Tim Hill, the state Department of Education’s finance chief, said, “All of the things in our funding formula are not accidental – they have very good logic as to why they are what they are. There could be some unintended consequences by standardizing things.”

The result: For high-school age students, state funding per ADA varies from a low of $4,334 per student per year at the Idaho Virtual Academy, closely followed by the next-lowest Caldwell School District, at $4,757 per student, Vallivue at $4,780 and Kuna at $4,789; to a high of $17,595 per Midvale high school student. The South Lemhi school district gets $17,470 per high school student; Culdesac gets $16,897.

Hill calculated these figures for the 2009-2010 school year, but says they’re a good basis for comparison.

The state’s largest school districts are on the low end for ADA. The Meridian School District gets just $4,843 per high-school student; Boise gets $5,047; and Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland and Post Falls school districts all come in just under $5,000. West Bonner and Lake Pend Oreille schools get $5,770 and $5,338, respectively.

When task force members questioned why those differences should be applied to payments to online course providers, Luna aide Jason Hancock told them, “That’s how the legislation reads. It’s just built around essentially what an ADA is worth … and it is different from district to district.” He said that’s why a subcommittee of the task force is looking into statewide contracts with online course providers, to secure lower rates for smaller districts that are more comparable to what larger districts would pay.

For the rest of the article, go  to Idaho online class funding would vary widely

The complicated formula through which Idaho sends state funds to school districts based on ADA, or average daily attendance, has many factors that cause it to vary by district, however. Those include the size of a school district, to reflect economies of scale in larger districts and fixed costs in smaller districts; the distribution of students across different age categories from kindergarten to high school; and the experience level of the district’s teachers and administrators, which also triggers differences in state funding.

The result: For high-school age students, state funding per ADA varies from a low of $4,334 per student per year at the Idaho Virtual Academy, closely followed by the next-lowest Caldwell School District, at $4,757 per student, Vallivue at $4,780 and Kuna at $4,789; to a high of $17,595 per Midvale high school student. The South Lemhi school district gets $17,470 per high school student; Culdesac gets $16,897. (All these figures, by the way, are based on state Department of Education finance guru Tim Hill’s calculations for the 2009-2010 school year, so they’re not the absolute latest, but Hill considers them a good basis for comparison.)

The state’s largest school districts are on the low end for ADA. The Meridian School District gets just $4,843 per high-school student; Boise gets $5,047; and Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland and Post Falls school districts all come in just under $5,000.

The issue came up at the “Students Come First” technology task force meeting today, as state Department of Education official Jason Hancock demonstrated an example: In Middleton, an online provider would get $191 for a one-semester high school course; if the class costs more, parents would have to make up the difference. Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, who serves on the task force, said, “So I think if I were a provider, I would first concentrate on these districts where this credit is worth a lot more money. I wonder if you’ve explored the idea of a cap.”

For the rest of the article, go to Online class funding would vary sharply among Idaho school districts, under new laws