VAO Collaborative · Funding Analysis

New Charter School — PPR Calculator

Build a multi-year revenue projection for a proposed charter school. Pick the district where the school will sit, the year it opens, and an enrollment ramp; the tool applies SB26-023 funding for each fiscal year through FY33 — one year past full implementation, so a school opening in FY29 sees a full five-year budget window. One reconciled calculation, the same engine as the What’s My Funding? School Check. Demographics start from the district’s profile and are fully editable, and base-rate inflation is adjustable year by year.

FY27–33
projection window — through one year past full implementation, for five-year budgets.
30→100%
new-formula phase-in, keyed to the fiscal year rather than the school’s age. Full formula from FY32.
Every year
FY28 through FY31 carries a hold-harmless floor, opening year included. It is built on that same year’s counts.
Saved scenario loaded from this browser — not the published defaults.

01 How a launching school’s funding works

1

The phase-in follows the calendar, not your school’s age.

Colorado is stepping from the 1994 formula to the new HB24-1448 formula on a fixed schedule — 30% new-formula in FY27, rising to 100% by FY32. A school opening in FY29 starts at that year’s 60% blend; nobody starts over at 30%.

2

Your floor moves with your enrollment.

From FY28 through FY31 the district pays the greater of your phase-in amount or your own 1994-formula amount for that same year plus 1%. Both halves are built from the pupils you actually seat in October, so the floor protects you against the new formula, not against a soft count. The enrollment ramp below matters more than any other input on this page.

3

The floor runs FY28 through FY31, then stops.

C.R.S. 22-30.5-112(2)(c.7)(IV) sets it at that year’s 1994-formula leg plus 1%, in every year the school is open, including its first. A school opening in FY27 is the exception: that year’s floor is prior-year total program received, and a launching school has none. Once the formula is fully implemented in FY32 the floor ends; FY33 shows your first year beyond it, growing only with the inflation you assume.

4

Every count is an estimate until the true-up.

Initial payments follow the counts on file, and the January/February true-up settles on the pupils you actually enrolled. A new school has no filing history, so build the budget on your most defensible enrollment number, not your most hopeful one.

Before you lock a budget: run the projection at least twice — once at the enrollment you expect and once at the number you could still operate on. Read the per-pupil rate and the total together: the rate is set mostly by the district’s factors and your demographic mix, while the total moves with every seat. Treat the inflation inputs as your assumption rather than a promise — statute sets FY27 and the phase-in schedule, not future base rates — and note the rate you used in the budget narrative. Before any number reaches a lease or a lender, confirm the pass-through details and any administrative retention with your authorizer.

02 Enrollment ramp & demographics

Enrollment by year

Funded pupil count (FTE) and membership (headcount) for each year the school operates. Edit to match the applicant’s ramp.

YearPhase-inFunded FTEMembership

Demographic rates & retention

Applied to membership in every year. Default to the district’s profile; edit for the applicant’s population.

Advanced counts (online, TREP, P-Tech, ASCENT) — applied each year

Multi-district online pupils are funded at the flat statewide rate rather than through the base and cost-of-living terms; P-Tech and TREP pupils are paid their own statutory rates; and all of these pupils are excluded from the rural per-pupil shares, per the August 2026 rulings.

03 Multi-year projection

YearFunded FTEPhase-inCOL studyInflationTotal programPer pupilAdmin retentionNet to school

04 Where the funding comes from