SB 376

This bill makes a number of changes in the laws relating to public school

financing, including the following:

1. Currently, the amount appropriated each fiscal year for general school aid

is a sum set by law. This bill directs the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the

Department of Administration, and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau annually to jointly

certify to the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) an estimate of the amount necessary

to appropriate in the following school year to ensure that state school aids equal the

following percentage of partial school revenues (in general, the sum of state school

aids and school property taxes):

a. For the 2016-17 school year, 64.5 percent.

b. For the 2017-18 school year, 65.2 percent.

c. For the 2018-19 school year, 65.9 percent.

d. For the 2019-20 school year and each school year thereafter, two-thirds.

Under the bill, JFC determines the amount appropriated as general school aids

in each odd-numbered fiscal year (e.g., the 2016-17 fiscal year) and the amount is

set by law in each even-numbered fiscal year.

2. For purposes of determining a school district's general school aid amount,

in general this bill requires that each pupil who is eligible for a free or reduced-price

lunch under the federal school lunch program be counted as an additional 0.3 pupil.

3. Currently, if a school district would receive less in general state aid in any

school year than 85 percent of the amount it received in the previous school year, its

state aid for the current school year is increased to 85 percent of the aid received in

the previous school year. This bill increases the percentage to 90 percent.

4. This bill provides that a school district's state aid in any school year may not

be less than an amount equal to the school district's membership multiplied by

$3,000.

5. Under current law, beginning in the 2015-16 school year, for purposes of

calculating a school district's revenue limit, there is no per pupil adjustment. This

bill provides a per pupil adjustment of $275 per pupil for the 2016-17 school year.

Under the bill, in the 2017-18 school year and thereafter, the per pupil adjustment

is the per pupil adjustment for the previous school year as adjusted for any increase

in the consumer price index.

6. Currently, if at least 50 percent of a school district's enrollment is eligible for

a free or reduced-price lunch under the federal school lunch program, the school

district is eligible for a prorated share of the amount appropriated as high-poverty

aid.

This bill eliminates this aid beginning in the 2016-17 school year. The bill

provides additional state aid for the 2016-17 school year to hold school districts

harmless from the loss of high-poverty aid.

7. Currently, the state annually pays each school district an amount equal to