By Dr. Fred Nolan, MREA Executive Director
One major complication in the Minnesota School finance system is the variety of student weightings. These evolved over years of adjustments to increase one grade level of students in relation to others to serve a particular need. The result is to question the premise that all students are equally valued in their education.
This was a goal of the School Finance Working Group to simplify the funding formula, and most of the recommendations are included in HF 630 and SF 453.
Proposed Weightings
This chart below has the proposed weightings to take effect in FY ‘15. The proposed weightings keep the same ratio between elementary and secondary student weightings as are in the current weightings. This is important so as not to skew the funding change for districts based on their ration of elementary to secondary students.
| Category | Current | Proposed |
| Weight, prekindergarten disabled |
1.250 |
1.000 |
| Weight, kindergarten disabled |
1.000 |
1.000 |
| Weight, regular kindergarten |
0.612 |
0.550 |
| Weight, grades 1-3 |
1.115 |
1.000 |
| Weight, grades 4-6 |
1.060 |
1.000 |
| Weight, grades 7-12 |
1.300 |
1.200 |
In simplifying the formula, it eliminates the pension subtraction, the gifted and talented categorical and the marginal pupil unit accounting, and adds a new declining enrollment revenue. As Tom Melcher recently shared with MREA, “It gets tricky because so many items in the proposal are related.”
To make this work with the same revenue in the formula, the new pupil basic formula allowance goes from $5,276 to $5,700. Tom Melcher shared with MREA that the reduction in the Pre K handicapped weighting “relates more to the special ed proposal. Our analysis suggests that current funding for HK is more than sufficient to cover HK costs.”
Analysis of Effects
MDE has completed a run of all school districts. Look up your results by downloading this document, clicking on the Report Sheet and typing your district number in the yellow box in the upper left corner.
To simplify the comparison, the analysis does not include the proposed increase in kindergarten funding for districts that elect to offer full day every day kindergarten to all students with no fees.
The MDE strata analysis shows the following small per ADM funding per type of Minnesota school district. The middle column reflects the changes in all Pupil Weightings. The right hand column excludes the change in Pre K handicapped weighting for the purpose of this analysis. (Table from MDE)
|
Change |
|||
|
Change |
per ADM |
||
|
Per ADM |
Other |
||
|
Total |
(Exc PK Wt) |
||
|
= K/B |
= M/B |
||
| TOTAL, COMBINED |
-3 |
8 |
|
| MPLS & ST PAUL |
-25 |
-4 |
|
| OTHER METRO, INNER |
2 |
11 |
|
| OTHER METRO, OUTER |
-5 |
6 |
|
| NONMET>=2K |
-5 |
8 |
|
| NONMET 1K-2K |
5 |
17 |
|
| NONMET < 1K |
11 |
24 |
|
| CHARTER SCHOOLS |
-9 |
-9 |
|
“The $9.6 million general ed reduction associated with the Pre-K disabled weighting change is offset several times over by the proposed $151 million increase in categorical special education funding. When the pre-K disabled weight change is excluded, the net impact of the remaining changes is a net increase of $7 million statewide, $5 million of which goes to Greater Minnesota,” Melcher told MREA.
MREA’s Position
MREA supports this reform because it does make the formula simpler and more understandable. In the same vein, MREA advocates for a small increase in the formula allowance to $5,705 or $5,710, so the change in weightings itself is positive for all strata of public schools except for Minneapolis, St. Paul and charters.
This will be more understandable statewide than referring to the proposed special education changes. MREA does not doubt Dr. Melcher’s analysis. Increasing the formula to make the changes positive will build better statewide support for this change by simplifying the explanation.
This is another reason MREA advocates for an increase in the education target. It must be noted that this change is not an increase to schools in funding for students education. Overall, the weightings for students decreases by 8% and the several existing funding streams are incorporated into the basic formula. The change to a basic formula of $5700 per weighted student is NOT an increase in funding for students’ education.