FISCAL NOTE

Senate Bill 9 as introduced and as amended and reported by the Committee on Finance and Taxation Education amends the Foundation Program Fund formula to include an allowance for school systems experiencing student growth based on the net year over year growth of average daily membership for the two preceding school years and eliminates existing funding for student growth via the Current Unit allocation. This bill further provides that the allowance for student growth for non-virtual students shall be funded at 70% of the Foundation Program Fund amount per student, in year 1 and 100% in year 2 and each year thereafter. Based on the net year over year student growth for non-virtual students for the prior two academic years, the obligations of the Foundation Program Fund for year 1 would increase by an estimated total of $27.8 million, which would increase the obligations of (1) the Education Trust Fund (ETF) by an estimated $11.0 million net after eliminating the Current Units allocation; and (2) local funds by an estimated $3.7 million. The obligations of the Foundation Program Fund to fully fund (100%) non-virtual student growth based on FY 2019 and FY 2020 would increase by an additional $11.3 million, of which $9.8 million would come from the ETF and $1.5 million would come from local funds.

This bill also provides that the growth of full-time virtual students shall be funded at a rate determined by the State Department of Education based on the average cost to school districts to educate a full-time virtual student. This could increase or decrease the obligation of the Foundation Program Fund, the ETF, and local funds by an undetermined amount dependent upon the rate established by the State Department of Education.

However, the actual total increase to the Foundation Program Fund, the ETF, and local funds would be dependent upon the number of systems experiencing growth, the amount of virtual and non-virtual student growth experienced, and the annual Foundation Program Fund per student amount.