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Comparative Cost Per MemberSection D of Multi-Year Edition of Basic FactsComparative Cost Per Member In cooperation with the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials Accounting Committee, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) School Financial Services Team has developed several cost "benchmarks" that can be used for informational and general analysis purposes. Cost measures, themselves, cannot indicate the extent or quality of a particular district's educational program. Users of this data are encouraged to pursue the reasons for cost differences between districts. Please contact a school finance consultant should you have further questions. Cost can differ from one district to another and from one year to another. There may be several reasons for this variance - educational programming, pupil transportation requirements, increases or decreases in debt service expenditures, or having food and community service operations. Reliance on a single cost determination, which may not be representative for all school districts, can lead to erroneous conclusions. The following "comparable" cost measures were developed to limit or identify the effects of various factors that contribute to cost variances:
Over time, the computation logic used in the comparative cost calculation has been revised to more accurately reflect a true measure of education cost. The accounting methodology for the current Comparative Cost calculation, as well as those for prior years, can be found in the links below. All files are Excel. Accounts used in calculation:
Multi-Year Comparative Cost Summary Data Files: Summary Computation (2007-08 to 2010-11) Summary Computation (2003-04 to 2006-07) Multi-Year Comparative Cost Detail Accounts Data Files: Detail Computation (2007-08 to 2010-11) Detail Computation (2003-04 to 2006-07) Single-Year Comparative Cost Pie Charts: The links below allows users to create pie charts using audited Annual Report data, as rolled up into Comparative Cost breakdowns. Note that single-year comparisons between districts may be misleading if any of the districts in question incurred an unusual expense in any given year. Users are encouraged to research the reasons behind data anomalies before using these charts. The 8-District worksheet prints on 2 pages, 4 pie charts/data tables to 1 page. Given the variability of expenditure data across districts, data label placement within the pie chart for some districts may be less than optimal. Should you wish to adjust the data label placement on any pie chart, the worksheet will allow for this as is has been left unprotected. Click once on the label to be adjusted. Click a second time and hold over the identified label until a grey-lined box appears around the label. Release the mouse button and point/click the mouse at the box edge, dragging to the desired position. 1-District Comparative Cost Pie & Data Charts: 8-District Comparative Cost Pie & Data Charts: Single-Year Summary Data files:
Comparative Cost/Revenue Homepage Historical Information About Cost Comparables During the early 1980s, the Complete Annual School Cost (CASC) statistic was developed to provide a numeric measure for inter-district cost comparisons. The original CASC calculation was the cumulative total of the gross cost of the general, special project, debt service, and food service funds, plus the net cost of the capital projects fund. Historically, CASC had been reported on a resident per member basis. (Membership is defined as resident enrollment adjusted for full-time equivalency.) Over time, K-12 educational programming and manner of delivery have become increasingly varied. Whereas in 1980, it was generally expected that a K-12 student would be educated in the district of residence, today's K-12 student may be participating in any one of a variety of educational programs including Open Enrollment and Special Transfer Integration Program (Milwaukee Area). As the diversity of education delivery methods increased, the original CASC methodology grew to be outdated. In an increasing number of cases, by the late 1990's, the cost to educate certain children was no longer accurately represented in the district actually incurring the cost. This resulted in the development and implementation of new measures during the 1999-00 school year. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE "OLD" CASC IS NOT COMPARABLE TO THE "NEW" COMPARATIVE COST MEASURE. Access Complete Annual School Cost (CASC) data from 1982-83 through 1998-99.
Last updated on 3/13/2012 2:08:14 PM |
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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers
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