[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: I Had No Idea - Part 1

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
I Had No Idea - Part 1
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1196921233.shtml


   At the Robbinsdale (ISD 281)Truth in Taxation hearing, perhaps in
   response to my comments, they handed out a "Financing Education In
   Minnesota 2007-08" booklet. This is the work of the Department of
   Fiscal Analysis at the Minnesota House of Representatives. It says
   it's available on the House web site, but I haven't found it yet.
   It explains how the State aid to K-12 education is calculated for each
   district. I had no idea it was this complicated. The booklet runs 57
   pages.
   Before you can even calculate the Basic Revenue, the district must
   first compute several variations of its enrollment, what it calls
   Pupil Units.

     The Average Daily Membership (ADM) is the total headcount of
     students in a school district. Each student may not count for more
     than 1.0 ADM.
     A Weighted ADM (WADM) is calculated as follows:
     * One Kindergarten Pupil = 0.612 pupil units.
     * One Elementary Pupil (grades 1-3) = 1.115 pupil unit
     * One Elementary Pupil (grades 4-6) = 1.06 pupil unit
     * One Secondary Pupil (grades 7-12) = 1.3 pupil unit
     * "A Preschool Pupil with disabilities is counted as 1.25 pupil
       units "for the ratio of hours of service to 825 with a minimum of
       .28 ADM and a maximum of 1.25 pupil units."
       The Adjusted Marginal Cost Pupil Units (AMCPU) is the greater of
       the total of this year's WADM times 0.77 plus last year's WADM
       time 0.23, and the current WADM.
       The term "pupil units" in the aid formulas generally refers to
       AMCPU.
       Got that? Now you can calculate "Basic Revenue" by multiplying
       AMCPU times $5,074. That wasn't too hard, only a couple dozen more
       calculations to go.
       I'll continue this in Part 2, but already I'm feeling some
       sympathy for the school district.