Washington County budget team warns 75% "follow-the-student" rule will force school-by-school spending shifts

Washington County Public Schools officials told the Board of Education at a work session that increases in state per‑pupil funding tied to the state's Blueprint program will require the district to shift spending so that at least 75% of state and local aid for major aid programs "follows the students to the school in which they're enrolled." Dr. Svine, the district superintendent, and members of the budget team said that requirement will drive significant school‑level reallocation in the coming fiscal year.

The district's budget presenter explained that the 75% rule applies to major state aid categories, such as foundation funding, multilingual, compensatory education, special education and pre‑K, and that special education is tracked differently because of state reporting. "Seventy‑five percent of the state and local share of those funds of the major aid programs must follow the students to the school in which they're enrolled," the budget presenter said. He added that the concentration‑of‑poverty program currently must be spent 100% at the school level.

Why it matters: the rule can force the district to move funds from one school to another even when staffing and other costs are largely fixed. Budget staff showed a pair of anonymized school examples to illustrate. In the example used at the meeting, "School A" had 640 students, 559 eligible for free or reduced‑price meals and 84…