"An Act relating to school funding and adjusting the district cost factors. "

There has been an ongoing discussion around the state on equitable funding for school districts. There have been studies showing that some school districts should be receiving a higher funding rate than they currently are, due to the cost of running schools in that area. These school districts are the ones currently receiving a District Cost Factor for more of an "urban" district, but also have "rural" school sites they have to fund. This situation causes an inequity due to the fact that the funding is based upon an urban formula, not one that accounts for rural schools, not on a road system.

The best example of this situation is the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. They are one of the largest districts in the state, and funded as such, but they also have several remote public school sites. By trying to fund these schools properly it takes away from the larger schools, so all of the schools end up being under-funded.

Senate Bill 178 is an attempt to provide more equity in funding for these school districts. The way this bill accomplishes that is by increasing the funds going to the remote public school sites in districts that are funded on more of an urban basis. By adding this stipulation to the district cost factors it will relieve some of the pressure on the rest of the district as well.

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