Section 20-2-160. Determination of enrollment by institutional program; determination of funds to be appropriated

   (a) The State Board of Education shall designate the specific dates upon which two counts of students enrolled in each instructional program authorized under this article shall be made each school year and by which the counts shall be reported to the Department of Education. The initial enrollment count shall be made after October 1 but prior to November 17 and the final enrollment count after March 1 but prior to May 1. The report shall indicate the student's specific assigned program for each one-sixth segment of the school day on the designated reporting date. No program shall be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day that the student is assigned to a study hall; a noncredit course; a course recognized under this article or by state board policy as an enrichment course, except a driver education course; a course which requires participation in an extracurricular activity for which enrollment is on a competitive basis; a course in which the student serves as a student assistant to a teacher, in a school office, or in the media center, except when such placement is an approved work site of a recognized career, technical, and agricultural education laboratory program; an individual study course for which no outline of course objectives is prepared in writing prior to the beginning of the course; or any other course or activity so designated by the state board. For the purpose of this Code section, the term "enrichment course" means a course which does not dedicate a major portion of the class time toward the development and enhancement of one or more student competencies as adopted by the state board under Code Section 20-2-140. A program shall not be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day for which the student is not enrolled in an instructional program or has not attended a class or classes within the preceding ten days; nor shall a program be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day for which the student is charged tuition or fees or is required to provide materials or equipment beyond those authorized pursuant to Code Section 20-2-133. A student who is enrolled in a dual credit course pursuant to Code Section 20-2-159.5 shall be counted for the high school program or other appropriate program for each segment in which the student is attending such dual credit course. The state board shall adopt such regulations and criteria as necessary to ensure objective and true counts of students in state approved instructional programs. The state board shall also establish criteria by which students shall be counted as resident or nonresident students, including specific circumstances which may include, but not be limited to, students attending another local school system under court order or under the terms of a contract between two local school systems. If a local school system has a justifiable reason, it may seek authority from the state board to shift full-time equivalent program counts from the designated date to a requested alternate date.

(b) The full-time equivalent (FTE) program count for each local school system shall be obtained in the following manner:

   (1) Count the number of one-sixth segments of the school day for which each student is enrolled in each program authorized under Code Section 20-2-161; and

   (2) Divide the total number of segments counted for each program by six. The result is the full-time equivalent program count for each respective state recognized program.

(c) For the purpose of initially determining the amount of funds to be appropriated to finance each respective program for the ensuing fiscal year, a projection of the second full-time equivalent program count shall be calculated as follows:

   (1) Divide the first total full-time equivalent count for the current fiscal year by the first total full-time equivalent count for the immediately preceding fiscal year;

   (2) Multiply the quotient obtained in paragraph (1) of this subsection by the second total full-time equivalent count for the immediately preceding fiscal year. The result shall be the projected second total full-time equivalent count for the current fiscal year;

   (3) Divide the average of the local school system's two most recent full-time equivalent program counts by the average of the two most recent total full-time equivalent counts; and

   (4) Multiply the quotient obtained in paragraph (3) of this subsection by the product obtained in paragraph (2) of this subsection. The result shall be the projected second full-time equivalent program count for the current fiscal year.

(d) The average of the first full-time equivalent program count, weighted two parts, and the projected second full-time equivalent program count, weighted one part, shall be used to initially determine the funds needed to finance the program for the ensuing fiscal year.

(e) For purposes of calculating allotments for a new or revised instructional program for which the full-time equivalent program counts provided for in subsections (a) through (d) of this Code section do not exist, the most recent full-time equivalent program count shall be used until such time as the full-time equivalent program counts provided for in subsections (a) through (d) of this Code section do exist.

(f) The allotments for the alternative education program shall be calculated as provided in subsection (h) of Code Section 20-2-154.1.

Code 1981, § 20-2-160, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 1657, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1169, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1991, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1354, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 462, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1335, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1693, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 494, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 618, § 20; Ga. L. 2001, p. 148, § 4; Ga. L. 2005, p. 795, § 1/SB 33; Ga. L. 2006, p. 743, § 2/SB 515; Ga. L. 2011, p. 635, § 6/HB 186; Ga. L. 2012, p. 893, § 2/SB 289; Ga. L. 2013, p. 1061, § 8/HB 283.