Denver Public Schools School Finance ~ A to Z FY

School Finance ~ A to Z Determining Total Program funding: Funded Pupil Count times Total Per-pupil Funding plus At-risk Funding plus On-line Funding 2

School Finance ~ A to Z FY Behind the Formula: DPS’s Per Pupil Revenue 3

School Finance ~ A to Z Per-Pupil Revenue & Amendment 23 A constitutional amendment passed by the state's voters in The amendment provides for minimum levels of increase in the statewide base per pupil funding amount and in categorical funding and sets a minimum increase in the state General Fund appropriation for school finance funding for public elementary and secondary education. It requires an annual increase in the base per pupil funding in the school finance act and total state funding for categorical programs of at least the inflation rate plus one percentage point from FY through FY and by the inflation rate thereafter. 4

School Finance ~ A to Z Funding Per-pupil Revenue Two local sources of revenues are incorporated into the Public School Finance Act: Property Taxes and Specific Ownership (vehicle registration) Taxes. Funding for a school district's Total Program is provided first by local sources of revenues (the Local Share); if these local sources are insufficient to fully fund Total Program, state moneys fund any shortfall. Local Share Property Taxes Specific Ownership Taxes State Share Equalization 5

School Finance ~ A to Z FY OTHER FUNDING Categorical Program Funding: In addition to Total Program funding, districts may receive state funding to pay for specific programs designed to serve particular student needs. Statewide total for = $191M; DPS: $20.4M Override Revenues: $77M Bonded Indebtedness: $1,055.1M 6 Small Attendance CentersSpecial Education ELPATransportation Gifted and TalentedVocational Education

School Finance ~ A to Z Calculating Your Property Taxes The taxable value of your property is a percentage of the actual value (roughly 7.96%) and the resulting value is called the “assessed value.” To determine the amount of property taxes, multiply the assessed value times the decimal equivalent of the total Mill levy (one tax Mill is equal to $7.96 on $100,000) 7 (i) Property Valuex Assessment Rate= Assessed Value (ii) Assessed Valuex Mill levy= Property Taxes

Financial Backdrop: 8

Ending Fund Balance Fund Balance as % of Revenue General Fund Revenues in the Adopted Budget $657,114,149 Ending Fund Balance as of June 30, 2010 $106,198,919 Ending Fund Balance as a % of Budgeted Revenue 16.1% 9

Observations & Insights  Defining Realities  Need to “live within our means” potentially at odds with goal to be nation’s best urban school district  Revenues from the School Finance Act grow at a rate less than expenses escalate: e.g. increase in PPR based upon CPI whereas total compensation package pressured to increase at some multiple of the CPI. “Do more with less” may mean “do less with less”  Significant number of pupils living within district boundaries seeking educational opportunities which are out-of-district 10

FISCAL RISKS State’s Fiscal Health Revenue Problems Compensation Philosophy Base Pay Other Pay Elements, e.g. longevity, education ProComp Professional Development Benefits Health Benefits PERA Stakeholder Expectations 11

Points To Remember School Financing in Colorado is inadequate. Increased expenses and decreased revenues means additional resources are necessary to maintain programs Numerous “value-added” programs are not funded by school finance (Technology, Transportation, Security, Second Language Acquisition, Graduation expectations). 12