Public School Finance
Colorado Department of Education
May, 2011
Leanne Emm
Assistant Commissioner
CDE’s Strategic Initiatives
• Standards
• Assessments
• Accountability and Support
• Educator Effectiveness
• Training and Awareness
• Innovation and Choice
Colorado State General Fund Budget
2010/2011
General Government,
4%
Other
7%
Education (K-12)
43%
Human Services/Health
Care
25%
Higher Education
9%
Corrections/Judicial
13%
Source: Joint Budget Committee; Appropriations Report: Fiscal
Year 2010-11
2011 Legislative Session
SB11-230 – as amended in House
• Very simple School Finance Bill for 2011-2012
•Reduces the original appropriation from 2010-2011
by $227.5 million
•Applies a negative factor (currently known as budget
stabilization factor)
•12.97%
•Sets the total program for 2011-2012 to $5.211
billion
2011 Legislative Session
•House Amendment also:
•Identified $67.5 million as potentially available
next year
•Based on excess revenues if available
•Would be used to fund changes in enrollment, atrisk, assessed values and specific ownership tax
•Would need to go through the supplemental
appropriation process – next legislative session
•Not available until appropriated!
2011 Legislative Session
•SB11-230 as amended
•Changes the date in which the limit to bonded
indebtedness is determined
•Mainly benefits those districts that are hitting
their limit and is declining in assessed value
•Changes the date to measure the limit to
previous December valuation
2011 Legislative Session
SB11-230 As Amended
Financing of Public Schools
Total Program Funding
Original Amount
– HB10-1369
$5,438,295,823
Less amount identified
in SB11-230
($227,500,000)
Total Program Funding –
SB11-230
$5,210,795,823
2011 Legislative Session
SB11-230 As Amended
Financing of Public Schools
Total Program Funding
IF FULLY FUNDED
2011-2012
$5,987,109,016
Less amount identified in
SB11-230
– NEGATIVE FACTOR
($776,313,193)
Total Program Funding
– SB11-230
$5,210,795,823
2011 Legislative Session
• SB11-230 as amended – sets target
• Actual student counts, at-risk counts,
assessed values, specific ownership tax will
change throughout the year
• Creates supplemental appropriations which
increase or decrease the original
State of Colorado
Total Program Funding
Gaps represent rescissions and
legislative actions
$6,000,000,000
$5,000,000,000
$4,000,000,000
$3,000,000,000
$2,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$2008-09 Actual
2009-10 Actual
2010-11 Current
2011-2012
Proposed SB11230
Fully Funded Total Program
$5,354,796,950
$5,717,292,423
$5,822,814,150
$5,987,109,016
Total Program Less Rescissions
/Legislative Actions
$5,347,325,784
$5,586,087,039
$5,441,603,049
$5,188,295,823
Per Pupil Funding - Base
• 2010/2011
– Base Funding - $5,529.71
• Increase of $22.03 from prior year
• Inflation of -.6 + 1% Amendment 23 = .4%
• 2011/2012
– Base Funding - $5,634.77
• Increase of $105.06 from prior year
• Inflation of 1.9%
• Amendment 23 1% is no long in effect in 2011/2012
Per Pupil Funding - Factors
• Base funding is adjusted by factors
–
–
–
–
–
Cost of Living
Personnel costs
Size of district
At-risk funding
On-Line funding
Creates Total Program
• 2010/2011 & 2011/2012
– State Budget Stabilization Factor
– SB230 renames to Negative Factor
Colorado Summary Statistics
2010/2011
• District enrollments range from 49 to 81,192
funded students
– Total funded students in the state: 798,676
– Growth of over 37,000 students in three years!
• Average district total program per pupil
funding
– Per formula - $7,290
– AFTER 2010/2011 budget rescission- $6,811
– 2010/2011 average per pupil cut - $479
Average Total Program Funding Per
Pupil Estimates for 2011/2012
• Average total program per pupil funding
– Per formula - $7,429
– Proposed - $6,467 (School Finance Act SB11-230
as amended)
• Proposed changes from formula
– SB11-230 as amended - $962 per pupil less than
full funding
Total Program Funding
2011-2012
Local Share
36%
State Share
64%
Local Share Estimates
2011-2012
2010-2011 2011-2012
Change
$91.08B
$84.504B
($6.57 B)
(7.2%)
Property Taxes
$1.88B
$1.74B
($.142B)
(7.6%)
Specific Ownership
Taxes
$.138B
$.138B
-0-
Assessed Values
Implications of Total Program Funding
• Revenue to schools lower than the prior
year – extremely rare
• Options for school districts:
– Increase revenue through mill levy override
election or other means
– Winning competitive grants
– Decrease expenditures
– Use reserves
– Combination of all of the above
Other Legislation of Interest
• HB11-1055 – Facilities for Charter Schools – PI
• HB11-1089 – Charter School Grant Applications Signed
• HB1115 – Construction Retainage – Concur to pass
• HB11-1277 – Statutory Changes - Concur to pass
• SB11-001 – Knowledge Based Economy Fund – PI
• SB11-074 & 079 – PERA Contribution Rates & Bids for
non-instructional support – PI
• SB11-109 – Income tax check-off – passed House
with amendments - negligible
• SB11-259 – Mill levy override incentive – PI
• SB11-266 – Background Checks – School Contractors
– Concur to pass
SFSF & EdJobs
• Ideally funds spent by June 30, 2011
– If carryforward to September 30 – MORE REPORTING
– Ed Jobs could go longer, but not encouraged!
• Documentation for expenditures
• Submit Request for Funds for reimbursement
– This does not come automatically
• Website:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefisgrant/Allocations
• Contact: Elizabeth Conway – 303-866-6886
IDEA ARRA Funds
• Ideally - funds spent by June 30, 2011
– If carryforward to September 30 – MORE REPORTING
• May need to reclassify expenditures to spend funds
• Strategy:
–
spend ARRA first, then General Fund then regular IDEA
• Website:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefisgrant/Allocations
• Contact: Vicki Graham – 303-866-6129
Alternative School Finance Models
• Pilot program authorized by HB10-1183 to encourage
school districts and charter schools to collect data that
will be used to compare the effects of alternative school
finance funding models with those of the current funding
method.
• Districts/charter schools apply to participate –
applications available in early Fall
• No applications received in 2010
• What would it take to incentivize a district/charter
school to participate in the study?
Date Reminders
• Financial Policies & Procedures
– June 24 – Jeffco
• Grants Fiscal & ESLU – IDEA – see SCOOP
– June 14 – BOCES
– June 15 – Large AUs
– June 16 – Small AUs
Date Reminders
• Financial Policies & Procedures
– June 24 – Jeffco
• Grants Fiscal & ESLU – IDEA – see SCOOP
– June 14 – BOCES
– June 15 – Large AUs
– June 16 – Small AUs
Resources
• Colorado Department of Education –
www.cde.state.co.us
• Colorado Legislative Council –
www.colorado.gov/lcs
• Colorado Associate of School Executives –
www.co-case.org
• Colorado Association of School Boards –
www.casb.org
• Colorado School Finance Project –
www.cosfp.org
• Great Education Colorado www.greateducation.org
• EdNews Colorado - www.ednewscolorado.org
• The Bell Policy Center – www.thebell.org