Agenda - 05-25-2017 - 1.B Public School Forum Local School Finance Study

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ATTACHMENT B > WHAT'S NEW IN THE 2017 LOCAL SCHOOL FINANCE STUDY? Long-time readers of the annual Local School Finance from Tables 1-5 in a single table,ordered by the Table 5 Relative Study noticed a new look beginning with the 2014 study, Effort rank.The table is accompanied by a brief explanation of the which continues this year. "Under the hood," however rankings,which also serves as an introduction to the more detailed the study is largely the same as in 2013 and previous tables included in the appendices. years, with a few notable exceptions. The rankings in these five columns are calculated in the five tables included in the appendices to this report. Most significantly,since 2014,the study has included charter school enrollment in each county's total Average Daily Membership(ADM). Property Value Rank:The first column shows county rankings Charter schools receive funding based on their ADM,just as district based on the real estate wealth available in each county.Most local schools do.The change reflects that each county's funding for funding for schools comes from property taxes.Counties ranked instructional expenses is divided approximately equally among all higher on this measure have more property available for potential district and charter school students residing in the county. taxation to support education.(See Table 1) For most counties,the new calculation resulted in little change to Actual Effort Rank: Rankings in the second column reflect the the study data.For some counties with large percentages of actual dollar effort of counties to fund schools,without taking into students attending charter schools,however,substantial shifts account property wealth.Counties that spend the most per student occurred.For instance, Person,Pamlico,and Northampton Counties, rank highest on this measure.(See Table 2) each with more than 10 percent of their public school students enrolled in charter schools,saw significant changes in their rankings Actual Effort Rank II:The rankings in the third column serve the in several of the finance study tables compared to 2013 and earlier same purpose as the second column but take into account studies.More detail about the change and its impact can be found in supplemental state funding provided for low wealth and small the report's"Notes on Methodology"section. counties.Counties that spend the most per student based on county spending combined with low-wealth and small county supplemental Also new since 2014,the state average per capita income used in state funding rank highest on this measure.This column can be Table 4 is the statewide average from the U.S.Bureau of Economic analyzed alongside the second column to show the impact of Analysis.Aside from this and the inclusion of charter school supplemental funding on counties'relative rankings.(See Table 3) enrollments,the study's methodology is unchanged.The five main data tables included in past years'studies appear again in this year's Ability to Pay Rank:The fourth column's rankings reflect an study as appendices.The tables appear in the same order as in past analysis of each county's fiscal capacity to support public schools, years,to facilitate comparison with previous studies.The capital taking into account property values(from the first column,adjusted outlay and debt service averages,which appeared in Tables 2 and 5 using the state's average effective property tax rate)and non prior to the 2014 study,and did not factor into the rankings,now property tax revenues.Large,urban counties that combine high appear as a separate Table 2A,with counties ranked to mirror the adjusted property valuations with broad based economic activity order in Table 2 to facilitate comparison with previous studies.Also and high per capita incomes tend to receive high rankings on this since 2014,several redundant table columns have been omitted and measure.(See Table 4) others reordered to facilitate readability. Relative Effort Rank:The final column compares Actual Effort Finally,the 2014 Local School Finance Study pioneered a new (from Table 2)and Ability to Pay(from Table 4).Low-wealth counties summary table,which we include again this year:Local School with comparatively high spending levels tend to rank highest in this Finance Study Rankings-at-a-Glance,which collects the rankings measure.(See Table 5) 110, IP • •IP • 001044 I 400k ■