[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: I Had No Idea - Part 4

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
I Had No Idea - Part 4
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1197149139.shtml


   I was going to give you another round of the tedious calculations used
   to calculate Minnesota's State aid to K-12 public school districts,
   but it's hard to top logarithmic school bus aid. Instead, let me give
   you another perspective, the entire list of available money:
    1. Basic Revenue ($5,000,427)
    2. Extended Time Revenue ($46,010)
    3. Gifted & Talented Revenue ($12,000)
    4. Basic Skills Revenue
          + Compensatory ($182,167)
          + Limited English Proficiency ($57,630)
    5. Elementary Sparsity Revenue ($84,584)
    6. Secondary Sparsity Revenue ($379,282)
    7. Transportation Sparsity Revenue ($112,000)
    8. Operating Capital Revenue ($160,974)
    9. Equity Revenue ($105,223)
   10. Training & Experience Revenue ($66,000)
   11. Alternative Compensation Revenue ($260,000)
   12. Transition Revenue ($56,794)
   13. Special Education
          + Base Revenue ($132,450)
          + Extra Cost Aid ($95,966)
          + Home Based Travel Aid
          + Special Pupil Aid
   14. Capital Expenditures
          + Health & Safety Revenue ($23,893)
          + Alternative Facilities
          + Debt Service Revenue ($172,500)
   15. Telecommunications Access Revenue ($20,000)
   16. Abatement Revenue
   17. Access to Minnesota's Transition Program for Children with
       Disabilities
   18. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs
   19. Consolidation Transition Revenue
   20. First Grade Preparedness Grants
   21. Integration Revenue

   The amounts shown are from the worked examples in the "Financing
   Education in Minnesota 2007-08" publication I've been studying in
   parts [1]1, [2]2, and [3]3. These are for the mythical Gopherville
   school district, a 90 square mile rural district of about 1,000
   students. The grand total is $6,968,080, about $7,000 per student. (I
   so want to call it Gopher Prairie!)
   There is also Federal aid and of course, local property tax levies.
   There are also a number of programs for Adult Education, Community
   Education, and pre-Kindergarten students, plus non-public, Magnet, and
   Charter schools.
   Finally, there are tangential programs listed for nearby public
   libraries and welfare (Head Start, school breakfast subsidies, for
   example).
   A commenter asked a good question: who does this math? The District?
   The State? Software? I'll find out. There are many other questions,
   too, like how does one get from a rural Gopherville $7,000 State aid
   per student to the $15,000 total spending per student that some urban
   Districts spend? I'll work on that, too.
   Meanwhile, I have to go back to a couple of those formulas, and I
   think you'll see why, in Part 5.

References

   1. http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1196921233.shtml
   2. http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1196952124.shtml
   3. http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1196986085.shtml