"Recommendations for a Base Figure and Pupil-Weighted
Adjustments to the Base Figure for Use
in a New School Finance System in Ohio"
Date Completed:
July 1997
Highlights of the Study:
Calculated Base Costs:
Basic
Foundation Amount: $3,930 per pupil (in 1996 dollars) Pupil
weights were used to reflect supplemental costs.
Pupils in special education programs were placed
into 3 groups by disability. The following are the
excess cost weights for each group: 21.01 for Group
1, 2.86 for Group 2, and .21 for Group 3. Due
to the federal funding scheme that provides aid
for at-risk pupils, school districts incur higher
costs when the concentration of at-risk pupils exceeds
35 percent and when the concentration is less than
17 percent. This study uses a formula that provides
aid right in the middle. It calculates the cost
of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
pupils as follows: Aid per TANF pupil = (25% * Base
Figure) * (1 + TANF/total Average Daily Membership).
Major Recommendations:
In
the future, it may be a more accurate reflection
of actual costs to classify pupils in special education
programs by treatment approach rather than by disability. The
base figure should be increased by 2.8 percent each
year for inflation. The
foundation level should be reexamined every 3-5
years to ensure that it reflects expenditures associated
with the resources school districts actually need
to meet state performance objectives.
Special Features of the Study:
The base figure using the approach developed
by the panel of experts (including this study's
expert) in a1995 court-ordered study would have
been $4,649 per pupil (in 1996 dollars). The expert
performing this study modified the methodology
by eliminating all input criteria (such as teacher's
beginning salary and pupil-teacher ratio) and
by removing outlier districts according to per
pupil property wealth or median income per return
rather than per pupil basic spending.
Implementation:
The
legislature enacted House Bill 650, revising most
factors in the funding system. The legislature
adjusted the study's recommended per-pupil amount
of $4,269 (in 1999 dollars, adjusting for inflation)
to $4,063, $370 million less per year in state
foundation aid. The
increase in funding was to be phased in, beginning
with a foundation amount of $3,851 in 1999, and
reaching the projected inflation-adjusted equivalent
of $4,063 in 2002. Instead
of raising taxes themselves to pay for House Bill
650, the legislators placed Issue 2 on the May
1998 primary ballot, which asked voters to approve
a 1 percent sales tax increase, projected to generate
$1.1 billion a year. Legislators and the governor
said that the new revenues would fund $550 million
in residential property tax rebates and a $550
million increase in school funding. Voters were
skeptical and overwhelmingly rejected Issue 2. Circuit
Court Judge Linton Lewis criticized both the study
and House Bill 650 in 1999. In DeRolph II, the
Ohio Supreme Court also found fault with the legislature
for enlisting this expert and then unexplainably
altering his methods.
The basic foundation amount was determined by
looking at the weighted average per pupil basic
spending of selected school districts. After screening
all 500 Ohio school districts and eliminating
school districts that failed to meet specified
criteria, 102 schools passed the selection process.
The basic foundation amount was then adjusted
by the additional factors listed below.
Selection Process:
Removal
of districts that were among the highest or
lowest 5 percent of all districts in terms of
per pupil property wealth or median income per
return. Selection
of schools using output criteria only: passage
rates on proficiency tests, drop-out rates,
and attendance rates. Elimination
of schools that spent at unusually low or high
levels in administration, operations, and pupil
support.
Additional Factors:
The study includes considerations of: special
education costs, costs associated with at-risk pupils,
cost of living indexed by county, and transportation.
The highest cost pressure county, for all sources
other than transportation was 48.8 percent higher
than the lowest cost pressure county. The study
found that vocational education spending and spending
on gifted pupil programs were not statistically
significant and were therefore excluded.
Public Input:
None.
Prepared for:
The School Funding Task Force (The Task Force
was formed after DeRolph I, and included the Governor,
Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate,
minority leaders of the House and Senate, and was
chaired by then State Budget Director R. Gregory
Browning. The Task Force also had a staff which
included representatives of the Department of Education,
The Office of Budget and Management, and the Legislative
Budget Office).
Prepared by:
Augenblick & Myers, under a contract with
The Ohio Department of Education.
National Access
Network, Teachers College, Columbia University. Copyright 2001-2008.
Basic
Foundation Amount: $3,930 per pupil (in 1996 dollars)