HBA-NRS H.B. 2954 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2954 By: Hardcastle Public Education 4/9/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Small schools suffer from a diseconomy of scale in relation to cost per student because of the high cost of operating very small classes. Small school districts receive an adjustment in their basic allotment, but this may not be sufficient funding in relation to the needs of schools that are under 400 students in average daily attendance. House Bill 2954 provides a new formula for adjusting the allotment of school districts with under 400 students in average daily attendance. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2954 amends the Education Code to provide that the basic allotment of a school district that has no more than 400 students in average daily attendance (ADA) is adjusted by applying the formula that, of the following formulas, results in the greatest adjusted allotment: _the formula for a school district that contains at least 300 square miles and an ADA of not more than 1,600 students; _the formula adjusting the basic allotment for a school district that contains less than 300 square miles and an ADA of not more than 1,600 students; _the formula adjusting the basic allotment of a school district that offers a kindergarten through grade 12 program and has an ADA of less than 5,000 students; or _AA = ( 1 + ( ( 400 - ADA ) X .0025 ) ) * ABA, where "AA" is the adjusted allotment and "ABA" is the adjusted basic allotment. The bill deletes formulas dependent upon the particular school year for a district that offers kindergarten through grade 12 and has less than 5,000 students in ADA and applies the formula for the 2000-2001 school year. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.