What's the difference between Fund 199 and Fund 211?
Short answer
Fund 199 is the General Fund. It is money your board of trustees controls, with wide discretion in how it is used. Fund 211 is a special revenue fund for Title I, Part A, restricted by federal law to the purpose the grant was awarded for.
The practical difference: in 199 the question is "did the board approve it." In 211 the question is "is it allowable, necessary, reasonable, and allocable under the grant."
The detail
How to read the number. The fund code is a required three-digit code. The first digit identifies the fund group; the second and third digits identify the specific fund. So in 211, the "2" denotes the special revenue fund group and the "11" denotes the fund for ESSA Title I, Part A, Improving Basic Programs.
Fund 199, General Fund. FASRG: "This code must be used to account for funds managed by your school district's board of trustees, which has wide discretion in using this code as provided by law." It usually includes:
- transactions that result from revenues from local maintenance and operations (M&O) taxes
- payments in lieu of taxes
- foundation entitlements
- state and county revenues
- other Foundation School Program (FSP) sources that are not required to be accounted for in another fund
199 is also used to record transactions involving the instructional facilities allotment for right-to-use leased assets and financed purchases. (Code 599, the debt service fund, is used for the instructional facilities allotment for bonded indebtedness, meaning voter-approved debt.) Any locally defined codes must be converted to 199 for TSDS PEIMS reporting.
Fund 211, Title I, Part A. The full FASRG title is "Title I, Part A—Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Education Agencies, and Title I, Part D, Subpart 2—LEA programs with locally operated correctional facilities." FASRG: "This code is used to account for funds to help LEAs improve teaching and learning in high-poverty schools, in particular for children failing, or most at-risk of failing, to meet challenging State academic standards." The assistance listing number is 84.010A. Code 211 is also used for what FASRG calls "Title I—School Improvement Program (SIP)."
Special revenue funds generally are governmental funds used to account for revenue sources that are legally restricted to specific purposes, excluding expendable trusts and major capital projects. They use the modified accrual basis of accounting.
One trap worth knowing. Fund 211 is for districts that are not acting as a fiscal agent for a shared services arrangement. If your district is the fiscal agent for a Title I, Part A SSA, the fiscal agent uses Fund 300 for the SSA transactions instead.
Where this comes from
FASRG Update 20, Module 1: Financial Accounting and Reporting Appendices:
- Fund code structure, page 10. Open the source PDF at page 10
- Code 199, General Fund, page 16. Open the source PDF at page 16
- Code 211, Title I, Part A, page 18. Open the source PDF at page 18
FASRG Update 20, Module 1: Financial Accounting and Reporting, shared services arrangements (Fund 211 vs Fund 300). Open the module
Related questions
Current as of: FASRG Update 20 (TEA documents dated June–July 2026). Checked 19 October 2026.
Your situation is probably more specific than this page.
Howard is an AI assistant that has read FASRG, EDGAR and 2 CFR 200, TEA's fiscal and grant guidelines, and the full ASCENDER business documentation, and cites the page it found the answer on, every time. Ask it your actual question, free.
Districts buy Howard with a PO, invoice, or check. Pricing →