Financing Public Schools

The bill sets the statewide base per pupil funding amount for the 2017-18 budget year at $6,546.20, which is an inflationary increase of 2.8%, and establishes the minimum amount of total program funding for the 2017-18 budget year. The bill requires that the sum of the total program funding for all schools for the 2017-18 budget year is not less than $6,634,600,182. The bill authorizes the state board to approve supplemental assistance from the contingency reserve fund for a district that experiences an unusual financial burden that results from implementing a new program or school or expanding a program in the district that results in a 20% or greater increase in the district's pupil enrollment from the pupil enrollment used to calculate the district's total program funding for the applicable budget year. The district must reimburse the contingency reserve fund at the time funding is adjusted for actual pupil enrollment for the applicable budget year. The bill changes the terminology used in the school finance act to describe the reduction in the state's share of total program funding from the phrase 'negative factor' to 'budget adjustment'. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)