Technical Appendix

District Omissions: Eight districts are excluded from the map view. These districts are ineligible for most State aid because they employ fewer than eight teachers. Four of these districts (South Mountain, Piseco Common, Raquette Lake, and Inlet Common) contract with neighboring districts for educational services, while the other four districts (North Greenbush Common, Wainscott Common, Sagaponack Common, and New Suffolk Common) operate only elementary schools with low enrollment, while contracting with neighboring districts for students in higher grades.

Spending Calculations and Estimates: Spending figures contain estimated funding for the 2022-23 school year by district calculated as follows:

• Federal: Regular federal aid is equal to actual federal aid from the 2019-20 Masterfiles. Extraordinary federal aid from COVID relief bills is not included in this analysis.
• State: Includes all aid included in the 2022-23 school aid runs plus estimated School Tax Relief (STAR) program costs within the district (based on total planned STAR costs for school year 2022-23 proportional to actual STAR costs in 2019-20).
• Local: Local funding is estimated based on actual local revenue from the 2019-20 Masterfiles increased by the allowable tax levy growth factor in each subsequent year.
• Sound Basic Education (SBE): Each district’s SBE amount is calculated by CBC staff by adding the “foundation amount” reported in school aid runs plus other expense-based aid for transportation, construction, and other costs for school year 2019-20 from Masterfiles inflated by composite CPI reported in the State Economic & Revenue Outlook Report.

Wealth Decile Calculations: Wealth deciles are based on the average of a district’s free and reduced-price lunch share and census poverty share, divided by the district’s combined wealth ratio as determined by New York State Education Department (NYSED). The resulting figure is then indexed to the state average to determine a needs index.

Districts with Local and Federal Spending in Excess of SBE: The “State Aid to Districts That Self-Fund a Sound Basic Education (SBE)” map contains data only for the 176 districts where local resources and regular federal aid exceeds the calculated SBE amount. The total amount of State aid directed to these 176 districts is $3.1 billion. The “Per-Pupil State Funding in Excess of SBE Needs” map reflects the difference between each district’s SBE per student and its total spending per student, (up to the district’s State aid subtotal) . For four districts, this value is negative, reflecting an SBE shortfall totaling $14.7 million. The total for all other districts’ State aid in excess of an SBE is $13.6 billion.

Enrollment: Enrollment estimates are based on school year 2022-23 enacted budget school aid runs.

Sources

New York State Education Department, Fiscal Analysis & Research Unit, “Masterfile for 2019-20” (November 2021), www.oms.nysed.gov/faru/Profiles/profiles_cover.html, “FY 2023 Enacted Budget School Aid Files” (received via email on April 9, 2022); New York State Division of the Budget, FY 2023 Enacted Budget Financial Plan (May 2022), www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy23/en/fy23en-fp.pdf, FY 2023 Executive Budget Economic and Revenue Outlook (January 2022), www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy23/ex/ero/index.html; Office of the New York State Comptroller, Inflation and Allowable Levy Growth Factors (April 2022), www.osc.state.ny.us/files/local-government/property-tax-cap/pdf/inflation-and-allowable-levy-growth-factors.pdf; and City of New York, Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2023 Adopted Budget: Expense, Revenue, and Contract Budget (June 16, 2022), https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/omb/downloads/pdf/erc6-22.pdf.