District Snap Shot Analyzation

Based off of the individual responses below, you can see that our group all attacked the question from the same stand point and came up with very similar responses.  We all agreed that the WADA was based off of the special population weights that district 1 had higher percentages in.  Due to the fact that these special populations require more money to allow for student needs, the weighted formula allows for school districts like district 1 to meet the individual needs of the students who may need different resources and also more personnel to be successful in the class.  


Jay Cantrell

	District 1	Students Served	District 2	Students Served
District Student Population	3,903		3, 890
Total Refined ADA	3,893.754		4,032.937
Weighted ADA (WADA)	5,555.815		4,794.076
Economically Disadvantaged	93.7%	3657	20.7%	805
Special Education	9%	351	7%	272
LEP	48%	1873	2%	78
BiLingual/ESL	41%	1600	2%	78
CATE	24%	937	14%	545
GT	5%	195	4%	156

These two districts would appear to have similar funding due to the fact that they have a total student population that is within 15 students.  But, that is not the case.  Looking at the ADA, evidently d351istrict 2 has a higher attendance rate than district 1.  Although district 2 has a higher Refined ADA, the Weighted ADA for district 1 is higher.  This discrepancy is due to the fact that district 1 has a higher percentage in each of the weighted categories listed above.  While the Special Education and GT percentages are very similar, in the other categories there is a much larger gap.  First, the economically disadvantaged population for district 1 is 73% higher than at district 2.  Also, district 1 is 100% Hispanic with a LEP percentage of 48% and Bi-Lingual/ESL percentage of 41%.  On the other side of the table, district 2 has a Hispanic population of 16% with a LEP percentage of 2% and Bi-Lingual/ESL percentage of 2%.  The third difference with a large gap is the CATE funding.  District 1 has 24% identified for a CATE class while district 2 only has 14%.  These percentages allow for a school with a lower Refined ADA to end up with more money in the Weighted ADA.  The reasoning behind the weighted formula is that the students identified in these different categories will need more resources and possibly more personnel to meet the needs of the students.  

Shawn Clubb

	District 1	District 2
Percentage of economically disadvantaged students	93.3	20.7
Total Refined ADA Adjusted for Decline	3893.754	4032.937
Weighted ADA (WADA) for each district	5555.815	4794.076

In the lecture, Dr. Stephens explained that, “ WADA is based on the number of students attending the school district and the type of students attending the school district.” School districts receive additional funds for students in special programs. “For example, a district receives additional program allocations if students attending the schools are economically disadvantaged.” The percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged is higher in District 1, therefore their WADA is higher than District 2.

Although funding isn’t the same for each district, special programs at schools cost the districts more money. Because children all learn differently, to give them all an equal chance means that more money must be spent on certain ones. Therefore, I feel that this formula is a fairly fair way of distributing funds.

Trevor Edgemon

Comparison of 2 District’s Funding                                                    District 1                                                   District 2 Economically Disadvantaged         93.7%                                                   20.7% Special Education                             9%                                                        7% LEP                                                 48%                                                        2% Bilingual/ESL                                  41%                                                        2% CATE                                              24%                                                       14% GT                                                    5%                                                          4% Total Refined ADA                 3,893.754                                           4,032.937                                       Weighted ADA (WADA)         5,555.815                                           4,794.076 Position Statement: The district with the smaller ADA has the larger WADA resulting from formula considerations such as the percentage of students represented in the areas of economically disadvantaged, LEP, special education, career/technology, and gifted and talented.  This district has a larger percentage of students represented in each of these areas.  District 1 has a 73% higher economically disadvantage group of students than District 2.  Students with special needs for instructional purposes are weighted by the state for funding, since these students will require additional instructional resources and professional staff to meet their instructional needs.  Although District 1 has a lower average daily attendance their weighted average daily attendance is higher than District 2’s WADA because they will need the additional funds to support the needs of 9% of special education students (351students), 48% of the Limited English Proficient students(1873), 41% of their Bilingual/ESL students(1601), 24% of their CATE(936) and 5% of Gifted and Talented students(195).