Allocation of funds to school districts

(A) Funds made available under this chapter must be allocated annually to the school districts in the following manner: (1) thirty-five percent of the funds allocated annually to the several school districts for facilities' needs must be allocated on a per pupil basis using the weighted pupil units of each district for the preceding year; (2) thirty-five percent must be allocated according to the preceding year's Education Finance Act (EFA) formula; (3) fifteen percent of the funds allocated annually to the several school districts for facilities' needs must be distributed based on a standardized assessment of the districts' needs for facilities using a uniform estimate of costs as established in Section 59-144-120. Individual district allotments must be based on the district facilities need relative to the state total facilities need; (4) fifteen percent of the funds allocated annually to the school districts must be distributed based on equalized effort defined as the prior five years' average expenditures for capital projects and debt service, including lease-purchase obligations, for school instructional facilities divided by the average assessed value of all property subject to ad valorem school taxation and adjusted to reflect an equalized per pupil mill value. Individual district allotments must be based on a district's equalized effort relative to the state total equalized effort. The amount included for lease-purchase obligations shall not include the costs of utilities or operation and maintenance of the leased facility; (5) a district's annual allotment must be the sum of the four amounts calculated as provided in this section. Funds from a district's allotment shall be made available as needed once approval is received from the State Board of Education pursuant to Chapter 23 of this title. (B) The Department of Juvenile Justice, the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, the John de la Howe School, and the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind also shall be annually allocated funds from the Children's Education Endowment Fund for facilities' needs on a per pupil basis using weighted pupil units for one hundred percent of their allocations. For purposes of these allocations only, all pupils of these schools are considered K-12 pupils.