Technical Details on Counting Students

Special Rules for New Schools, Transfer Schools, and Phase-Out Schools

New schools

Schools opening in September 2008 do not have existing budgets and will receive their FSF Formula.

Poverty Weight. Year 1 new schools are funded using the Citywide cutoff level of 60 percent except for sites where the actual poverty information is known, such as for program conversions.

Academic Intervention. Based on information on existing new schools, schools opening in September 2008 are funded based on the following assumptions of their entering students’ needs:

Well Below Standards:

  • High Schools—26%
  • Middle School—7%
  • Secondary—26% if only grades 9 to 12, 7% for grades 6 to 8
  • Elementary Schools—poverty weight (if start before grade 4)

Below Standards:

  • High Schools—34%
  • Middle School—12%
  • Secondary Schools—34% if only grades 9 to 12, 12% for grades 6 to 8
  • Elementary Schools—poverty weight (if start before grade 4)

ELL Weights. Based on information on existing new schools, schools opening in September 2008 are funded based on the following assumptions except for sites where the actual student information is known:

  • ELL focused schools—100% ELL population
  • Non-ELL focused schools—8% ELL population

New transfer schools

Academic. Based on historical information for existing transfer schools, new transfer schools’ academic weights are funded based on the following assumptions:

  • Well Below Standards—35% of the general education population
  • Below Standards—29% of the general education population

ELL. Based on historical data for existing transfer schools, new transfer schools are funded with an assumption of having a population of 3 percent ELLs.

Phase-out schools

Poverty. The 2007–08 school year poverty percentage is applied to the school’s projected enrollment to determine the poverty student count for schools that are phasing out.

Academic. The 2007–08 school year academic percentage is applied to the school’s projected enrollment to determine the academic intervention student count for schools that are phasing out.

ELL. The 2007–08 school year ELL percentage is applied to the school’s projected enrollment to determine the poverty student count for schools that are phasing out.