School Management System for K-12 Schools and Districts
A K-12 school management system covering admissions, attendance, gradebook, fees, parent portal, and library — sized for elementary, middle, and high schools and for districts running 5-200 buildings. FERPA/COPPA defaults, ADA/ADM state reporting, standards-based gradebooks, and a free Community Edition. Used by 8,200+ K-12 schools worldwide.
A K-12 school management system unifies the operations of elementary, middle, and high schools — student information, attendance, standards-based gradebook, fees and lunch accounts, library circulation, parent communication, and state reporting — in one platform. OpenEduCat is an open-source K-12 ERP built on Odoo, with FERPA/COPPA defaults, ADA/ADM state reporting, and multi-school district mode used by 8,200+ K-12 schools.
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K-12 Student Information System (SIS)
Single student profile from kindergarten through grade 12 — demographics, enrollment history, grades, attendance, IEP/504 accommodations, immunization records, lunch eligibility, transportation route, and parent contacts. The legal record of truth for FERPA, IDEA, and state reporting.
Standards-Based Gradebook (K-5) + Traditional (6-12)
Standards-based grading for K-5 (4-3-2-1 mastery scale per Common Core, NGSS, or state standard) and traditional letter-grade gradebook for 6-12. Many districts run hybrid systems — the LMS supports both from the same student record without duplicate data entry.
Period-Wise Attendance with State Reporting
Homeroom and period-wise attendance with parent absence alerts under 5 minutes. ADA (Average Daily Attendance) and ADM (Average Daily Membership) report templates pre-configured for Texas TSDS, California CALPADS, Tennessee EIS, New York SIRS, Florida SUMS, and other state formats. Funding accuracy improves; reconstruction work disappears.
Parent Portal — Same Login Across Everything
Parents check attendance, grades, missing assignments, fee balance, lunch account, library checkouts, transportation status, and teacher messages in one app. Replaces 3-5 separate apps K-12 parents typically run. NPS for parent communication rises 30-50 points after consolidation.
IEP, 504 & ELL Accommodation Tracking
IEP (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), 504 (ADA Section 504), and ELL (English Language Learner) accommodations flag at the student level and apply automatically across attendance, gradebook, and assessment workflows. Special education case managers see a unified accommodation log per student.
Lunch Account & Free/Reduced Eligibility
Lunch balance tracking, deposit acceptance, allergen flags, and Free/Reduced Lunch eligibility per USDA NSLP rules. Direct certification with state SNAP/TANF data sources where supported; FRL data feeds Title I funding eligibility calculations.
Multi-School District Mode
A district running 40-200 schools deploys one install in multi-company mode. Each school operates with its own grading policy, attendance rules, and report card template; district-level dashboards roll up enrollment, ADA, completion, and FRL data in real time. Per-school autonomy without per-school deployment.
Transportation & Bus Route Management
Bus routes, stops, student-to-route assignment, GPS-tracked bus app for parents, and morning/afternoon attendance at the bus stop. Replaces standalone transportation software; routing and student records stay in the same database.
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Independent schools juggle PowerSchool ($8-15/student/year), Veracross or Blackbaud ($25K-100K/year), and standalone gradebook, lunch, and parent communication tools. Total LMS+SIS+adjacent spend hits $50K-200K annually for a 1,000-student school.
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OpenEduCat consolidates SIS, gradebook, fees, lunch, library, and parent portal in one platform. Annual all-in cost (hosting + Enterprise staff seats) drops below $20K for a 1,000-student school. Independent school CFOs report 60-80% spend reduction on school-management technology.
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Per-student SIS contracts (PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward) total $500K-2M annually. Renewals climb 5-10% per year; data-sovereignty concerns under state privacy laws are real. The district wants an exit ramp without sacrificing functionality.
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Self-hosted OpenEduCat in district data center or AWS GovCloud. Implementation partner handles migration from existing SIS via documented CSV/SQL paths. License spend drops to near zero; operating cost is hosting plus dedicated district IT capacity. Multi-school district mode covers all buildings on one install.
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Charter networks (KIPP, Success Academy, Aspire) and Catholic dioceses run 20-100 schools with shared central administration but per-school operational autonomy. Existing SIS platforms force one-size-fits-all configuration or expensive multi-tenancy.
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Multi-company mode gives each school its own grading policy, fee structure, and report card template while central network office sees consolidated reporting. Per-school autonomy is real; data and reporting are unified. Network-level cost is 50-70% lower than per-school SIS contracts.
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How does this compare to PowerSchool SIS or Infinite Campus?
PowerSchool and Infinite Campus are mature K-12 SIS platforms with strong state-reporting integration and per-student pricing ($8-15 per student per year typically, with annual increases). OpenEduCat is open-source under LGPLv3 with no per-student cost, self-hostable for state-privacy-law compliance, and consolidates SIS, gradebook, library, lunch, and transportation in one platform. Districts that prioritize self-hosting, data ownership, and ERP unification migrate; districts deeply invested in PowerSchool ecosystem (e.g., Performance Matters, Naviance integration) often stay. Economic break-even is around 5,000-10,000 students.
Does it support state reporting for ADA/ADM and FRL eligibility?
Yes. ADA (Average Daily Attendance) and ADM (Average Daily Membership) report templates are pre-configured for Texas TSDS, California CALPADS, Tennessee EIS, New York SIRS, Florida SUMS, and other state formats. Free/Reduced Lunch eligibility per USDA NSLP rules calculates from income certification and direct-certification data sources where supported. Title I funding eligibility calculations roll up from FRL data automatically. State reporting submission formats export one-click — district attendance clerks no longer reconstruct ADA from daily totals in Excel.
Can it handle IEP, 504, and ELL accommodations across all modules?
Yes. IEP and 504 accommodations (extended time, alternate format, reduced item count, scribe support, preferred seating) flag at the student level and apply automatically across attendance, gradebook, and assessment workflows. ELL designation triggers language-support workflows and ESSA Title III reporting. Special education case managers see a unified accommodation log per student per quarter. The system does not replace specialized IEP-management tools (Frontline IEP Direct, SEAS) but ties accommodation data into the gradebook and assessment workflows so accommodations actually apply, not just exist on a paper IEP.
Is the multi-school district mode really one install for 100 buildings?
Yes. Multi-company mode lets a district running 40-200 schools deploy one install with each school as a separate company. Each school configures its own grading policy, attendance rules, fee structure (where applicable), and report card template; district-level dashboards roll up enrollment, ADA, completion, and FRL data in real time. Per-school autonomy is genuine — a high school can run trimester grading while elementary schools run quarter grading on the same install. District IT runs one operations stack instead of 100 instances.
How long does implementation take for a 10,000-student district?
Typical 10,000-student district deployment runs 4-8 months end-to-end: 2-3 months for data migration from existing SIS (students, staff, courses, schedules, attendance history, grade archives), 1-2 months for configuration (grading scales, attendance rules, fee structures, state reporting templates), 1 month parallel run with existing SIS, and cutover at the start of an academic year. Multi-school district mode rollout typically goes building-by-building over 6-18 months for very large districts. Smaller districts (under 2,500 students) can go live in 8-12 weeks total.
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