Uniform Per Student FundingFormula for Public Schools and Public Charter Schools Act of 1998Bill 12-615

Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous

A BILL IN THE
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous introduced the following bill, which was referred to the
Committee on _____.

To establish a uniform Per Student Funding Formula to determine annual payments to the
District of Columbia Public Schools and annual payments to Public Charter Schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this act may be cited as
the "Uniform Per Student Funding Formula for Public Schools and Public Charter
Schools Act of 1998".

Sec. 2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this act, the term:

(1) "Adult education" means services or instruction below the college level
for adults who:

(A) Lack sufficient mastery of basic educational skills to enable them to function
effectively in society;

(B) Do not have a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education
and who have not achieved an equivalent level of education; or

(C) Have limited ability in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English
language and whose native language is a language other than English.

(2) "Alternative school" means a specialized program
providing instruction to students under court supervision or short- and long-term
suspension from a regular DCPS academic program.

(3) "Consumer Price Index" (CPI) means the Consumer Price
Index for all urban consumers for Washington, DC-MD-VA, Index Base Period 1982-84 or its
successor, as issued by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(4) "District of Columbia Public Schools" (DCPS) means the
system of public schools as a local education agency under the control of the Board of
Education or of the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees in their function.
The term does not include Public Charter Schools.

(5) "Foundation" or "foundation level" means the
amount of funding per weighted student needed to provide adequate regular education
services to students. Regular education services do not include special education,
language minority education, summer school, capital costs, state education agency
functions or services funded through federal and other non-appropriated revenue sources.

(6) "Full-time equivalent" means student enrollment for the
equivalent of –

(A) Five hours or more per school day for a minimum of 180 school days;
or

(B) In the case of evening adult education courses three hours per
night for a minimum of four nights per week for 36 weeks per school year.

(7) "Limited English Proficient/Non-English Proficient"
(LEP/NEP) means students identified in accordance with federal law as entitled to English
as a second language or bilingual services on the basis of their English language
proficiency.

(8) "Per student funding formula" (formula) means the formula
used to determine annual operating funding for DCPS and Public Charter Schools on a
uniform per student basis, as directed by section 2401 of the School Reform Act of 1995,
(110 Stat. 1321; D.C. Code §31-2853.41) (Reform Act).

(9) "Public Charter School" means a publicly funded school
established pursuant to sections 2201 through 2214 of the Reform Act; and except as
provided pursuant to sections 2212 (d)(5) and 2213 (c)(5) of the School Reform Act that
are not part of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

(10) "Residential school" means a DCPS or Public Charter
School that provides students with room and board in a residential setting, in addition to
their instructional program.

(11) "Special education" means specialized services for
students identified as having disabilities, as provided in §101 (a)(l ) of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(a)(1)) or students who are
individuals with a disabilities as provided in §7(8) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(29 U.S.C. 706(8)).

(12) "State level costs" means costs incurred by the DCPS in
its function as a state education agency, including the census of minors pursuant to
Section 1 of An Act to provide for compulsory school attendance for the taking of a
consensus in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, (43 Stat. 807; D.C. Code
§31-404), impact aid surveys, issuance of work permits, conduct of hearings and appeals,
employee certification, administration of federal aid to agencies or institutions outside
of the D.C. Public Schools or Public Charter Schools administration . For purposes of the
per student funding formula transportation of handicapped students and payment of tuition
for private placements of handicapped children are considered state level costs.

(13) "Summer school" means an accelerated instructional
program in the summer for students in targeted grades or grade spans pursuant to promotion
policies.

(14) "Weighting" is a multiplication factor applied to the
foundation cost for student counts in certain grade levels or special needs programs to
account for differences in the cost of educating these populations.

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Sec. 3. Applicability of formula.

(a) The per student funding formula shall apply to operating budget
appropriations for resident students in DCPS and Public Charter Schools of the District of
Columbia. The student count to which the formula is applied shall not include students
enrolled in private institutions providing special education services paid by the District
of Columbia or to non-resident students subject to the requirement of paying tuition
pursuant to An Act to require the payment of tuition on account of certain persons who
attend the public schools of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, (74 Stat.
853; D.C. Code §31-602).

(b) The formula shall apply only to operating budget appropriations
from the District of Columbia General Fund for DCPS and for Public Charter Schools. It
shall not apply to funds from federal or other revenue sources, nor to funds appropriated
to other agencies and funds of the District of Columbia Government.

Sec. 4. Foundation level.

The foundation level or cost of providing public education services is
$5,500 per student for FY 1999 and subsequent years. The foundation level may be revised
in subsequent years in accordance with provisions for inflation and periodic review and
revision of this formula, pursuant to sections 10 and 12 of this act.

Sec. 5. Weightings applied to counts of students enrolled at certain
grade levels.

(a) The student counts at certain grade levels and in certain programs shall be
weighted so as to provide an amount per student differing from the basic foundation level
in accordance with the following schedule:

(b) The weighting for grades 9-12, ungraded senior high school students and alternative
school students shall be phased in as follows:

FY 1999: Weighting 1.20

FY 2000: Weighting 1.25

FY 2001 and subsequent years: Weighting 1.30

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Sec. 6. Supplement to foundation level funding on the basis of the
count of special education, LEP/NEP, summer school, and residential school students.

(a) In addition to grade level allocations, supplemental allocations shall be provided
on the basis of the count of students identified as entitled to and receiving:

(1) Special education; or

(2) English as a second language or bilingual education services; or

(3) Summer school instruction for students who do not meet literacy standards pursuant
to promotion policies of the DCPS or Public Charter Schools as defined in D.C. Code
§31.2853.41 (b)(3)(B)(ii).

(b) Supplemental allocations shall be provided for each student in full-time residence
at a residential DCPS or Public Charter School.

(c) These supplemental allocations shall be calculated by application of the following
weightings to the foundation level:

(d) The above weightings shall be applied cumulatively in the counts of
students who fall into more than one of the above categories.

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Sec. 7. Pupil count.

Annual appropriations pursuant to the formula shall be based on the
number of resident students enrolled as of October 1 in the year preceding the fiscal year
for which the appropriation is made. This count shall be verified by an independent audit,
and after verification shall be transmitted to the Mayor, Council and the Authority no
later than the following January 1. If said verification has not been transmitted by
January 1, the Chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation & Parks
shall instruct the city auditor to determine the resident enrollment on the basis of the
best evidence available, and this count, as certified by the city auditor, shall be the
basis for the annual appropriation.

Sec. 8. State level costs of District of Columbia Public Schools.

(a) Transportation for handicapped students, tuition payments for
private placements for handicapped students, and state education agency functions of the
DCPS system are not covered by the formula and shall be appropriated by the Mayor and
Council as an amount in addition to that generated by the formula

(b) DCPS in its function as the state education agency for the District
of Columbia shall perform all state education agency functions for Public Charter Schools
as for private schools and for District of Columbia Public Schools in its function as a
local education agency.

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Sec. 9. Facilities allowance for Public Charter Schools.

(a) The FY l 999 Facility Allowance for Public Charter Schools will be
determined by the following formula: The total funds being estimated from all sources for
the FY 1998 DCPS capital improvement program will be divided by the SY 1997-1998 DCPS
pupil count, as defined in section 7 of this Act, to determine the "DCPS per pupil
facility cost" cost for FY 1999. For FY l 999 only, this DCPS per pupil facility cost
will be multiplied by the number of students estimated to be attending each public charter
school in SY 1998-1999 to determine the actual facility allowance payments to be received
by each charter school in FY 1999.

(b) For FY 2000 and succeeding fiscal years, the Facility Allowance for
Pubic Charter Schools will be determined as described in (a) above, except that the DCPS
per pupil facility cost for FY 2000 will be averaged with the DCPS per pupil facility cost
for FY 1999, to determine the Public Charter School per pupil Facility Allowance for FY
2000. The FY 2000 Public Charter School per pupil facility allowance will then be
multiplied by the number of students estimated to be attending each Public Charter School
in SY 1999-2000 to determine the actual facility allowance payments to be received by each
Charter School in FY 2000. This "moving average" will add one year each year
until a total of five years are included in the calculations. Thereafter the calculations
will include the most recent five years.

(c) If supplemental funds for the capital improvement program are
received by DCPS during any given fiscal year, the total of those supplemental funds shall
be added to that fiscal year’s capital improvement program in determining that year’s DCPS
per pupil facility cost in the next fiscal year’s calculations of the moving average.

(d) Request for Payment: To receive payments under this provision, a
Public Charter School must submit an application to the D.C. Council Committee on
Education by April l of the calendar year in which the fiscal year begins, indicating its
estimated enrollment for the next fiscal year and requesting payment of the Facility
Allowance.

(e) Payment of the Facility Allowance to each Public Charter School
which has applied will be made on the made on the same schedule as required for the
payment of the Per Pupil Allotments for operating funds, that is, 75% in October and 25%
by May 1st of each school year.

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Sec. 10. Cost of education adjustment.

The foundation level shall be increased annually by the average
percentage increase in the CPI for the preceding calendar year, or by 4%, whichever is
less.

Sec. 11. Procedure for adjusting appropriation in case of revenue
unavailability.

If in any given year the Council finds that full funding of the formula
from local revenues is inconsistent with legal requirements for a balanced budget, then:

(a) The Council shall reduce the foundation level accordingly, and set a schedule for
achieving or restoring full funding, however, funding shall not be less than 95% of the
previous year’s funding; and

(b) The Mayor, Council, Superintendent/CEO, Board of Education and the Emergency
Transitional Education Board of Trustees shall use their best efforts to obtain temporary
supplemental funding from other revenue sources.

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Sec. 12. Periodic revision of formula.

(a) The Mayor and Council, in consultation with representatives of DCPS and of the
Public Charter Schools, shall review and revise this formula within 2 years of its
enactment, within 2 years thereafter, and once every 4 years subsequently. Revisions shall
be based upon information and data including study of actual costs of education in the
District of Columbia, consideration of performance incentives created by the formula in
practice, research in education and education finance, and public comment.

(b) The study of actual costs of education pursuant to section 1 2(a)
shall include but not be limited to the following:

(l ) The relation of funding levels to student outcomes;

(2) Maintenance of effort in specified areas of focus to promote
continuity of effective practices;

(3) Improved techniques for determining specific levels of funding
needed to provide adequate special education services; and

(4) Improved measures of change in the cost of education.

Sec. 13. Variations in per pupil allocations not
binding on expenditures of recipient schools.

Variations from uniformity in the formula are not intended as an
exercise of the Council’s line-item authority over the DCPS budget. Allocations by the
count of students in certain grade levels and programs are intended only to generate total
appropriation amounts on a per student basis.

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Sec. 14. The application of the formula shall apply
only to charter schools until DCPS student enrollment count has been verified by the
independent audit.

Sec. 15. Fiscal impact statement.

The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report
as the fiscal impact statement required by section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia
Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat.813; D.C. Code §233(c)(3)).

Sec. 16. This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor
(or in the event of veto by the Mayor, action by Council to override the veto), approval
by the Financial Responsibility Management Assistance Authority as provided in section
203(a) of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act
of 1995, approved April 17, 1995 (109 3 Stat. 116; D.C. Code §47-392.3(a)), a 30-day
period of Congressional review as provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of
Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (7 Stat. 813; 5 D.C. Code
§1-233(c)(1), and publication in the District of Columbia Register.