How DPS Schools Are Funded and What it Means for Students

1
How DPS Schools Are Funded and What it Means for
Students
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Overview How Schools Get Funded in DPS

• Critical Points
• The SBB funds exclude many of our school-specific
  expenses, including many of our special education
  services, like speech language itinerants,
  services for severe needs students, etc.
  Pension/retirement expenses, key instructional
  support services, and school-based support
  services that are budgeted centrally, including
  custodial, food services, grounds, technology,
  security, transportation, etc are also excluded
  from the SBB.
• It is very misleading, therefore, to think of the
  SBB funds as the only money that goes to
  individual schools.

280M
3
How Much A School Receives Varies from 3,600 to
6,500 Per Student

• On average schools receive 4,700 for each
  student
• Certain types of schools and kinds of students
  receive more money than others
• Most schools that received more than 6,000 per
  student benefited from the small school subsidy
• Schools other than middle schools with fewer than
  4 grades have been excluded
• See appendices for details, like a stack ranking
  of schools

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DPS Elementary School Students Receive 22 More
Funding than High School Students
900

• Elementary schools receive the most per student,
  followed by middle schools, K-8s, 6-12s and high
  schools

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Explaining the 22 Per Student Difference in
Funding Between Elementary and High Schools

• Elementary schools receive 410 per student more
  for at-risk students (Title I and ELL are the
  primary drivers) than high schools for two
  reasons
• A smaller percent of the student body in high
  schools signs up for free or reduced lunch (FRL),
  the poverty measure for DPS
• 2) High schools receive a smaller allocation of
  ELL money and fewer high schools qualify for
  Title I money, though every Title I student
  district-wide receives the same Title I
  allocation
• The base funding per elementary school is 150
  more than for high schools (3249 vs 3098)
• The main driver of the 340 difference in the
  other category is 2003 Mill Levy money, which
  is aimed at earlier grades

900
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Appendix A Stack Ranking of Schools by Per
Student Dollars

• Schools in italics have fewer than 4 grades
• FRL means Free or Reduced Lunch and is a common
  measure of poverty
• ELL students means English Language Learners and
  for the purposes of this table A21is the students
  who speak another language at home
• For the purposes of this table, preschool is
  omitted and kindergartners receive only a
  half-day of per-pupil funding so each is counted
  as a half-student

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Appendix A contd Stack Ranking of Schools by
Per Student Dollars

• Schools in italics have fewer than 4 grades
• FRL means Free or Reduced Lunch and is a common
  measure of poverty
• ELL students means English Language Learners and
  for the purposes of this table A21is the students
  who speak another language at home
• For the purposes of this table, preschool is
  omitted and kindergartners receive only a
  half-day of per-pupil funding so each is counted
  as a half-student

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Appendix A contd Stack Ranking of Schools by
Per Student Dollars

• Schools in italics have fewer than 4 grades
• FRL means Free or Reduced Lunch and is a common
  measure of poverty
• ELL students means English Language Learners and
  for the purposes of this table A21is the students
  who speak another language at home
• For the purposes of this table, preschool is
  omitted and kindergartners receive only a
  half-day of per-pupil funding so each is counted
  as a half-student