As the new school year begins, let’s take a pause to talk about the importance of enrollment and attendance. Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) believes in sharing information about our schools’ operations to further strengthen relationships with our families and the general public.
As educators, we know how critical daily attendance is to a child’s success in school and in life. In Baltimore City, an estimated 45% of students were chronically absent in the 2023–2024 school year (Baltimore Sun). In Maryland, chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more than eight days in a quarter or more than 20 days in a school year.
We can’t teach students who aren’t in school. They miss out on vital social development opportunities. Students with learning needs may not get needed interventions. Chronic absenteeism also leads to higher drop-out rates. The list goes on. Read more from BCP President and CEO Laura Doherty on the educational and life impact of chronic absenteeism.
It may not be clear, but another reason that attendance is important is because of its impact on school funding. Right now, attendance matters more than ever.
How do schools get funded in Baltimore City? Without boring you with state funding formulas, targeted segment weights, and indirect costs calculations (just a few of the many things school districts have to grapple with), the basis for school funding in Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools), BCP’s educational partner, is a per pupil amount which directly ties funding to student enrollment at each individual school.
The Crucial Relationship Between School Funding and Enrollment
City Schools uses a method called Fair Student Funding (FSF) whose premise is that the dollars should follow the students. Wherever students are enrolled, that’s where the money goes.
Each February, City Schools releases enrollment projections for the upcoming year to schools. The enrollment projection is based on a historical trend analysis of enrollment patterns at the school over the previous two to three years. It is a best-case scenario attempt to ensure that each school has the resources they will need to run an effective instructional program the following year.
The largest portion of any school’s budget is personnel – teachers, support staff, etc. After staffing, schools allocate remaining funds to secure resources that support classroom instructional materials, textbooks, social-emotional supports for students, field trips, technology, etc. Principals work collaboratively with their teams and representatives from various central offices to review the projections and submit a projected budget for the next year.
There are also community forums that take place at each school where families are given the opportunity to preview the budget and provide feedback to the school on the priorities driving the allocations. Once the budget planning is completed, it is submitted for approval and becomes the set budget for the next academic year.
How Does Attendance Affect a School’s Budget?
Fast forward to August and the start of the new school year. The next phase of the Fair Student Funding process begins with enrolment and attendance verification. The month of September determines the school’s final budget for the year. September 30th (or the last school day in September), is the official “count day” where the district uses the enrollment and attendance on that date to set the school’s final budget.
While the number of students enrolled sets the base number for funding, there are two other layers of data considered in the funding determination. So, how does City Schools determine final funding? Students have to be:
- Enrolled
- Have all immunizations current and documented, and
- Attend school within a designated window of time (inclusive of September 30).
After the numbers are determined from the September 30 count, the final phase of the FSF process begins. In this phase, schools go through an enrollment and budget adjustment process where their budgets are either reduced or increased based on the difference between the projected enrollment from February and the actual enrollment as of September 30.
The enrollment budget adjustment is designed to provide additional resources to those schools who experience enrollment increases. Schools with more students than projected often require additional staffing to effectively serve those students. Where does the additional funding come from? The schools with fewer students based on the September 30 count go through a budget adjustment process which reduces their funding by the number of students enrolled below the projection.
What does this look like for a school? Consider this example:
School A has a budget of $4,000,000, based on a projected enrollment of 400 students and a per pupil funding amount of $10,000 per student.
School B has a budget of $3,000,000, based on an enrollment projection of 300 students at the same per pupil funding amount.
On September 30, the number of students actually enrolled (and fully immunized and with attendance within the designated window) for the schools is:
School A = 375 students
School B = 325 students
In this scenario, School A is under-enrolled by 25 students and will have its budget reduced by $250,000 because those dollars are not needed for students who are not enrolled at the school.
Likewise, School B is over-enrolled and will have its budget increased by $250,000 to provide adequate support for those additional students.
For School A, the reduction may mean the loss of one to two teachers, while School B may have to hire two to three new teachers with the additional funding, depending on the grade levels of the incoming students.
Why Attendance Matters on the Fair Student Funding Model
At its core, the FSF model is rooted in the idea of equity – each school gets what it needs depending on the number of students it serves. (This statement does not imply a belief that schools are adequately funded. It only explains that the guiding principle of this funding model attempts to provide a level of funding necessary for individual schools based on their need, as it relates to number of students, and the funds that are available.)
Even with a design toward equity, there are arguments to be made about the impact of the model on smaller schools. Schools with fewer than 300 students experience enrollment and budget adjustments differently than schools with 400 or more students. Smaller schools often have just enough staff to effectively run a program and losing one or two teachers could have a major impact on that school’s instructional efforts. At the same time, larger schools who experience drastic enrollment increases need the additional funds to secure teachers and staff, who may not be available, to adequately serve those new students.
Complicating things even more is the fact that although the enrollment projections are based on actual enrollment in previous years, they do not account for environmental changes in a school community like decreasing population, mobility of families moving in and out of the community, new housing developments in the area, or decreases in available housing. These environmental factors often have a direct impact on attendance.
Wherever you sit on the spectrum of opinions on school funding, it is important to understand the importance of enrolling students in school early – before school starts. Equally important is ensuring that students attend school regularly. It is universally understood that teaching and learning are most effective when students are in school. Additionally, in the context of Baltimore City Public Schools, attendance in September may be the difference between increases or reductions in a school’s funding for the year.
