Education Funding Package
What does it mean for your school?

Taken together, Senate Bill 157 and House Bill 1171 make up the education funding package for fiscal year 2008. The total K-12 funding package includes $32 million of new State money. Highlights include a 3.75 percent increase in the per student allocation, which includes approximately $33 per student that goes into the base. In addition, $4 million new State dollars have been allocated for a program to help local districts enhance teacher salaries.

Below is a brief look at some of the major pieces:

• Per student allocation for FY 08 is $4,528.80, an increase of 3.75%
• Per student allocation includes:
  • Mandatory 3% increase ($130.95 per student)
  • Additional $33 per student that goes into the base for subsequent years
• $4 million in new State dollars to establish a Teacher Compensation Assistance Program
• $1.7 million in new State dollars to fund the Education Service Agencies
• $500,000 in new State dollars (total of $1.5 million) to fund career and technical education grants
• $2.8 million to fund changes to the State Aid formula
  • New fall enrollment calculation results in more accurate student count earlier in the year – good for budgeting purposes
  • Two-year averaging eases financial impact of declining enrollment
  • One-time payment assists districts with growing enrollments
  • Small school factor frozen, replaced with small school adjustment
  • Non-sparse districts with less than 100 students must consolidate
  • 25% fund balance by 2012

For a complete breakdown of this year’s total K-12 funding package, click here.