528 Local contribution r a t e.
Formula.
Definitions.
PUBLIC LAW 93-380-AUG. 21, 1974
[88
STAT.
"(3)(A) Except as is provided in subparagraph (B), in order to compute the local contribution rate for a local educational agency for any fiscal year, the Commissioner, after consulting with the State educational agency of the State in which the local educational agency is located and with the local educational agency, shall determine which school districts within such State are generally comparable to the school district of the local educational agency for which the computation is being made. The local contribution rate for such agency shall be the quotient of— " (i) the aggregate current expenditures, during the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the computation is made, which the local educational agencies of such comparable school districts derived from local sources, divided by— "(ii) the aggregate number of children in average daily attendance for whom such agency provided free public education during such second preceding fiscal year. " (B)(i) The local contribution rate for a local educational t^gency in any State shall not be less than— " (I) 50 per centum of the average per pupil expenditure in such State, or " ( II) 50 per centum of such expenditures in all the States, whichever is greater, except that clause ( II) shall not operate in such a manner as to make the local contribution rate for any local educational agency in any State exceed an amount equal to the average per pupil expenditure in such State. "(ii) If the current expenditures in those school districts which the Commissioner has determined to be generally comparable to the school district of the local educational agency for which a computation is made under subparagraph (A) are not reasonably comparable because of unusual geographical factors which affect the current expenditures necessary to maintain, in the school district of such agency, a level of education equivalent to that maintained in such other school districts, the Commissioner is authorized to increase the local contribution rate for such agency by such an amount which he determines will compensate such agency for the increase in current expenditures necessitated by such unusual geographical factors. "(iii) The local contribution rate for any local educational agency in— " (I) Puerto Rico, Wake Island, Guam, American Samoa, or the Virgin Islands, or " ( II) any State in which a substantial proportion of the land is in unorganized territory, or " ( III) any State in which there is only one local education agency, shall be determined for any fiscal year by the Commissioner in accordance with policies and principles which will best achieve the purposes of this section and which are consistent with the policies and principles provided in this paragraph for determining local contribution rates in States where it is possible to determine generally comparable school districts. " (C) For the purposes of this paragraph— " (i) the term 'State' does not include Puerto Rico, Wake Island, Guam, American Samoa, or the Virgin Islands; and "(ii) the 'average per pupil expenditure' in a State shall be (I) the aggregate current expenditures, during the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the computation is made of all local educational agencies in the State, divided by ( II) the
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