Finance+5342+Week+3+Part+3

Finance 5342 week 3 part 3

Wiki group – We are right on track. This includes information Jane (Mary added)

Week 3, Part 3

At first glance, District 1 and District 2 appear to be similar districts in terms of several characteristics. Both districts have ADA of approximately 4,000; both districts are rated Academically Acceptable; both districts are comprised of 7 schools; and both districts have approximately 300 teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors. However, taking a closer look, some critical differences begin to appear. District 1’s student population is 100% Hispanic where District 2’s population is predominantly White. In addition, 93.3% of District 1’s student population is economically disadvantaged compared to only 20.7% of District 2’s. Another important difference is that District 1 has 48% LEP students where District 2 is comprised of only 2% LEP students. These differences are important because students identified as economically disadvantaged and LEP learners are considered to struggle more academically and may be at risk of not graduating on time with their non-economically disadvantaged, non-LEP peers.

Digging a little deeper, it becomes clear that District 2 is in a stronger financial position than District 1. The compressed rate WADA of District 1 is $5,044/student. District 2 has a compressed rate WADA of $7,206/student. This means that District 2 is able to spend an additional $2,162 per student to educate its students. Extending that additional amount per student to the approximately 4,000 students each district has gives District 2 an additional $8,648,000 in funding to educate its students. In addition, District 2’s 2010 local district property value (DPV) is $2,916,187,709 compared to District 1’s DPV of $145,968,635, resulting in a larger I & S tax collection for District 2. Therefore, District 2 has more funds available to make payments on existing debt and school facility bonds. A reasonable assumption from this data would be that District 2 is a property-wealthy district and likely has more modern, state-of-the-art facilities that are well maintained. District 2 probably has more technology integration into its curriculum as well. Overall, the financial data shows that District 2 has higher salaries in all areas, including administration, teachers and support staff. District 2’s financial position relative to District 1 should enable it to recruit and retain quality teachers and staff. All of these factors taken together should contribute to District 2 having the advantage over District 1 when it comes to providing a quality learning environment which impacts student performance positively.

One of the central debates in regard to the educational funding system in Texas is should the state provide equitable or adequate funding for public education. Adequacy means Texas schools are provided enough funding to allow students to achieve according to prescribed state and/or national standards (i.e., STAAR, TAKS, AYP.) Equitable means that no matter which public school in Texas a child attends, he/she should have access to the same amount of funding and resources as any other child in Texas public schools. Clearly, from the example above, students in District 1 and District 2 are not receiving equitable funding. District 2 is a property-wealthy district, and its compressed rate WADA is still approximately $2,100 above that of District 1. To make the funding system more equitable, the state does provide additional allotments for districts, based on the number of students districts have who are deemed more difficult to educate. Examples of these allotments include the compensatory education allotment, the special education adjusted allotment, and the bilingual education allotment. Looking at the student demographics of Districts 1 and 2, the larger allotments for compensatory education, special education, and bilingual education were given to District 1 based on its student population. Yet, even with the increased allotments received by District 1, District 2 still has a higher graduation rate, higher overall TAKS scores and higher SAT/ACT scores.