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Data Dives
Welcome to the 2019-20 fiscal year and legislative session and welcome to PASBO's Data Dive series.
What is our Data Dive Series?
As part of our Strategic Plan, PASBO's research, advocacy and professional development teams have expanded and aligned our efforts to provide analysis and learning opportunities related school financial management and operations to members and non-members alike.
Towards this goal, we are delivering bite-sized data and review of Pennsylvania school finance and policy through exploration of numerous topics and important aspects of a topic each day by email. This archive here on our website serves as a general reference center for our detailed information, data and statistics in hopes to help anyone and everyone understand the mechanics, dynamics, challenges and needs of public education in Pennsylvania.
PASBO's Data Dive series highlights a wide range of topics in school finance and school business operations written directly by our members and staff with the expertise and experience in each of the covered topics. The series starts off basic and works through a new aspect within a broader topic in each edition. Topics include the basic budgetary concepts of revenue and expendiures, property taxes and assessed value, state basic education funding, special education and funding, charter schools, personnel and compensation, pupil transportation, school facilities and so much more!
Additionally, Data Dive is designed to be a central location where you can find education-related data and our forthcoming Source Data Reference will provide a resource to find and access web links to important education data sources. A copy of all of the related sources of public school finance data can be found at this Dropbox link.
To begin diving into our school finance series, we first suggest learning how to use our interactive data maps by watching our video tutorial here. If you have questions, comments or would like to subscribe to our emails, please reach out to Dr. Andrew Armagost, PASBO's Research and Advocacy Manager.
Introduction to School Finance
General Overview
- What is a local education agency?
- What is average daily membership?
- What is the school district budget cycle?
- What are the mechanics in developing a school district budget?
- What are school district General Fund Budgets?
- What are school district Annual Financial Reports?
Revenue Basics
- How are school districts financed?
- What is federal funding?
- What is state and local funding?
- What are state revenues to school districts?
- What are local revenues?
Expenditure Basics
- What are the types of school district expenditures?
- What costs drive school district spending?
- How have mandated costs impacted school district expenditures?
- How do mandated costs impact school district local revenues?
- What are the results of the PASBO/PASA 2019 Spring School District Budget Report?
- What are some highlights from the 2019 PASBO/PASA School District Budget Report?
- What is the fiscal forecast for Pennsylvania's 500 School Districts?
Local Revenue
Property Taxes and Assessed Value
- What are property taxes?
- What impact have mandated costs had on property taxes?
- What is assessed value and market value?
- What is assessed value by type of land use?
- How has assessed value changed over time?
- What are homesteads and median assessed value?
State Property Tax Relief
- What is Act 1 and how does it relate to property taxes?
- What effect has Act 1 had on property taxes?
- What is board authority and what is the impact of Act 1?
- What are the Act 1 referendum exceptions for mandated costs?
- Which mandated costs have Act 1 referendum exceptions?
- What property tax relief is currently provided?
- What was the local income tax referendum option for property tax relief?
- What is the senior citizen property tax and rent rebate program?
- What are county real estate reassessments?
- What are real estate assessment appeals?
Earned Incomes Taxes
- What are earned income taxes?
Basic Education Funding
Overview
Formula Components, Mechanics, Dynamics and Trends
- What are the student-weighted factors in the BEF formula?
- What are 3-year average ADMs?
- What are the poverty weights?
- How is moderate poverty calculated?
- How is acute poverty calculated?
- How is concentrated poverty calculated?
- How does the formula put the poverty weights together?
- What is the English language learner component?
- What is the charter school component?
- What is the sparsity size adjustment?
- What is Weighted Student Count?
- What are the formula "multipliers" in the BEF formula?
- What is median household income?
- What is local effort capacity index?
- What is adjusted weighted student count and the "share" concept?
- What is the BEF formula dollar increase in the Governor's proposed budget for 2019-20?
Special Education
Special Education Costs
- What are total special education costs?
Special Education Funding
Charter Schools
Overview
- What are charter schools, and how many students attend?
- What is charter school enrollment by school district?
Charter School Tuition Costs
- How are charter schools funded?
- How is the charter school special education tuition rate calculated?
- How do tuition rates vary across school districts?
- How have charter school tuition costs grown?
- How do school districts and charter schools compare in their costs per student?
Charter School Funding
- How much do charter school tuition costs compare to Basic Education Funding?
- How much of the increases in state BEF cover the growth in mandated charter school tuition costs?
- What impact do charter school tuition costs have on property taxes?
- How do school district's charter school tuition costs compare to property taxes?
- How much of property tax increases cover the growth in mandated charter school tuition costs?
Pupil Transportation
Overview
- What is pupil transportation and what does the state require?
Pupil Transportation Costs
- What are total pupil transportation costs?
- How many pupils are provided transportation by school districts?
- How many nonpublic and charter school students are transported by school districts?
- What types and modes of transportation are provided by school districts?
- How many school buses transport students?
- How many school districts contract out pupil transportation?
State Pupil Transportation Funding
- What is the state pupil transportation reimbursement subsidy?
School Facilities
- What are school facilities and total facility costs?
- What are total utility costs?
- What is the state Planning and Construction Workbook (PlanCON?)
Personnel and Compensation
Personnel
- What are the types of employees that school districts employ?
- What are collective bargaining agreements?
- What are professional personnel?
- How many employees are involved in classroom instruction?
- What are support personnel?
- What types of personnel and services do school districts contract out to other entities?
Compensation Costs
- What are total compensation costs?
- What are total salary costs?
- What are minimum, average and maximum teacher salaries?
- What are total benefit costs?
- What are total social security, worker's compensation and unemployment costs?
- What is professional development and total tuition reimbursement costs?
- What are total retirement and pension costs?
- What are total healthcare costs?
- How do healthcare costs vary across school districts?
Other Financial Aspects of School Budgets
- What are school district assets, liabilities and fund balances?
- What are committed and assigned fund balances?
- What are the types of school district debt?