Q Why do some school districts get extra money for at-risk, English as a Second Language, handicapped, and other groups of students, and some districts do not?
A Not all districts have students in some, or any, of the categories that bring in extra (weighted) money to pay for the additional costs associated with educating special groups of students.
“School districts received extra money through the finance formula based on a variety of ‘weighting’ factors,” said Nancy Horst, community relations director for the Emporia school district.
“The amount of money received by a district is based on the number of qualifying students enrolled, or the number of ‘contact hours’ a student has in a qualifying program.”
If a district has no students in those weighting categories, she said, they do not receive additional state aid.
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