Student Enrollment Information

The WI Department of Instruction (DPI) uses school district enrollments in the calculations for both Revenue Limit and Equalization Aid.  Official student headcounts are taken twice per school year: on the third Friday in September, and on the second Friday in January.  Student headcounts are converted to Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) based on various factors, including the type of student being counted, the grade level, and the percentage of time the student attends school on an average day.  Summer school counts are a mathematical calculation based on the number of total minutes of summer school courses attended divided by the overall summer student headcount, and then converted to FTE.

Application in Revenue Limits

For Revenue Limit calculations, the third Friday count in September is converted to an FTE basis, and 40% of the summer school FTE for the previous summer is added to create that year’s Revenue Limit membership number. This FTE membership number is then averaged with the prior two years’ membership numbers to create the three-year average Revenue Limit FTE Membership number. This three year average is the student enrollment number that is used in Revenue Limit calculation each year. The three-year average creates a “smoothing” effect in regard to enrollment changes year over year. This membership number is used in conjunction with the State-legislated per pupil increase amount (if any) to determine the overall change in the Revenue Limit calculation each year. The maximum revenue per member allowed within the revenue limit calculation has a lot to do with where a district started in terms of limited revenue. Most districts do not underlevy, and therefore do not have the ability to change the revenue per member to a great degree over time.

Application in State Equalization Aid

For Equalization Aid calculations, the prior year September and January FTE counts are averaged, and then the prior year summer school FTE count is added to reach the current year’s Equalization Aid membership count.  This student enrollment number is used in the Equalization Aid calculation as the divisor to the prior year equalized district property value to create the current year’s Equalized Property Value per Member.  The Equalized Property Value per Member is the number that is used to compare districts across the state to determine the comparable level of how “rich” or “poor” a district is – and therefore how much state general aid the district should receive, proportionate to other districts.

Open Enrollment

Membership FTE for students who enroll IN and OUT of the district are applied to the Revenue Limit calculation based on their resident district, and are added to/subtracted from equalization aid payments to districts based on the attending district. Generally speaking, a district counts their resident student FTE on the revenue limit calculation, but receives (or pays out) tuition aid payments based on where students are actually attending.