Opinion ID: 2518321
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: low-enrollment weighting

Text: Low-enrollment weighting provides a sliding scale of adjustments for districts with fewer than 1,750 students; as district enrollment decreases past that number, the size of the adjustment increases. In other words, smaller school districts receive more favorable treatment based on the premise that they require additional funding to balance economies of scale at work for larger districts. H.B. 2247 did not substantively change the low-enrollment weighting; it remains a significant component of the financing formula. Extrapolating from State Department of Education data, the plaintiffs argue that total state spending on the low-enrollment weighting in 2003-04 was $226,189,852. In comparison, total state spending in 2003-04 on at-risk students was $47,123,964 and on bilingual students was $8,352,964. The plaintiffs also note that application of the various weighting factors results in a large disparity in per pupil aid, ranging in 2002-03 from $16,968 to $5,655, and this disparity is largely caused by the low-enrollment factor. Because of the significant impact of low-enrollment weighting on the financing formula, in our January opinion and April order we sought cost justifications for it. In response to questions from the court at oral arguments, counsel for the State could not provide any cost-based reason for using the 1,750 enrollment figure or for the weight's percentage. This absence of support is particularly troubling when we consider the disparity this low-enrollment weighting may produce. H.B. 2247 has the potential to worsen this inequity because it eliminates correlation weighting for districts with 1,750 enrollment or more. The funds allocated for correlation weighting were transferred to the BSAPP; this gives low-enrollment districts even more of the funds that previously were devoted to balancing the disparities in per pupil funding caused by the low-enrollment weighting.