Things you need to know: school funds

1. School funding formula
Indiana’s school funding formula is one of the more complex out of the 50 states. 

To calculate a school’s amount of funding from the state, information about the school, including number of pupils, quality of educational material and the building quality, are all taken into account.

2. Foundation program
This program is the most frequently used method to figure out a method for distributing dollars to school corporations. Over 40 states currently use the Foundation Program to calculate how funds will be distributed to schools.

First step: the state determines how much money the school will need to fund its regular educational operations. 

Second step: the state determines how much of these funds can be raised locally (usually through property taxes). 

Third step: the amount of state support for each school corporation is determined as the amount of dollars that cannot be covered by local sources.

3. Grants for Schools

• The Foundation Grant is calculated using the number of students enrolled in the school; therefore, it can vary depending on how many are currently in the school corporation. 

• The Variable Grant is calculated using the school’s previous target revenue and the average daily membership (number of students).

• The Minimum Guarantee Grant is calculated much like the Variable Grant, with the exception that the target revenue is raised.

CEEP.INDIANA.EDU / SOURCE