Executive Summary:
The North Dakota Senate voted overwhelmingly to support a historical increase in funding K-12 education. The Senate adopted $82.5 million in new funding for K-12 education. The amount of the Senate’s increase is approximately 20 percent more than the combined K-12 funding increases for a continuous twelve-year period in the 1980s and 1990s.
The bill will provide for all schools to be at 90 percent of the statewide average in funding. It calls for an addition of $8 million for special education funding (including a 30 percent increase for high cost students), $1 million in Joint Powers Agreements, and $2 million for career and technical education.
The legislation also provides for $5 million for all-day kindergarten programs. This is the first time the state has funded all-day kindergarten.
The bill provides weighting factors that reflect the additional costs of educating students based on many factors such as school size, English Language Learner programs and early childhood programs.
Provisions of the bill:
1) Provides $80.5 million (SB 2200) in new funding for schools (plus $2 million in SB 2013).
2) Provides significant increase in state payments for school districts so that every school is at least 90 percent of the statewide average imputed taxable valuation per student.
3) Provides an increase of 30 percent for students who qualify for special education contracts for these very high cost students (costing from approximately $26,000 to more than $150,000 per student). The new legislation will require the state to pay 100 percent of the costs for special education contract students who cost more than 3.5 times the statewide average for the upcoming biennium. For the 2009-2011 biennium, that threshold is reduced to 3 times the statewide average, and the state will cover an even greater portion of students in the 2011–2013 biennium when it drops to 2.5 times the statewide average.
4) Provides for a minimum increase of 102 percent in per student payments the first year and 103 percent the second year with a cap of 107 percent the first year and 110 percent the second year (excluding any equity funding).
5) Provides $8 million in new special education funding on per student payments and for the high cost contract students.
6) Provides financial assistance of 50 to 200 basis points in interest buy down to districts that meet established criteria for reorganization.
7) Provides $1.2 million in new money to provide two new career and technical centers to be built in underserved areas.
8) Appropriates $800,000 in new money to the State Board for Career and Technical Education to encourage greater cooperative delivery of career and technical education programs.
9) Increase of 100 percent in the direct appropriation for Joint Powers Agreements with an increase from $1 million to $2 million in funding.
10) Provides $5 million for all-day kindergarten programs ($3 million in SB 2200 and $2 million in SB 2013). This is a new initiative and the first time we have provided funding for full-day kindergarten.
11) Provides categorical weighting factors for areas such as small isolated schools, kindergarten, special education, early childhood education, alternative high schools and ELL students.
12) Establishes simplified school-size weighting factors to reflect differences in efficiencies between schools of varying sizes. Weighting factors range from 1.0 in larger districts to 1.25 in smaller districts.
13) For the first time ever, the formula provides a special weighting factor for graded elementary schools (ex. K-6 and K-8 schools).
14) Reorganized schools receive a handsome incentive by the creation of a
blended weighting factor based on each district’s school-size weighting factor prior to reorganization. Requires a long six-year transition/hold harmless provision.
15) To provide greater equity, the bill establishes the provision for “imputed taxable valuation” and defines it as the valuation of all taxable real property in the district plus an amount determined by dividing 50 percent of in-lieu-of-tax categories such as the district’s mineral revenue by the district’s general fund mill levy.
16) Currently in law, a “small isolated high school” is one that has fewer than 35 students in ADM, and15 percent of those students are required to travel more than a 20-mile radius to attend school. The 20-mile radius was amended to a 15-mile radius. Those additional rural students will now enjoy a 25 percent increase in base funding per student.
17) Provides a trigger mechanism whereby if actual state income exceeds projections by $30 million, $10 million will go to school districts for deferred maintenance programs. Under the program, each district will get $20,000 which will add up to approximately $4 million, plus the school districts will be given their pro rata share of the remaining money using the latest available average daily membership of each school district.
18) Establishes a line for contingency money, which is appropriated money that remains after all statutory payment obligations have been made for the biennium. The first million or so much money as necessary will go to cover any unmet special education contract obligations. The second million will go for Joint Powers Agreements. The third line would pay all remaining money in additional per student payments.
19) Continues FTE payments based on teacher numbers.
20) Requires a minimum effort of 150 mills in year one and 155 mills in year two.
21) Continues the requirement that 70 percent of new state dollars from per pupil payments be earmarked for increased teacher compensation.
22) Allows each school district to provide special education through an educational association governed by a joint powers agreement in addition to the two current options, which are to provide special education services as a single district or as a multi-district unit.
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