Establishing supplementary weighting for school district transportation costs and including applicability provisions

This bill establishes a supplementary weighting plan for school district transportation costs resulting from the transportation of pupils as required under Code chapter 285. The bill establishes a methodology for calculating the amount of supplementary weighting assigned to each school district. The calculation is made using school district transportation cost data, school district enrollment data, and school district transportation route mile data. The amount of the supplementary weighting is phased in over a period of eight school budget years beginning with the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. Under the bill, if a school district established as the result of a reorganization does not have sufficient data for the calculation of amounts required under the bill, the department of management is required to use estimated data derived from data for prior budget years from each district involved in the reorganization until such amounts can be calculated using actual data for the reorganized school district. In addition, for specified budget years, if insufficient or incomplete transportation cost data makes the implementation of the bill impractical, the department of management is required to, in consultation with the department of education and the legislative services agency, establish procedures and modified methodologies for calculating supplementary weighting and funding amounts under the bill.34(22). The bill also provides that funding received by a school district as the result of the supplementary weighting must be deposited in the school district’s general fund and may be used for any general fund purpose.16C. The bill applies to school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2020.