Equitable School Staffing Model

Equitable School-Based Budget Allocations

Staffing Allocations - Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) 

Thompson School District has a staffing process for school sites called Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) that was developed through a coordinated effort by departments within the school district. There are three employee groups; Licensed, Classified, and Administrative/Professional/Technical that have FTE expenditures categories. Our staffing process empowers school sites to determine staffing placement for their buildings based upon their specific needs. Positions staffed with the FTE allocation include teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, educational assistants, and other essential positions for student success. A FTE staffing guidelines and allocation worksheet was developed that incorporates various formula factors for all elementary, middle and high schools. There are certain variables that would affect the overall FTE released to each building. Variables that determine the FTE allocation at each site include: 

• Student enrollment projection number 
• Estimate of the number of at-risk students 
• Estimate of the number of Free and Reduced lunch numbers 
• District-directed programs
• Staffing levels under previous allocation method (phase-in adjustment) 

Once the FTE allocation has been determined for each school, a FTE worksheet is created that allows a school to develop different staffing scenarios depending upon school needs for the upcoming year. As staffing scenario inputs are entered, the total FTE used is calculated along with any remaining shortage or overage. Once a decision is made on the scenario that would work best for that school, the worksheet is available for Human Resources and the elementary or secondary directors to approve, where then FTE is entered into our Integrated Financial and Administrative Solution (IFAS) program. 

Each school site’s enrollment determines what positions are allocated. The allocated positions cannot be cut in order to shift FTE to other positions unless approved by Human Resources. There are positions essential for student success and the total of FTE allocated at each site usually changes from one year to the next. 

FTE Variables 

Base FTE

 

Required and Supplemental Staffing 

The Thompson School District requires or provides funding for additional staffing that is excluded from the school-based FTE. Positions included in this category include principals, assistant principals, custodians, affective needs and special education teachers, psychologists, speech/language teachers, ELA teachers and translators, social workers, other special education professionals, and talented and gifted teachers. Many of these positions are budgeted in the appropriate departments (e.g., custodial, ESS and ELA). 

Non-FTE Allocations 

The Thompson School District utilizes a funding model wherein the majority of operational costs are budgeted centrally, and access to services, products, materials, and equipment is made available to all schools on an equitable basis, based on the educational needs at each school and grade span. In addition, approximately 4% of the annual budget is earmarked each year for non-FTE operational expenses at schools, and is used to support both non-instructional and instructional site-based activities. These funds are allocated equitably to schools based on student enrollment at each school and at each grade span. The formula to allocate these funds is determined by dividing the total earmarked funds by district student population numbers, and distributing to each school based on student enrollment. 

Budget Allocations to Title I Schools 

The Thompson School District’s budget methodology to allocate state and local funds to each Title I school ensures each such school receives all the state and local funds it would otherwise receive if it were not a Title I school.