1. School Finance Mary Lynn Christel
Public School Finance and Operations Division –
October 2015

2. Agenda Pupil Count Total Program Funding
Assessed Valuations and Mill Levies
Questions

3. Pupil Counts Funding is based on annual October pupil count
11/16/2018
Pupil Counts
Funding is based on annual October pupil count
Pupils in grades 1 through 12 are counted as either full-time or part-time. Kindergarten, special education preschool and CPP/ECARE are counted as part-time.
Counts must be finalized by November 10.
Duplicate count process -
November 13 – district documentation due to CDE Audit
November 20 – last date to resubmit data file
Count day window 5 days prior and 5 days after official count date – typically October 1 unless weekend or holiday. If absent, district can provide documentation that student re-established attendance prior to October 31.

4. Funded Pupil Count Funded Pupil Count =
Greater of K-12 FTE (not including online and ASCENT) or average of current year and up to four prior years K-12 FTE (not including online and ASCENT)
Plus Full Day Kindergarten Factor (kindergarten headcount x .08)
Plus CPP/ECARE
Plus online
Plus ASCENT
Minimum funded pupil count is 50.

5. Total Program Funding Formula
Total Program Funding equals: =(funded pupil count x formula per pupil funding) + at-risk funding + online & ASCENT funding After Total Program is calculated, the Negative Factor is Applied

6. Base Per Pupil Funding 2014-15 Base Funding - $6,121.00 2015-16
Increase of $166.72
Inflation of 2.8%
Base Funding - $6,292.39
Increase of $171.39

7. Formula Per Pupil Funding - Factors
Base per pupil funding is adjusted by factors
Cost of Living –
Reflects differences between districts for cost of housing, goods and services.
Study occurs every other year
Personnel & Non-personnel Factors
Formula in statute and based on district enrollment
Reflects cost of salaries and benefits for district personnel
Size Factor
Factors set in statute and based on district enrollment
Once the base funding has been set, the base has factors applied. These factors determine the per pupil funding amount by district and each district is different.
Cost of living – factor that attempts to reflect the differences between districts for the cost of housing, goods and services. Aspen has a higher cost of living factor than a small rural district.
Personnel costs factor – based on enrollment and incorporates cost of salaries and benefits for district personnel.
Size factor – driven by enrollment and attempts to reflect purchasing power within districts. Small districts have greater size factor adjustments.
At-risk funding – based on the numbers of students qualifying for free lunches
On-Line funding – based on the number of students enrolled in an online program within the district. There are various rules that make a student eligible to be counted.
Once these factors are applied to the base, a total per pupil funding amount is determined for district. This amount is then multiplied by the district’s funded pupil count to arrive at total program funding.

8. At-Risk Funding Determine At-Risk Funding
11/16/2018
At-Risk Funding
Determine At-Risk Funding
At-risk funding based on K-12 free lunch counts
Formula uses actual count or calculated grades 1- 8 percentage
Concentration factor – applied to districts with at-risk percentage greater than statewide average.
Concentration factor is difference between district at-risk percentage and statewide average.

9. Online & ASCENT Funding
Online and ASCENT funding is calculated by multiplying the fixed per pupil funding amount times the online and/or ASCENT count.
Total Program Funding equals =
(funded pupil count x formula per pupil funding)
+ at-risk funding + online & ASCENT funding
Once Total Program is determined, the negative factor is applied
– 12.13%

10. Illustration of Total Program Funding Calculation
Illustration Examples
Low PPR
High PPR
On-line PPR
Funded Pupil Count
7,715.5
65.4
63,274.0
Base Funding (BF)
$6,292.39
Cost of Living (CL)
1.186
1.175
1.244
Personnel Costs (PL)
88.49%
80.02%
90.50%
Size (SZ)
1.0297
2.3379
Formula Per-Pupil Funding [SZ*[(BF*CL*PL)+(BF*(1-PL))]
$7,545.71
$16,771.03
$7,910.03
At-Risk Pupil Count
2,431.0
28.0
6,199.0
"Base" At-Risk Funding % * Formula Per-pupil Funding
$905
$2,013
$949
"Population" At-Risk Funding
district % > state %
N/A
Total At-Risk Funding (included in Total Per-Pupil Funding)
$2,201,234
$56,351
$5,884,111
On-line Pupil Count
2,674.5
Per-Pupil Funding
$7,588
Total On-Line Funding
$20,294,106

11. Total Program Funding (continued)
Total Program Formula
(Pre – Negative Factor)
$60,420,134
$1,153,176
$505,521,914
Per-Pupil
(Pre - Negative Factor)
$7,831.01
$17,632.66
$7,989.41
Total Program Formula Guarantee
$60,762,803
$515,052
$498,309,325
Minimum Per-Pupil Funding Guarantee
$7,875.42
Negative Factor %
($7,372,181.89)
($139,911.64)
($61,333,567.89)
Total Program Funding
(Post - Negative Factor)
$53,390,621
$1,013,264
$444,188,346
Total Program Per-Pupil Funding (Post -Negative Factor)
$6,919.92
$15,493.34
$7,020.08

12. Specific Ownership Taxes (SOT)
SOT are paid on motor vehicles – collected by counties
Counties distribute SOT to all taxing entities in the county
Distributed based on the proportion of property taxes collected by each taxing entity
Property Taxes + Specific Ownership Taxes = Local Share
Total Program – Local Share = State Share

13. Specific Ownership Taxes Calculation for Local Share
Reported by district through data pipeline
Adjusted by prior year mill levies.
Sample Calculation Total Program Specific Ownership Taxes
Total SOT Reported by District
Total Mills
Override Mill
Bond Mill
Net Mills
Percentage Applied
Actual SOT applied to local share
1,626,190.99
46.794
10.179
9.996
26.619
925,066.85

14. Property Tax & Assessed Values
Odd Years – reassessment year for counties
2015 is reassessment year
In August, assessors send preliminary AVs to districts
In December, assessors send final AVs to districts and CDE
AVs are plugged into the school finance formula and the local share is determined based upon mill levies
Once the local share is determined (property tax plus specific ownership tax), the state “backfills” the rest of total program
Legislative Council bases estimates for the following year on the December actuals – built into School Finance Act

15. Property Tax & Assessed Values
Mill levies
Equals one-tenth of one percent (.001)
Assessed values based on percentage of actual value
Residential – 7.96% of actual
Most other (commercial) – 29%
In , total program mill levies were frozen at 27 mills or less
Four districts that have not passed TABOR elections are a bit different
AV X mill levy = property taxes
$10,000,000 AV X .027 mills = $270,000 property tax

16. Illustration of Two Districts
11/16/2018
Illustration of Two Districts
Interest free loan program available for districts with little or no state aid.

17. 2016 Legislative Session November, 2015
Governor Submits Budget Request for
THIS IS ONLY A PROPOSAL!
Late November/December 2015
Joint Budget Committee Hearings with Department
The JBC hears about the Budget Request from the Department and seeks any information
January 2016
Governor Submits Supplemental Budget Request for
Adjusts the Current Year Budget for actual Pupil Counts, AVs, etc.
Governor Submits Budget Amendments for next budget year
Revised estimates for next year’s students, AVs, etc based on actual
Spring 2016
JBC Develops State Budget – Figure Setting & Long Bill – pass by GA
SB sets starting point – no change in negative factor
School Finance Bill Introduced and passed
Adjusts the Long Bill numbers

18. http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance Website Resources
All things Public School Finance are located on the CDE website:
State Share Payment Reports and Calculation Worksheets can be found here: