Here’s an interesting data point that has emerged in the discussion of inequity in per-pupil funding among school districts in Iowa: The two districts with the longest one-way whole-grade-sharing arrangements are also maxed out in funding. Delwood has sent grades 7-12 to Maquoketa and Stratford has sent 7-12 to Webster City since 1987, and both are among the districts with the highest level of per-pupil funding.
As reported by the Gazette, when the Iowa Legislature set a funding formula in the 1970s, schools spending more than that were allowed to continue spending more. Today, that can be up to $175 per student, and when you multiply that by the entire enrollment it can make a difference. For example, 400 students at Hudson (another maxed-out district) earn the district $70,000 more than 400 students at North Tama (a state-minimum district).
The comparatively higher funding can’t do everything. Those districts weren’t able to hold on to their high school, but they have been able to continue existing. There’s a bundle of other districts also at or near the top funding level that more recently lost their high school or shared high school: Gilmore City-Bradgate, Twin Rivers, Lu Verne and Northeast Hamilton. CAL will join this group next year. The differential may enable them to continue going on independently longer than they otherwise would have. (But still, each decline in the student body means a drop in state money.)
A bill that would have equalized per-pupil funding across every district in Iowa passed the Senate unanimously last session but died in the House.