NCACC Intergovernmental Relations Director Rebecca Troutman discusses the funding sources for public schools in North Carolina during a workshop held Aug. 23, 2013, at the NCACC's 106th Annual Conference.

1. 1
School Finance:
State & County Funding
Rebecca Troutman
NCACC
Intergovernmental
Relations Director

2. 2
Statewide Averages of County
Expenditures, $13 Billion 2011-12
Education
28%
Debt Service
13%
Human
Services
19%
General Govt
8%
Public Safety
18%
Other
14%

3. Who Provides Most $ to Schools?
3
Counties
State
Feds

4. 4
Public School Resources, $12.5
Billion 2011-12
State
$7.6B
60%Federal
$1.7B
14%
County
$3.2B
26%
Current Expense
& Capital

5. 5
Funding Sources for Public Schools,
$12 Billion Current Expense
State
$7.6B
64%
Federal
$1.7B
14%
County
$2.7B
22%

6. County Funding Has Become Less
Important?
6
False
True

7. 7
Sources of Per Pupil Funding, CE
(Excludes Nutrition)
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,000
$8,000
$9,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
22%
22.2%
State Federal County
65.3%
72.8%

8. Who Provides More Construction
$ to Schools?
8
Counties
State
Feds

9. 9
Funding Sources for Public
Schools, $616 Million Capital
State
$16.3M
3% Federal
$56.1M
9%
County
$543.8M
88%

10. School Capital Funding Drops in
Recession, Per Capita
10
$181 $187
$114 $85
$63
$262 $268
$268 $261
$286
$0
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
$1,800
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
Other School Current School Capital Other Operating Capital Outlay Salaries & Wages
School CurrentSchool Capital

11. STATE FUNDING OF PUBLIC
EDUCATION – THE
ALLOTMENT STORY
DIRECT FUNDING TO LEAS & CHARTERS
11

12. State provides same $ to each
school?
12
True
False

13. State Budgeting thru Allotments
 Allotments sent directly to LEA & charter
– LEA allocates amongst schools
– LEA may transfer amongst most allotments
For 2014-15 biennium
 No transfers to central office
 Must abide any restrictions per fed law
 No transfers from Excellent Public Schools
– State funds revert at end of fiscal year
13

14. State Allotments
 Allotments funding by Purpose:
– Basic – directed at all students
– Supplemental – targeted at specific
student groups or LEA characteristics
14

15. Basic Allotments
 Classroom teachers
– Allocated per ADM class size; e.g. 1-3 = 1:18,
10:12 = 1:29
 Teacher assistants
– Dollar allotment of $939.79 per k-3 student—
2014, reduced $243 in 2014
 Instructional support (counselors, social
workers)
– 1 per 218.55 ADM; increased in 2014
15

16. Basic Allotments
 Instruction Supplies & Textbooks
– Dollar allotment of $28.58 ADM instruct supplies
– Dollar allotment of $14.26 ADM textbooks
 Children with Disabilities
– Dollar allotment of $3,671.75 per eligible
student—2014, limited to 12.5% of ADM
 Gifted & Talented Children
– Dollar allotment of $1,237.29 per eligible
student—2014, limited to 4% of ADM
16

17. Basic Allotments
 School safety measures?
– Part of at-risk allotment
– Each LEA receives roughly $38,000 per high
school to “purchase” school resource (LEO) or
safety (security guard) officer = $22 million
– LEAs not required to spend allotment on SRO
 Only 26 of 115 do so
– LEAs can use state, federal, or county funding
– Add. funding in 2014
17

18. 18
State Avg. = $5361
Current Expense Only

19. Supplemental & Categorical State
Allotments
 Small schools
– Allotted only to county LEAs < 3,239 ADM or <
4,080 ADM w/ property tax base < statewide avg.
– Revised formula in 2015
 Low wealth schools
– Allotted only to LEAs with certain economic &
property tax base characteristics
– Issue with MOE
19

20. STATE ACTIONS IMPACTING
PUBLIC EDUCATION
20

21. Excellent Public Schools Act
 Teacher tenure
– Replaces with 1-4 year contract, depending upon performance
 Reading literacy concentration
 No automatic promotion
– Must read at grade level in 3td grade or retained
 Transparency in schools
– Must publish literacy success/failure & A-F grades
– Must publish budget deviation
 NC Teacher Corps
– In lieu of Teaching Fellows
– Recruit & place college grads & mid-career
21

22. County School Construction
Funds
 40% of net lottery proceeds
– $192 m v. $100 m appropriated
– Statutory language repealed in 2014 budget
 Portion of corporate tax set aside
– Redirected to school operations
– County loss = $75 m/year
– Statutory set aside repealed in 2014 tax
simplification
22

23. COUNTY SCHOOL FUNDING
23

24. 24
County Primary Responsibilities
Boards of County Commissioners:
 Act as local taxing authority
 Review entire school budget
 Approve county appropriations for current expense
and capital outlay
 Approve 5-Year School Facilities Needs Survey
 Approve purchase price of school building sites
 Issue bonds & arrange other financing for school
capital outlay purposes
 Require merger of multiple units if desired

25. 25
Current Expense Only
State Avg. = $1893

26. County funds are used to fund
what school employees?
26
Teacher Asst. & Other
Non-Certified
Teachers
Administrators
Other Certified

27. 27
County Funding of School Personnel, 2011
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Administrators Teachers Other Certified Assts & Other
State Federal County
Full-time only
1,606 of 6,785
4,153 of 93,964
2,858 of 14,227
17,769 of 60,654
24% 4% 20% 29%

28. 28
Considering State Salary Supplements
 106 LEAs have teacher supplements
– Low of $147 to high of $6,031 annually
– State wtd avg = $3,478; county cost = $348 million
 108 have principal supplements
– Low of $175 to high of $28,673 annually
– State wtd avg = $11,338; county cost = $27 million
 Total county cost supplements = $430 million

29. City Schools Receive City
Funding?
29
False
True

30. Funding of “City” Schools
 No role of cities in school funding
– Always an exception: Thomasville approves supplemental tax
 County appropriation to current expense apportioned
to multiple LEAs based on ADM (G.S. 115C-430)
 County appropriation to capital based on LEA need
30

31. Counties Fund Public Schools but
not Charter Schools?
31
False
True

32. Funding of Charter Schools
 County current expense appropriation shared with
charter school indirectly
– LEA must transfer to charter per pupil current expense
appropriation for students residing within jurisdiction (includes
other local funds too)
 County appropriation to capital not shared with charter
32

33. 33
Counties’ Use of Funding Formulas
 Statewide Average Model
– Formula that sets goals based on a statewide ADM expenditure
or some percentile
 Modified Statewide Average Model
– Same calculation above, but excludes highest & lowest
 Benchmarking Model
– Similar counties selected on pop., tax base, adm, per capita
income, sales tax revenues, & Medicaid
– ADM expenditures of similar counties used to set funding goals
in benchmarking county

34. 34
Counties’ Use of Funding Formulas
 Inflation Model
– ADM expenditure is adjusted by new student population &
inflation factor –e.g. CPI
 Snapshot Model
– Boards take snapshot at specific time, usually revaluation, &
determines portion of county’s overall revenue used for schools
– Portion used in following years with school expenditures growing
as overall revenue expands
 Tax Base Growth Model
– Percent of tax base appropriated to schools is calculated
– Resulting percent applied to tax base growth in given year

35. 35
Budgeting Resources
 DPI Statistical Profile—student population,
teacher characteristics, and finances
– http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/resources/data/
 DPI School Report Card—performance
measurements by school
– http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abcs/
 DPI School Clearinghouse—access to lottery &
ADM funds, school prototypes
– http://www.schoolclearinghouse.org/

36. 36
Questions, Comments