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State Board approves distribution formula for one-time charter funding; motion passes unanimously
Summary
The board considered options for a $3.6 million one-time charter-school funding pot and approved a distribution that preserves last year’s compromise: a fixed payment to charters with more than 2,000 students and staged allocations for smaller charters, with specifics approved by motion and a unanimous vote.
Dale Frost, Minimum School Program administrator, explained the statutory background and options for the Legislature’s $3.6 million one-time appropriation directed at charter-school mitigation funding. He told the Board the statute allows the State Board to distribute one-time funds “to charter schools regardless of size” to mitigate funding losses or to increase the base amount, and staff produced several allocation scenarios for board consideration.
Why this matters: The allocation affects operational funding for charter schools statewide and responds to a change in statutory formulae that removed a prior funding mechanism. Board members debated approaches that favored smaller charters, maintained the prior-year compromise for larger charters, or split the pot evenly.
Staff presented three primary methodologies: (1) allocate all one-time funding to smaller charters (producing an approximately $98,008 base for small charters under current projections and no payment to charters over 2,000 students); (2) replicate the previous-year methodology that provided a larger payment to charters with more than 2,000 students (approximately $200,560 each under current projections) with a smaller base for the smallest charters; or (3) give the same base amount to all charters (around $90,004 each). Frost noted the estimates rely on projected enrollments and would be recalculated when actual counts are available.
Board Member Davis moved that the Board distribute $200,560 to charters with more than 2,000 students and allocate the remaining one-time funds as base amounts to smaller charters. Member Booth seconded. After deliberation, the motion was amended to prioritize smaller charters with fewer than 500 students by allocating up to $85,000 to those schools first, with remaining funds distributed to charters with between 500 and 1,999 students as the base amount. Member Davis spoke in support of preserving the prior-year compromise while protecting the smallest charters’ administrative capacity: “The small charters have been advocating for this money for 5 years,” Davis said.
The board voted and the motion passed unanimously. Chair: the Board approved the distribution approach that (a) gives charters with more than 2,000 students $200,560 each (projected), (b) first allocates remaining funds to charters with fewer than 500 students up to $85,000 each, and (c) distributes any remaining base funding to charters with between 500 and 1,999 students. Frost and the finance staff noted final dollar amounts will be adjusted when actual fall enrollment data are available and that the legislative appropriation is a fixed pot, so allocations move inversely between groups as enrollments change.
Board members asked follow-up questions about the effect on specific schools and whether alternatives could concentrate more funding to the very smallest schools. Dale Frost said the Board can choose any lawful distribution; staff provided spreadsheet scenarios for each option and offered to calculate alternate splits if the Board requested them. The allocation will be implemented according to the motion and updated when final counts are certified.
Action summary: The Board took a formal vote on an allocation approach and approved it unanimously; staff will implement the distribution using certified enrollments and return if technical adjustments are necessary.
