(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that the student-weighted basic education funding formula is the result of the work of the Basic Education Funding Commission established pursuant to section 123.1
(b) For the 2015-2016 school year and each school year thereafter, except the 2019-2020 school year which shall be governed by subsection (b.1), the Commonwealth shall pay to each school district a basic education funding allocation which shall consist of the following:
(1) An amount equal to the school district's basic education funding allocation for the 2013-2014 school year.
(2) A student-based allocation to be calculated as follows:
(i) Multiply the school district's student-weighted average daily membership by the median household income index and local effort capacity index.
(ii) Multiply the product in subparagraph (i) by the difference between the amount appropriated for the allocation of basic education funding to school districts and the amount appropriated for the allocation in paragraph (1).
(iii) Divide the product in subparagraph (ii) by the sum of the products in subparagraph (i) for all school districts.
(iv) For the 2018-2019 school year, the difference determined under subparagraph (ii) shall be $698,667,244.
(v) For the 2020-2021 school year, the difference determined under subparagraph (ii) shall be $898,667,244.
(vi) For the 2021-2022 school year, the difference determined under subparagraph (ii) shall be $1,423,667,244.
(b.1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act to the contrary, for the 2019-2020 school year, the Commonwealth shall pay each school district a basic education funding allocation equal to the amount it received for the 2018-2019 school year under this section.
(c) For the purpose of this section:
(1) Student-weighted average daily membership for a school district shall be the sum of the following:
(i) The average of the school district's three most recent years' average daily membership.
(ii) The acute poverty average daily membership calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's acute poverty percentage by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by six-tenths (0.6).
(iii) The poverty average daily membership calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's poverty percentage by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by three-tenths (0.3).
(iv) The concentrated poverty average daily membership for qualifying school districts with an acute poverty percentage equal to or greater than thirty percent (30%), to be calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's acute poverty percentage by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by three-tenths (0.3).
(v) The number of the school district's limited English-proficient students multiplied by six-tenths (0.6).
(vi) The average daily membership for the school district's students enrolled in charter schools and cyber charter schools multiplied by two-tenths (0.2).
(vii) The sparsity/size adjustment for qualifying school districts with a sparsity/size ratio greater than the sparsity/size ratio that represents the seventieth percentile sparsity/size ratio for all school districts calculated as follows:
(A) Divide the school district's sparsity/size ratio by the sparsity/size ratio that represents the seventieth percentile for all school districts.
(B) Subtract one (1) from the quotient in clause (A).
(C) Multiply the sum of subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) by the amount in clause (B).
(D) Multiply the product in clause (C) by seven-tenths (0.7).
(2) Local effort index for a school district shall be calculated as follows:
(i) Determine the school district's local effort factor calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's median household income by its number of households.
(B) Divide the school district's local tax-related revenue by the product in clause (A).
(C) Multiply the quotient in clause (B) by one thousand (1,000).
(D) Divide the product in clause (C) by the Statewide median of clause (C).
(ii) Determine the school district's excess spending factor, to be calculated as follows:
(A) Divide the school district's current expenditures by the sum of its average daily membership and the amounts in paragraph (1)(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii).
(B) Divide the quotient in clause (A) by the Statewide median of clause (A).
(C) Divide one (1) by the quotient in clause (B).
(iii) Multiply the school district's local effort factor by the lesser of one (1) or the school district's excess spending factor.
(3) Local capacity index for a qualifying school district shall be calculated as follows:
(i) Divide the school district's local tax-related revenue by the sum of its market value and personal income valuation.
(ii) Multiply the sum of the school district's market value and personal income valuation by the Statewide median of subparagraph (i).
(iii) Determine the school district's local capacity per student by dividing the product in subparagraph (ii) by the sum of its average daily membership and the amounts in paragraph (1)(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii).
(iv) If the school district's local capacity per student is less than the Statewide median of subparagraph (iii):
(A) Divide the school district's local capacity per student by the Statewide median.
(B) Subtract the quotient in clause (A) from one (1).
(4) Local effort capacity index for a school district shall equal the sum of its local effort index and local capacity index.
(5) The data used to calculate the factors and indexes in this section shall be based on the most recent years for which data is available as determined by the Department of Education and be fixed as of the first day of June preceding the school year in which the allocation occurs. Data fixed on the first day of June shall be revised by the Department of Education if it is subsequently found to be incorrect.
(d) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Acute poverty percentage” shall mean the number of children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age living in a household where the ratio of income to poverty is less than one hundred percent (100%) of the Federal poverty guidelines divided by the total number of children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age as determined by the most recent five-year estimate of the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(1.1) “Current expenditures” shall mean the General Fund expenditures in functional classifications of instruction, support services and operation of noninstructional services. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, “current expenditures” shall mean the General Fund expenditures in functional classifications of instruction, support services and operation of noninstructional services, minus General Fund revenues for tuition from patrons.
(2) “Households” shall mean the number of households in each school district as determined by the most recent five-year estimate of the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(3) “Local tax-related revenue” shall mean the sum of school district revenues for State property tax reduction allocation, taxes levied and assessed, delinquencies on taxes levied and assessed, revenue from local government units and other local revenues not specified elsewhere, as designated in the Manual of Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pennsylvania Public Schools. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, revenues received by a school district from the sales and use tax and the cigarette tax shall be included when determining a school district's local tax-related revenue under this section.
(4) “Median household income” shall mean the median household income for school districts and the State as determined by the most recent five-year estimate of the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(5) “Median household income index” shall mean a number calculated as follows:
(i) Divide a school district's median household income by the State median household income.
(ii) Divide one (1) by the quotient in subparagraph (i).
(6) “Poverty percentage” shall mean the number of children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age living in a household where the ratio of income to poverty is between one hundred percent (100%) and one hundred eighty-four percent (184%) of the Federal poverty guidelines divided by the total number of children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age as determined by the most recent five-year estimate of the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(7) “Size ratio” shall mean a number calculated as follows:
(i) Divide the average of a school district's three (3) most recent years' average daily membership by the Statewide average of the three (3) most recent years' average daily membership for all school districts.
(ii) Multiply the amount in subparagraph (i) by five-tenths (0.5).
(iii) Subtract the amount in subparagraph (ii) from one (1).
(8) “Sparsity ratio” shall mean a number calculated as follows:
(i) Divide the average of a school district's three (3) most recent years' average daily membership by its total square miles as reported in the latest decennial census as reported by the United States Census Bureau.
(ii) Divide the State total average daily membership by the State total square miles.
(iii) Divide the quotient in subparagraph (i) by the quotient in subparagraph (ii).
(iv) Multiply the quotient in subparagraph (iii) by five-tenths (0.5).
(v) Subtract the product in subparagraph (iv) from one (1).
(9) “Sparsity/size ratio” shall mean a number calculated by adding the following amounts:
(i) The sparsity ratio multiplied by four-tenths (0.4).
(ii) The size ratio multiplied by six-tenths (0.6).
Credits
1949, March 10, P.L. 30, No. 14, art. XXV, § 2502.53, added 2016, June 1, P.L. 252, No. 35, § 1, effective July 1, 2016. Amended 2017, Nov. 6, P.L. 1142, No. 55, § 18, retroactive effective July 1, 2017; 2019, June 28, P.L. 117, No. 16, § 20, effective July 1, 2019; 2020, June 5, P.L. 223, No. 30, § 18, imd. effective; 2021, June 30, P.L. 158, No. 26, § 10, imd. effective; 2022, July 8, P.L. 620, No. 55, § 54, imd. effective.
