PRINTER'S NO. 799
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
816
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY STURLA, HILL-EVANS, MADDEN, SANCHEZ, SCHLOSSBERG,
N. NELSON, LONGIETTI AND KINKEAD, MARCH 8, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MARCH 8, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," in preliminary provisions, further
providing for Basic Education Funding Commission; and, in
reimbursements by Commonwealth and between school districts,
further providing for student-weighted basic education
funding and providing for student-weighted basic education
funding for school year 2019-2020 and each school year
thereafter.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 123(h) of the act of March 10, 1949
(P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, is
amended by adding clauses to read:
Section 123. Basic Education Funding Commission.--* * *
(h) The commission shall develop a basic education funding
formula and identify factors that may be used to determine the
distribution of basic education funding among the school
districts in this Commonwealth. The factors identified under
this subsection may include all of the following:
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* * *
(8.1) Whether a school district has a high level of students
who are chronically absent.
(8.2) Whether a school district has a high level of students
in foster care.
(8.3) Whether a school district has a high level of students
who are homeless.
* * *
Section 2. Section 2502.53 heading and (b) introductory
paragraph of the act, amended June 5, 2020 (P.L.223, No.30), are
amended to read:
Section 2502.53. Student-Weighted Basic Education Funding
for School Years 2015-2016 Through 2018-2019 .--* * *
(b) For the 2015-2016 school year [and each school year
thereafter] through the 2018-2019 school year , except the 2019-
2020 school year which shall be governed by subsection (b.1),
the Commonwealth shall pay to each school district a basic
education funding allocation which shall consist of the
following:
* * *
Section 3. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 2502.55. Student-Weighted Basic Education Funding
for School Year 2019-2020 and Each School Year Thereafter.--(a)
The General Assembly finds and declares that the student-
weighted basic education funding formula is the result of the
work of the Basic Education Funding Commission established
pursuant to section 123.
(b) For the 2019-2020 school year and each school year
thereafter, the Commonwealth shall pay to each school district a
basic education funding allocation which shall consist of the
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following:
(1) An amount equal to the sum of the school district's
basic education funding allocation for the 2013-2014 school
year.
(2) A student-based allocation to be calculated as follows:
(i) Multiply the school district's student-weighted average
daily membership by the median household income index and local
effort capacity index.
(ii) Multiply the product in subparagraph (i) by the
difference between the amount appropriated for the allocation of
basic education funding to school districts and the amount
appropriated for the allocation in paragraph (1).
(iii) Divide the product in subparagraph (ii) by the sum of
the products in subparagraph (i) for all school districts.
(c) For the purpose of this section:
(1) Student-weighted average daily membership for a school
district shall be the sum of the following:
(i) The average of the school district's three most recent
years' average daily membership.
(ii) The acute poverty average daily membership calculated
as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's acute poverty percentage
by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by six-tenths (0.6).
(iii) The poverty average daily membership calculated as
follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's poverty percentage by its
average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by three-tenths
(0.3).
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(iv) The concentrated poverty average daily membership for
qualifying school districts with an acute poverty percentage
equal to or greater than thirty percent (30%), to be calculated
as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's acute poverty percentage
by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by three-tenths
(0.3).
(v) The number of the school district's limited English-
proficient students multiplied by six-tenths (0.6).
(vi) The average daily membership for the school district's
students enrolled in charter schools and cyber charter schools
multiplied by two-tenths (0.2).
(vii) The sparsity/size adjustment for qualifying school
districts with a sparsity/size ratio greater than the
sparsity/size ratio that represents the seventieth percentile
sparsity/size ratio for all school districts calculated as
follows:
(A) Divide the school district's sparsity/size ratio by the
sparsity/size ratio that represents the seventieth percentile
for all school districts.
(B) Subtract one (1) from the quotient in clause (A).
(C) Multiply the sum of subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii),
(iv), (v) and (vi) by the amount in clause (B).
(D) Multiply the product in clause (C) by seven-tenths
(0.7).
(viii) The school district's chronic absenteeism percentage
calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's chronic absenteeism
percentage by its average daily membership.
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(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by five-tenths (0.5).
(ix) Except if the school district has ten (10) or fewer
foster students, the school district's foster student percentage
calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's foster student percentage
by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by five-tenths (0.5).
(x) Except if the school district has ten (10) or fewer
homeless students, the school district's homeless student
percentage calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's homeless student
percentage by its average daily membership.
(B) Multiply the product in clause (A) by five-tenths (0.5).
(2) Local effort index for a school district shall be
calculated as follows:
(i) Determine the school district's local effort factor
calculated as follows:
(A) Multiply the school district's median household income
by its number of households.
(B) Divide the school district's local tax-related revenue
by the product in clause (A).
(C) Multiply the quotient in clause (B) by one thousand
(1,000).
(D) Divide the product in clause (C) by the Statewide median
of clause (C).
(ii) Determine the school district's excess spending factor,
to be calculated as follows:
(A) Divide the school district's current expenditures by the
sum of its average daily membership and the amounts in paragraph
(1)(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii).
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(B) Divide the quotient in clause (A) by the Statewide
median of clause (A).
(C) Divide one (1) by the quotient in clause (B).
(iii) Multiply the school district's local effort factor by
the lesser of one (1) or the school district's excess spending
factor.
(3) Local capacity index for a qualifying school district
shall be calculated as follows:
(i) Divide the school district's local tax-related revenue
by the sum of its market value and personal income valuation.
(ii) Multiply the sum of the school district's market value
and personal income valuation by the Statewide median of
subparagraph (i).
(iii) Determine the school district's local capacity per
student by dividing the product in subparagraph (ii) by the sum
of its average daily membership and the amounts in paragraph (1)
(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi) and (vii).
(iv) If the school district's local capacity per student is
less than the Statewide median of subparagraph (iii):
(A) Divide the school district's local capacity per student
by the Statewide median.
(B) Subtract the quotient in clause (A) from one (1).
(4) Local effort capacity index for a school district shall
equal the sum of its local effort index and local capacity
index.
(5) The data used to calculate the factors and indexes in
this section shall be based on the most recent years for which
data is available as determined by the Department of Education
and be fixed as of the first day of June preceding the school
year in which the allocation occurs. Data fixed on the first day
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of June shall be revised by the Department of Education if it is
subsequently found to be incorrect.
(6) The student-based allocations calculated under paragraph
(2)(viii), (ix) and (x) shall only be directed toward support
services deemed necessary by the school district.
(d) The Department of Education shall publish the
allocations calculated under this section for each school
district on the Department of Education's publicly accessible
Internet website, including the student-based allocations
calculated under subsection (c)(2)(viii), (ix) and (x) for each
school district.
(e) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Acute poverty percentage" shall mean the number of
children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age living in a
household where the ratio of income to poverty is less than one
hundred percent (100%) of the Federal poverty guidelines divided
by the total number of children six (6) to seventeen (17) years
of age as determined by the most recent five-year estimate of
the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(2) "Chronic absenteeism" shall mean students who have been
enrolled in school for sixty (60) or more school days and absent
for more than ten percent (10%) of school days during the school
year or eighteen (18) days in a 180-day school year.
(3) "Current expenditures" shall mean the General Fund
expenditures in functional classifications of instruction,
support services and operation of noninstructional services.
Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, "current expenditures"
shall mean the General Fund expenditures in functional
classifications of instruction, support services and operation
of noninstructional services, minus General Fund revenues for
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tuition from patrons.
(4) "Foster student" shall mean a student who is placed away
from the student's parents or guardians at a home that is
administered by a State agency and who receives 24-hour
substitute care. The term includes, but is not limited to, a
student who is placed in a foster family home, foster home of a
relative, group home, emergency shelter, residential facility,
child care institution or pre-adoptive home.
(5) "Homeless student" shall mean any of the following:
(i) A student who is sharing housing with other persons due
to the student's loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar
reason.
(ii) A student who is living in a motel, hotel or camping
ground due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations.
(iii) A student who is living in an emergency or
transitional shelter.
(iv) A student who is abandoned in a hospital.
(v) A student who has a primary nighttime residence that is
a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as
a regular sleeping accommodation for individuals.
(vi) A student who is living in a car, park, public space,
abandoned building, substandard housing, bus or train station or
similar settings.
(6) "Households" shall mean the number of households in each
school district as determined by the most recent five-year
estimate of the United States Census Bureau's American Community
Survey.
(7) "Local tax-related revenue" shall mean the sum of school
district revenues for State property tax reduction allocation,
taxes levied and assessed, delinquencies on taxes levied and
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assessed, revenue from local government units and other local
revenues not specified elsewhere, as designated in the Manual of
Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pennsylvania Public
Schools. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, revenues
received by a school district from the sales and use tax and the
cigarette tax shall be included when determining a school
district's local tax-related revenue under this section.
(8) "Median household income" shall mean the median
household income for school districts and the State as
determined by the most recent five-year estimate of the United
States Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
(9) "Median household income index" shall mean a number
calculated as follows:
(i) Divide a school district's median household income by
the State median household income.
(ii) Divide one (1) by the quotient in subparagraph (i).
(10) "Poverty percentage" shall mean the number of children
six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age living in a household
where the ratio of income to poverty is between one hundred
percent (100%) and one hundred eighty-four percent (184%) of the
Federal poverty guidelines divided by the total number of
children six (6) to seventeen (17) years of age as determined by
the most recent five-year estimate of the United States Census
Bureau's American Community Survey.
(11) "Size ratio" shall mean a number calculated as follows:
(i) Divide the average of a school district's three (3) most
recent years' average daily membership by the Statewide average
of the three (3) most recent years' average daily membership for
all school districts.
(ii) Multiply the amount in subparagraph (i) by five-tenths
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(0.5).
(iii) Subtract the amount in subparagraph (ii) from one (1).
(12) "Sparsity ratio" shall mean a number calculated as
follows:
(i) Divide the average of a school district's three (3) most
recent years' average daily membership by its total square miles
as reported in the latest decennial census as reported by the
United States Census Bureau.
(ii) Divide the State total average daily membership by the
State total square miles.
(iii) Divide the quotient in subparagraph (i) by the
quotient in subparagraph (ii).
(iv) Multiply the quotient in subparagraph (iii) by five-
tenths (0.5).
(v) Subtract the product in subparagraph (iv) from one (1).
(13) "Sparsity/size ratio" shall mean a number calculated by
adding the following amounts:
(i) The sparsity ratio multiplied by four-tenths (0.4).
(ii) The size ratio multiplied by six-tenths (0.6).
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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