What does the comparison of State Aid allocations from last year to this say about our finances?
The release of the initial State Aid allocation numbers is always interesting. The most notable trend in the numbers was a surprising decrease of 1,200.69 WADM. We knew there was a high percentage of districts that would be leaving their high year, but the question was where the students would go. Let’s take a look at the actual numbers compared to initial allocations from past years.
There was a decrease of 1,200.69 WADM from July FY19 to July FY20.
The detail weight sheets confirm the loss of ADM. There was a decrease of 2,213.32 ADM statewide between July FY19 and July FY20.
There were declines in the grade weights, G/T weights and economically disadvantaged student weights. Bilingual and special education showed increases; these two growth areas kept the decline from being more significant.
The total State Aid allocations listed and compared below show a significant growth curve.
The net State Aid factors show a $162.94 increase over the previous year.
If you are in a district coming off the 3-year high, the higher State Aid factors are a huge benefit. The most surprising drop in the detailed weight sheet was in the decrease of economically disadvantaged students. It would be beneficial to check your district's number gathering process for the economically disadvantaged students to ensure that all available data is provided to the state. If we can help you with this, please let us know. We will send out our next finance report in mid-August, and we will have the chargeable report ready at that time as well.
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Think back to your first year in education and your experiences in the classroom. It was probably one of the hardest years of your professional life and by October, you might have been asking yourself, “what am I doing here?” In my case, I think I cried at least once a month if not more.
It's a miracle--we actually get to begin 2018 with good news for a change! We have included several items within this month’s article to help you prepare for the coming year.
This article will probably shock you in that it does not contain one single graph, calculation or any other kind of number. However, it does relate directly to them.
How are you preparing your school budget to address the downturn in Oklahoma's finances?
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