15.1-27-04.1. Baseline funding - Establishment - Determination of state aid
1. To determine the amount of state aid payable to each district, the superintendent of
public instruction shall establish each district's baseline funding. A district's baseline
funding consists of:
a. All state aid received by the district in accordance with chapter 15.1-27 during the
2018-19 school year;
b. An amount equal to the property tax deducted by the superintendent of public
instruction to determine the 2018-19 state aid payment;
c. An amount equal to seventy-five percent of the revenue received by the school
district during the 2017-18 school year for the following revenue types:
(1) Revenue reported under code 2000 of the North Dakota school district
financial accounting and reporting manual, as developed by the
superintendent of public instruction in accordance with section 15.1-02-08;
(2) Mineral revenue received by the school district through direct allocation from
the state treasurer and not reported under code 2000 of the North Dakota
school district financial accounting and reporting manual, as developed by
the superintendent of public instruction in accordance with section
15.1-02-08;
(3) Tuition reported under code 1300 of the North Dakota school district
financial accounting and reporting manual, as developed by the
superintendent of public instruction in accordance with section 15.1-02-08,
with the exception of revenue received specifically for the operation of an
educational program provided at a residential treatment facility, tuition
received for the provision of an adult farm management program, and
beginning in the 2025-26 school year, eighty-five percent of tuition received
under an agreement to educate students from a school district on an
air force base with funding received through federal impact aid, until the
2026-27 school year, and each school year thereafter, when all tuition
received under an agreement to educate students from a school district on
an air force base with funding received through federal impact aid must be
excluded from the tuition calculation under this paragraph;
(4) Revenue from payments in lieu of taxes on the distribution and transmission
of electric power;
(5) Revenue from payments in lieu of taxes on electricity generated from
sources other than coal; and
(6) Revenue from the leasing of land acquired by the United States for which
compensation is allocated to the state under 33 U.S.C. 701(c)(3);
d. An amount equal to the total revenue received by the school district during the
2017-18 school year for the following revenue types:
(1) Mobile home tax revenue;
(2) Telecommunications tax revenue; and
(3) Revenue from payments in lieu of taxes and state reimbursement of the
homestead credit and disabled veterans credit; and
e. Beginning with the 2020-21 school year, the superintendent shall reduce the
baseline funding for any school district that becomes an elementary district
pursuant to section 15.1-07-27 after the 2012-13 school year. The reduction must
be proportional to the number of weighted student units in the grades that are
offered through another school district relative to the total number of weighted
student units the school district offered in the year before the school district
became an elementary district. The reduced baseline funding applies to the
calculation of state aid for the first school year in which the school district
becomes an elementary district and for each year thereafter. For districts that
become an elementary district prior to the 2020-21 school year, the
superintendent shall use the reduced baseline funding to calculate state aid for
the 2020-21 school year and for each year thereafter.
2. a. The superintendent shall divide the district's baseline funding determined in
subsection 1 by the district's 2017-18 weighted student units to determine the
district's baseline funding per weighted student unit.
b. For any school district that becomes an elementary district pursuant to section
15.1-07-27 after the 2017-18 school year, the superintendent shall adjust the
district's baseline funding per weighted student unit used to calculate state aid.
The superintendent shall divide the district's baseline funding determined in
subsection 1 by the district's weighted student units after the school district
becomes an elementary district to determine the district's adjusted baseline
funding per weighted student unit. The superintendent shall use the district's
adjusted baseline funding per weighted student unit in the calculation of state aid
for the first school year in which the school district becomes an elementary district
and for each year thereafter.
c. Beginning with the 2021-22 school year and for each school year thereafter, the
superintendent shall reduce the district's baseline funding per weighted student
unit. Each year the superintendent shall calculate the amount by which the
district's baseline funding per weighted student unit exceeds the payment per
weighted student unit provided in subsection 3. For the 2023-24 school year the
superintendent shall reduce the district's baseline funding per weighted student
unit by forty percent of the amount by which the district's baseline funding per
weighted student unit exceeds the payment per weighted student unit for the
2023-24 school year. For each year thereafter, the reduction percentage is
increased by an additional fifteen percent. However, the district's baseline funding
per weighted student unit, after the reduction, may not be less than the payment
per weighted student unit provided in subsection 3.
3. a. For the 2025-26 school year, the superintendent shall calculate state aid as the
greater of:
(1) The district's weighted student units multiplied by eleven thousand three
hundred forty-nine dollars;
(2) One hundred two percent of the district's baseline funding per weighted
student unit, as established in subsection 2, multiplied by the district's
weighted student units, not to exceed the district's 2017-18 baseline
weighted student units, plus any weighted student units in excess of the
2017-18 baseline weighted student units multiplied by eleven thousand
three hundred forty-nine dollars; or
(3) The district's baseline funding as established in subsection 1 less the
amount in paragraph 1, with the difference reduced by seventy percent and
then the difference added to the amount determined in paragraph 1.
b. For the 2026-27 school year and each school year thereafter, the superintendent
shall calculate state aid as the greater of:
(1) The district's weighted student units multiplied by eleven thousand
six hundred thirty-three dollars;
(2) One hundred two percent of the district's baseline funding per weighted
student unit, as established in subsection 2, multiplied by the district's
weighted student units, not to exceed the district's 2017-18 baseline
weighted student units, plus any weighted student units in excess of the
2017-18 baseline weighted student units multiplied by eleven thousand
six hundred thirty-three dollars; or
(3) The district's baseline funding as established in subsection 1 less the
amount in paragraph 1, with the difference reduced by eighty-five percent
for the 2026-27 school year and the reduction percentage increasing by
fifteen percent each school year thereafter until the difference is reduced to
zero, and then the difference added to the amount determined in
paragraph 1.
4. After determining the product in accordance with subsection 3, the superintendent of
public instruction shall:
a. Subtract an amount equal to sixty mills multiplied by the taxable valuation of the
school district; and
b. Subtract an amount equal to seventy-five percent of all revenue types listed in
subdivision c and paragraphs 1 and 2 of subdivision d of subsection 1 and
revenue from payments in lieu of taxes. Before determining the deduction for
seventy-five percent of all revenue types, the superintendent of public instruction
shall adjust revenues as follows:
(1) Tuition revenue shall be adjusted as follows:
(a) In addition to deducting tuition revenue received specifically for the
operation of an educational program provided at a residential
treatment facility, tuition revenue received for the provision of an adult
farm management program, tuition received for the education of
high-cost and special education students, and tuition received under
an agreement to educate students from a school district on an
air force base with funding received through federal impact aid as
directed each school year in paragraph 3 of subdivision c of
subsection 1, the superintendent of public instruction also shall reduce
the total tuition reported by the school district by the amount of tuition
revenue received for the education of students not residing in the state
and for which the state has not entered a cross-border education
contract; and
(b) The superintendent of public instruction also shall reduce the total
tuition reported by admitting school districts meeting the requirements
of subdivision e of subsection 2 of section 15.1-29-12 by the amount
of tuition revenue received for the education of students residing in an
adjacent school district.
(2) After adjusting tuition revenue as provided in paragraph 1, the
superintendent shall reduce all remaining revenues from all revenue types
by the percentage of mills levied in 2024 by the school district for sinking
and interest relative to the total mills levied in 2024 by the school district for
all purposes.
5. The amount remaining after the computation required under subsection 4 is the
amount of state aid to which a school district is entitled, subject to any other statutory
requirements or limitations.
6. On or before June thirtieth of each year, the school board shall certify to the
superintendent of public instruction the final average daily membership for the current
school year.
7. For purposes of the calculation in subsection 4, each county auditor, in collaboration
with the school districts, shall report the following to the superintendent of public
instruction on an annual basis:
a. The amount of revenue received by each school district in the county during the
previous school year for each type of revenue identified in subdivisions c and d of
subsection 1;
b. The total number of mills levied in the previous calendar year by each school
district for all purposes; and
c. The number of mills levied in the previous calendar year by each school district
for sinking and interest fund purposes.
