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Professor Tammy Colby lays out design choices for a student-based foundation formula
Summary
Professor Tammy Colby told the committee that a foundation formula requires decisions on three core questions—what the base spending amount is, which cost adjustments to include, and how students are counted—and that Vermont needs state-specific empirical work and periodic recalibration.
Professor Tammy Colby told the Ways & Means Committee that designing a foundation formula requires three core policy choices: the base spending amount, the cost adjustments (weights or per-pupil grants), and how students are counted for funding. “Foundation formula are fundamentally student based funding systems,” Colby said, and she added states must make intentional design choices rather than adopt another state’s model verbatim.
Colby recommended starting with a clear definition of the base: the amount of general-education operating spending required, on average, for a student with no additional needs to reach state standards. She emphasized that capital and debt service are typically excluded from the base because they are handled through separate funding mechanisms. On escalation, Colby urged that most states stipulate a statutory…
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