§ 16-7.1-6. Core instruction equity fund.
The general assembly recognizes that Rhode Island cities and towns primarily rely
on the local property tax to finance education programs, and that the state's highest
effective property tax rates are concentrated in the state's urban communities. Therefore,
certain communities, because of low tax capacity and high tax effort, are unable to
appropriate sufficient funds for the support of core instructional programs. The general
assembly also recognizes the need to reduce inequities in resource distribution among
the state's cities and towns as well as among the state's districts and schools. Therefore,
the general assembly establishes the Core Instructional Equity Fund to improve the
capacity of cities and towns to support the core instruction activities that are the
basis of daily teaching and learning in all classrooms. The general assembly shall
annually appropriate and distribute some sum to meet these needs. The sum shall be
distributed based upon the following formula:
(1) Data. Data used for the following calculations are defined as follows:
(i) Population (state and municipal) shall be included from the most recent census;
(ii) Equalized weighted assessed valuations (EWAV) from the most recently completed and
certified study pursuant to § 16-7-21;
(iii) Most recent tax data certified by the local assessors to the department of administration,
and core instructional per pupil cost as determined by the commissioner of elementary
and secondary education;
(iv) Most recent resident average daily membership (ADM) pursuant to § 16-7-22;
(2) Methodology.
(i) Community Property Tax Capacity Index Calculation
Calculate statewide tax rate:
Step 1: total statewide property tax yield/total statewide property tax base (EWAV) = state
average tax rate
Step 2: calculate statewide yield per capita:
Total statewide property tax yield/state population (most recent census) = state property
tax yield per capita
Step 3: calculate municipal property tax yield per capita:
Municipal property tax yield/population = municipal property tax yield per capita
Step 4: calculate municipal property tax capacity:
(Municipal property tax yield per capita/state property tax yield per capita) * 100
= Community property tax capacity index
(ii) Total Tax Capacity Index Calculation:
Step 5: calculate community hypothetical property tax yield per capita:
(Statewide tax rate * municipal property tax base (EWAV))/community population = Hypothetical
community property tax yield per capita
Step 6: calculate total tax capacity index:
(Hypothetical municipal yield per capita/state average property tax yield per capita)
* 100 = total tax capacity index
(iii) Tax Effort Index Calculation:
Calculate property tax effort calculation:
Step 7: (Municipal property tax yield per capita/hypothetical municipal property tax yield
per capita) * 100 = Property Tax Effort Index
(iv) Capacity/Effort Index
Calculation of the equity index:
Step 8: (Property tax capacity index/tax effort index = Equity index
(v) Instructional Cost Per Pupil
Calculate the instructional cost per ADM:
Step 9: core instructional district cost/district ADM = per pupil core instructional district
cost
Step 10: select the statewide average per pupil instructional cost
Step 11: state average per pupil core instructional cost - district per pupil core instructional
cost = core gap
Step 12: core gap * ADM = weighted difference.
(3) Eligibility to receive funds. Only those districts which have a gap in instructional core funding and which have
capacity of less than 0.50 per the equity index are eligible to receive funds under
this provision.
(4) For FY 2003, districts shall receive the greater of the dollar amount received in
FY 2002 or the dollar amount calculated as the FY 2003 entitlement. For FY 2003, ten
percent (10%) of these funds shall, in addition to the purposes enumerated above,
be used to increase student and school performance, and shall be only spent with the
prior approval of the commissioner of elementary and secondary education.