain the current level of reporting via the DOE25 file, cost per pupil, school district profile. Enhanced federal reporting process for efficiencies.

Validation Against the data dictionary, pre-defined accounting rules, account type/combinations, prior year data, external data sets from other NHED/Non-NHED systems.

User Experience Reliable data, fast processing, flexible timing, easy to use, intuitive, links to data dictionary.

Preferred Elements Data analysis tools: data dashboards, comparisons to State or other peer districts, query historical data Data integration: the ability to link to other NHED systems for more meaningful data analysis, the ability to map to Common Education Data Standards (CEDS), the ability to align with school district financial software systems, unified single sign-on experience with NHED Data Crosswalk: a solution for schools which may not be able to use a UCOA Data Implementation: implementation tools for district’s converting to a UCOA

BSF recognizes that vendors may have expertise in one or more, but not all, components of a school finance data system. For purposes of this RFI, those components include:

• Data Collection

• Data Warehousing

• Data Publishing

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 4 of 8

This RFI seeks information from vendors who can provide a solution to one or more of the functional areas identified above. Firms are not required to address all three areas. Respondents should identify which functions their solution supports.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this RFI is to determine:

• Any available options in the marketplace for collecting, storing, and effectively using school finance data.

• If the most effective solutions will include parsing out the requirements for data collection, warehousing, and analysis or a combined solution.

• What firms may be interested in this work and their depth of knowledge and experience.

• If there are solutions that do not require a school district’s use of the

UCOA.

• If there are solutions for districts that may not be able to adopt the UCOA due to financial or time constraints or municipal structure.

• If there are implementation tools to make adoption of the UCOA easier for school districts.

It is anticipated that the information gathered in this project will be highly beneficial to inform the NHED’s decision making process for a school finance data system.

LIABILITY

This RFI has been issued to obtain information only and is not intended to result in a contract or vendor agreement with any respondent. The NHED is seeking vendor community insight and information prior to finalizing business, functional, operational, and technical requirements for a Request for Proposal (RFP).

This solicitation for information does not commit the State to publish an RFP or award a contract. The State shall not be held liable for any costs incurred by the vendor in the preparation of its response. The issuance of an RFP as a result of information gathered from these responses is solely at the discretion of the State. Should an RFP be issued, it will be open to qualified vendors, whether or not those vendors chose to submit a response to this RFI. The RFI is not a pre-qualification process.

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 5 of 8

RESPONSE SUBMISSION AND DUE DATE

Respondents to this RFI are requested to provide the information under REQUESTED INFORMATION below. The NHED should receive responses to this RFI no later than Friday, March 13, 2026.

Submittal Method:

• PREFERRED: Response by electronic mail

• OPTIONAL: Regular mail

To - Point of Contact:

Beth Gregory, FY23 SLDS Project Manager Division of Education Analytics and Resources Bureau of School Finance New Hampshire Department of Education 25 Hall St., Concord NH 03301 Email: beth.j.gregory@doe.nh.gov Mobile: (603) 931-9419

Submittal Deadline:

No later than 4:00 PM on Friday, March 13, 2026.

Process:

• The RFI will be posted at: https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant

• The BSF and SLDS Project Team will review the responses

• Vendors may or may not be contacted to provide further details regarding their solution

RFI Inquiries:

For inquiries regarding this RFI, please email the RFI Point of Contact.

https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 6 of 8

REQUESTED INFORMATION

Proposed Solution -

• Describe the firm’s theoretical solution and whether it is predicated on the use of the UCOA or offers an alternative solution for collecting data.

• State the firm’s ability to offer a solution for one or more of the following: data collection, data warehousing, and data publishing based on current, not planned, capabilities.

• State the firm’s ability to produce a solution within the timeframe noted in this RFI.

• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the firm’s proposed solution.

• Describe the risk factors associated with the firm’s solution and how the firm would mitigate them.

• Describe the firm’s plan to address implementation, training, and support associated with installation of a software system.

• Include any additional comments or suggested alternatives, as deemed appropriate based on your industry knowledge and expertise, that you feel would be beneficial to the NHED.

Technical Requirements –

• Provide details of the proposed software solution for database management and the required licensed software.

• Describe the firm’s approach to developing all custom-built software components.

• Describe the potential for compatibility with other NHED systems such as iNHDEX and Grant Management System (GMS).

• Describe the relevant experience the firm has with hosting a data system and how the firm anticipates hosting the data system.

• Describe the firm’s ideology and management of data security and data privacy.

• Describe if any platform components are third party or proprietary.

• Describe how the firm’s solution would support user maintenance of data that may change periodically.

• In the event of contract termination, describe options for data migration and ownership and system conversion and ownership.

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 7 of 8

Appendix A – Additional Information

The following are resources that firms may find helpful when responding to this RFI:

NH Accounting Handbook:

https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/nh-financial-accounting-handbook-for-local-education-agencies.pdf

DOE 25 Excel Template:

https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/financial-reporting-requirements

SLDS Grant Website:

https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant

School District Profile:

https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-educator-and-analytic-resources/bureau-of-education-statistics/financial-reports

Federal Reporting (required annual submission):

The state-wide data is used to meet the following federal reporting requirements through a manual submission process:

• F-33 – Annual Survey of School Finance to US Census Bureau -https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/npefs.html

• School Level Finance Survey (SLFS) to USED – https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/data_slfs.asp

• National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) – https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ccdnpefs/ https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/nh-financial-accounting-handbook-for-local-education-agencies.pdf https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/nh-financial-accounting-handbook-for-local-education-agencies.pdf https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/nh-financial-accounting-handbook-for-local-education-agencies.pdf https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/financial-reporting-requirements https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/financial-reporting-requirements https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-education-and-analytic-resources/bureau-school-finance/us-education-school-finance-grant https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-educator-and-analytic-resources/bureau-of-education-statistics/financial-reports https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-educator-and-analytic-resources/bureau-of-education-statistics/financial-reports https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/npefs.html https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/data_slfs.asp https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ccdnpefs/

NH Department of Education | RFI | School Finance Data System Page 8 of 8

UCOA:

34-digit account code string

(22 required & 12 optional digits)

Fund Type Class Object Job School ID/Level

Subject Grant Undefined

3 digits 1 digit 4 digits 3 digits 2 digits 3 digits 3 digits 12 digits 3 digits

REQ’D REQ’D REQ’D REQ’D REQ’D REQ’D OPT REQ’D /OPT OPT

Type Definition Example Fund Source of Activity General, Food Service, Grant, etc.

Type Classification Asset, Liability, Revenue, etc.

Class Activity Balance Sheet, Revenue, Expenditure

Function Code Expenditure Object Expenditure Type Salaries, benefits, supplies, etc.

Expenditure Job Class Job Classification Type Teachers, Aides, etc.

School ID & Level 2-digit ID code and 1-digit level ABC School, elementary Subject Curriculum Science, math, etc.

Grant Year/ID#/Activity 2-digit year, 4-digit ID #, 6-digit activity code Assigned by NHED’s Grant Management System

Undefined

Account Type UCOA Elements Balance Sheet Fund, Type, Class

100.1.0101.000.00.000.000.00.0000.000000.000 General Fund, Balance Sheet, Asset, Cash in Bank, District-Wide

Revenue Fund, Type, Class 100.4.1111.000.00.000.000.00.0000.000000.000 General Fund, Revenue, Current Appropriation, District-Wide

Expenditure Fund, Type, Class, Object, Job, School ID/Level, Subject (optional), Grant Year/ID#/Activity (optional) 100.5.2134.211.10.551.170.00.0000.000000.000 General Fund, Expenditure, Nursing Services, Health Insurance, Teacher, ABC School (#55), Elementary Level, General Education – optional subject code

RESPONSE SUBMISSION AND DUE DATE