PPIC School Finance Model
The PPIC School Finance Model is a unique tool that allows users to simulate the effect of various funding formulas for allocating state revenue to California’s school districts. Developed by Heather Rose, Jon Sonstelie, and Margaret Weston, the model contains 2010-11 revenue and demographic data for all 1,663 local education agencies in California. The authors are pleased to make this model available for the analysis—or creation—of school finance proposals.
The first file below is the model itself. Users must enable macros in Excel in order for the calculations to work. Please note that the data files are large and may take some time to download. In addition, users will need to unzip these files using an extraction program such as WinZip or other tools available with most computer operating systems.
The second file is the model’s instruction manual, which explains how to use the model and describes data and methods used in constructing it. The California School Finance Revenue Manual provides statistics and a detailed description on the distribution of each state, federal, and local revenue program included in the model.
The third file supports the figures and tables presented in Funding Formulas for California Schools III: An Analysis of Governor Brown’s Weighted Pupil Funding Formula. It contains the data and calculations used to analyze the effect of Governor Brown’s proposed weighted pupil formula on school districts.
The fourth file supports the figures and tables presented in Funding Formulas for California Schools IV: An Analysis of Governor Brown’s Weighted Pupil Funding Formula, May Budget Revision. It contains the data and calculations used to analyze the effect of Governor Brown’s January and May weighted pupil formula proposals on school districts.
The PPIC School Finance Model was used to model Governor Brown’s 2013 weighted pupil funding proposal in California School District Revenue and Student Poverty: Moving Toward a Weighted Pupil Funding Formula.
Please cite the model as follows: PPIC School Finance Model, 2013.
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