A new funding category designated as Education
Opportunity Aid will be provided to Abbott districts in 2004-05
for parity and discretionary resources.
Therefore Parity Aid and Additional Abbott v.
Burke Aid are not provided in the 2004-05 budget as separate
categories.
The 2004-05 State budget includes a total of
$1.1 billion for Education Opportunity Aid while the 2003-04
State budget included $1.0 billion in combined Parity Aid and
Additional Abbot v. Burke Aid. This $100 million difference is
the size of the total recommended increase in aid to Abbott districts.
The DOE state aid summary shows an increase
for Abbott districts that is a result of the comparison between
the initial 2004-05 formula driven portion of Education Opportunity
Aid ($907.0 million) and 2003-04 actual parity aid payments ($697.7
million), also formula driven. This is a $209.3 million increase
that is offset by a decrease in the amount of discretionary awards.
The additional discretionary awards that will
be provided through Education Opportunity Aid are not reflected
in the $907 million because those awards have not yet been distributed
to each district.