State Education Finance Plan PP

Florida State Funding of School Districts – Highlights #4

*Certain FEFP programs allow students who meet certain academic performance standards, like earning diplomas and passing exams, to earn partial FTE’s that are added to their 1 FTE which generates more revenue for their school districts. In addition, the teachers of these students in these special programs can earn additional pay bonuses based on their students’ meeting these certain academic performance standards.

*These certain FEFP programs previously discussed are the following: International Baccalaureate; Advanced International Certificate of Education; Advanced Placement; and Career & Professional Education Act (CAPE).

*High school students who earn 24 credits and who graduate one semester or one year or more in advance of their cohorts can generate additional partial FTE’s that generate more revenue for their school districts.

*Students who are dual enrolled in early college programs can generate additional partial FTE’s that produce more revenue for their school districts and the particular schools that generated those funds.

*For the 2021-2022 fiscal year, $4,372.91 was the Base Student Allocation (BSA) generated from state and local funds and determined by the Florida legislature. Thus, every FTE statewide generated at a bare minimum this amount of revenue for their school districts.

*For the 2021-2022 fiscal year, District Cost Differential (DCD)’s were computed for each school district by the Florida Commissioner of Education. The following school districts had established the following DCD’s for example: Broward – 1.0174; Miami-Dade – 1.0147; Palm Beach – 1.0424, and Collier – 1.0512.

*DCD’s can be seen as a measure or indicator of the relative costs of providing services within a county school district. The higher the DCD, then the more revenue that is generated by a FTE to cover the higher costs of providing schooling to that FTE in that school district. Thus, among the previous school districts mentioned, Collier with a DCD of 1.0512 (which is the highest in the state) would generate the most revenue per FTE because it is more expensive to provide schooling in that school district compared to the others mentioned.

*The following is the formula used in Florida for determining Base Funding (BF): BF = WFTE X BSA X DCD. This represents the base or minimum amount of FEFP funding that is established for students in different FEFP programs. Additional funds will also be added to the base funding, leading to a final determination of the per pupil expenditures for a given school year.

- 25 Miami-Dade students in program 101 – 28.15 (WFTE) X $4,372.91 (BSA) X 1.0147 (DCD) = $124,906.95

- 25 Palm Beach students in program 101 – 28.15 (WFTE) X $4,372.91 (BSA) X 1.0424 (DCD) = $128,316.75

The reason why the students in Palm Beach generated more revenue for their school district, compared to their counterparts in Miami-Dade, is due to the higher DCD for Palm Beach.

Primary Sources: 2020-21 & 2021-22 Funding for Florida School Districts (PDF) http://www.fldoe.org/fefp