| California State Budget Shortfalls |
| Sometimes
comparing the funding of other districts per student can
indicate possible tactics to increase revenues. There should be
attention paid to how long it will take before there is actually
money available as well as how reliable and persistent the
funding will be. Some care needs to be taken during analysis
because students are not necessarily all equal. For example, one
district might be all K-6 students while another district of
similar size might also include a junior high school and a high
school. Five downloadable spreadsheets (.xls) files which may be
of use: /1/ the students spreadsheet gives the number of students in a district in descending sequence – this MIGHT be useful in finding districts with a similar student population to the district of concern /2/ the zeroes spreadsheet contains school districts with zero students in county and district sequence. Obviously, dividing by zero will be awkward for the federal, state and local per student revenues so these districts were isolated. A school district may have zero students if data was not reported, the school district is closing, the school district has not opened yet or the school district is not an educational entity but rather a financial one such as a JPA (Joint Powers Authority) or a ROP (Regional Occupational Program, a part of the State public education system that provides technical job training for high school juniors, seniors, and adults). /3/ the local spreadsheet is in descending sequence by the quotient of local revenues divided by students. Analysis here might focus on comparable school districts that have obtained a higher ratio of local revenues per student compared to your district. If it is anticipated that your school district might have a future decrease or increase in local revenues it might be useful to compare districts with these levels. In the present situation in California higher local revenues per student are better. /4/ the federal spreadsheet is in descending sequence by the quotient of federal revenues divided by students. Analysis here might focus on comparable school districts that have obtained a higher ratio of federal revenues per student compared to your district. Some leading contributors are meal programs, grants and funding for specific student populations. If it is anticipated that your school district might have a future decrease or increase in federal revenues it might be useful to compare districts with these levels. In the present situation in California higher federal revenues per student are better. /5/ the state spreadsheet is in descending sequence by the quotient of state revenues divided by students. Analysis here might focus on comparable school districts that have obtained a LOWER ratio of state revenues per student compared to your district – that likely implies higher federal and local revenues. Since it is anticipated that your school district will have a future decrease in state revenues it might be useful to compare districts currently with those levels. In the present situation in California LOWER state revenues per student are better as the school district would likely be less vulnerable to state revenue reductions. |
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