High Cost Pupil TransportationAid Program
2013 Wisconsin Act 20(Section 121.59, Wisconsin Statutes, is included on page 3) created a new categorical aid program that provides additional funding to school districts in Wisconsin that have higher per pupil transportation costs when compared to the statewide average per pupil transportation cost. Each district with a per pupil transportation cost that exceeds one hundred and fifty percent (150%) of the statewide average per pupil transportation costwill receive a share of this categorical aid. The $5,000,000 appropriation will be dispersed in June, 2014and the aid payment will be based on auditedinformation from the previous fiscal year (2012-13).
Please be advised since the Department of Public Instruction will not receive complete audited data until later this school year and due to the range of cost datafrom the 424school districts we are not able to provide any estimated payment information. The High Cost Transportation Aid payment will be calculated with new information each year and this will make budgeting for these new aid revenues difficult.
Two pieces of information from the prior school yearwill be used to determine the school district payments:
- Audited Transportation Cost (Fund 10only).
Audited information should be available in early April.
- Audited Membership for the previous school year.
“Membership” is defined as the average of the resident FTE students enrolled on the third Friday of September and 2nd Friday of January (including part-time attendance by home-based or private school students), plus summer school and foster group home FTE. (Source:
The Calculation Process:
Phase IDetermineifthe school district qualifies to receive an aid payment.
Step 1Total the previous school year’s Audited Transportation Cost (Fund 10) for each school district.
Step 2Total the previous school year’s Audited Membership for each school district.
Step 3Determine the statewide transportation cost per member by dividing the Step 1 Total by Step 2 Total. Multiply the quotientby 1.5 to determine the threshold to receive High Cost Transportation Aid.
Step 4Determine the district’s transportation cost per member by dividing the Audited Transportation Cost (Fund 10) by the Audited Membership.
Step 5Subtract the statewide transportation cost per member (Step 3) from the district’s transportation cost per member (Step 4). If the remainder calculated is a positive value,the school district is eligible to receive a portion of the allocated funds.
Phase II Determine the qualifying school district’s High Cost Transportation aid amount.
Step 6Multiply the district’s previous yearmembership by the positive remaindercalculated in Step 5 of Phase 1.
Step 7Total the values produced in Step 6 for all of the qualifying school districts.
Step 8Calculate each district’s percentage share of the appropriation by dividing the productfrom Step 6 by the total in Step 7.
Step 9For each school district, multiply the Step 8 productfor the district by the appropriation and this will determine the district’s High Cost Transportation Aid payment.
The School Financial Services team recognizes that knowing whether a school district is eligible for High Cost Transportation aid and how much state aid it will receive could be a challenge for school districts as the2013-2014 Budget is finalized. The following link is the projection provided by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to estimate which school districts would have been eligible for High Cost Transportation Aid in 2012-13 (based on 2011-2012 data): LFB 2012-13 Estimate of High Cost Transportation Aid Based on 2011-12 Data.
The LFB information is summarized in the following two tables.
Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) estimateof High Cost Transportation (HCT) aidbased on 2011-2012
22 / Districts would have received less than $50 per member
20 / Districts would have received over $50 but less than $100 per member
30 / Districts would have received over $100 but less than $200 per member
26 / Districts would have received over $200 but less than $300 per member
9 / Districts would have received over $300 but less than $400 per member
7 / Districts would have received over $400 but less than $500 per member
4 / Districts would have received over $500 but less than $600 per member
7 / Districts would have received over $700 but less than $800 per member
1 / Districts would have received over $800 but less than $900 per member
0 / Districts would have received over $900 but less than $1,000 per member
2 / Districts would have received over $1,000 per member
128 / Total of School Districts who would have received a HCT aid payment
Another breakdown of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) estimate:
128 districts would have received High Transportation Cost Aid:
9 Districts would have received over $100,000
26 Districts would have received over $50,000 but less than $100,000
40 Districts would have received over $20,000 but less than $50,000
27 Districts would have received over $10,000 but less than $20,000
26 Districts would have received less than $10,000
121.59(1)
Wisconsin Statutes Section 121.59 High Cost Transportation Aid.
(1)In this section, "transportation costs" means costs that are eligible for reimbursement under s. 121.58.
121.59(2) (2)Annually the department shall pay to each school district the amount determined as follows:
121.59(2)(a) (a)Divide the statewide school district transportation costs in the previous school year by the statewide membership in the previous school year and multiply the quotient by 1.5.
121.59(2)(b) (b)Divide the school district's transportation costs in the previous school year by the school district's membership in the previous school year.
121.59(2)(c) (c)Subtract the product under par. (a) from the quotient under par. (b).
121.59(2)(d) (d)If the remainder under par. (c) is a positive number, multiply it by the school district's membership.
121.59(2)(e) (e)Divide the product under par. (d) for the school district by the product under par. (d) for all school districts.
121.59(2)(f) (f)Multiply the quotient under par. (e) by the amount appropriated under s. 20.255 (2) (cq).
121.59(3) (3)Aid under this section shall be paid from the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (cq).
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