Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 1

8 B usiness managers get this question a lot. Every time they try to put together a budget, or a forecast, or a plan, or startup their computer. Unfortunately, the question doesn’t have an easy answer. Funding in Utah is a complex web of interconnecting funding streams, some of which are based on the number of students, some on the number of weighted pupil units, some on the number of teachers, some on the demographics of students, and some on the programs a school offers. This complexity makes it hard to assign a dollar amount per student. State averages One thing we can do is get an average. Schools get money, and we have students. Since we are in schools, we can do division, even with very large numbers. In 2011, charter schools received state funding of $220,381,610 on enrollment of 40,132 students. My spreadsheet that’s open as I write this tells me that works out to a per-student funding average of $5,491. When you add in federal funding, the per-student average is $6,068. But different students are funded in different ways. Among charters that don’t offer high school grades, the total taxpayer funding (from state and federal sources) is $5,883. High schools get an average of $6,530. Actual amounts per student Why such a big difference? Charter funding in Utah recognizes that as students get older, the expertise and programs they require become more expensive, so our legislature funds them at a higher rate. Kindergarten students that are only in school for a half-day are funded much lower. For charter schools, students are funded differently by grade using a factor called the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU). The value of the WPU for this school year is $2,842. Kindergarten students are funded at 55% of that amount, students in grades 1-6 at 90%, grades 7-8 at 99%, and grades 9-12 at 120%. There are also a couple of other funding streams that flow to charter schools based entirely on the number of students enrolled. They are Local Replacement Funding ($1,710 this year) and Charter School Administrative Funding ($100). Taken together, these three funding streams make an actual per-student amount we can identify. $3,351 for kindergarten students $4,345 for students in grades 1-6 $4,601 for students in grades 7 and 8 $5,198 for high school students Other funding streams Some other funding streams flow based on enrollment, like the Flexible Allocation, Professional Staff Formula, and Library Books and Electronic Resources. But those funds vary by school or are very small. There are many other funding streams that aren’t based on enrollment. The state provides funding for students that are economically disadvantaged, have disabilities, are accelerated learners, and BY LINCOLN FILLMORE PER STUDENT? How much do you get In 2011 charter schools received state funding of $220,381,610 on enrollment of 40,132 students. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11