School Finance Week 3, Part 4

My district is a property-rich district as defined by Chapter 41 with a value per student of $483,276 (2009-2010 AEIS).  In 2010-2011, the district’s budget totaled $336,086,122.  Looking at the 2010-2011 district budget, 62.78% of the revenues came from local property taxes.  Large corporations like Dell, Samsung and Applied Materials are located within district boundaries.  In addition, the district is a fast-growing district, averaging about 1,200 students per year in growth.  While the housing market has declined sharply in other parts of the state and country, it has remained relatively strong in central Texas.  State revenues made up 36.95% of my district’s revenues in 2010-2011. In 2010-2011, the district averaged approximately 44,600 students, with 31.4% defined as at risk, 28.7% defined as economically disadvantaged, and 8.3% defined as LEP learners.  Federal revenues comprised only .27% of the district’s revenues in 2010-2011. Like most districts, my district allocated the largest amount of funding, 59.87% in 2010-2011, to instruction costs, which includes expenditures for payroll.  The district had 49 schools in 2010-2011 plus additional district facilities, and thus, facilities maintenance and operation consumed 11.65% of the annual budget.  Almost 6% of the budget was spent on school leadership costs, with guidance, counseling and evaluation garnering 3.6% of the budget.  Student transportation costs consumed 3.54% of the 2010-2011 budget, while curriculum and staff development costs totaled 2.94% of the budget.  Approximately 2% of the district budget was spent on general administration and co/extra-curricular activities, respectively.  Instructional resources and media, data processing, instructional leadership, and security each were allocated approximately 1.5% of the total budget.  Each of the following categories used less than 1% of the 2010-2011 budget:  health services, community service, other governmental charges, social work, debt service, JJAEP, and facilities acquisition. Overall, the amount of monies allocated to each area seems to be reasonable.