Comparative Budget Salary Study

This report provides an in-depth analysis of comparative budget and salary data for Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) and other comparable districts. It includes interactive dashboards to explore and compare financial, salary, and student demographic metrics.

Key Findings

An analysis of SRCS' performance and financial data reveals the following key insights:

Average Daily Attendance (ADA): The observed decline in SRCS' ADA is consistent with the average decline experienced by comparable districts, suggesting that the observed ADA decline observed for SRCS follows the general state ADA decline.
Budget Allocations: SRCS' overall budget allocation is largely in line with its peers, with two key exceptions:
- Certificated Teacher Salaries: SRCS allocates approximately $1,000 more per student to certificated teacher salaries. This higher expenditure may be partially attributed to targeted and supplemental funds to support a higher proportion of English Learners and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students, as comparable districts with similar demographics exhibit matching spending in this area.
- Services and Operating Costs: SRCS' spending on services and operating costs is significantly higher, at about $1,500 more per student. This is primarily driven by expenses for subagreements for special education services. Unlike the salary expenditure, this higher cost is not consistently observed in comparable districts with similar special education identification rates, indicating that other factors may contribute to this difference.
Salary Schedule: SRCS' salary schedule is generally aligned with those of comparable districts, with similar year-over-year increases observed over the past eight years.
ADA per FTE Ratio: SRCS has experienced a more pronounced decline in its ADA per FTE ratio (from approximately 18 students per FTE in 2015 to 16 in 2023) compared to comparable districts, possibly resulting from unaddressed overstaffing stemming from the workforce reduction freeze during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Certificated Benefits: A comparative analysis of benefit expenditures could not be conducted due to inconsistencies in SRCS' reporting of certificated benefits data. This data is provided for informational purposes only without a more detailed analysis.

Specific Reports

Comparison Group

This report outlines the selection criteria and methodology used to identify comparable school districts for SRCS.

ADA Change Comparison

This report analyzes changes in Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for SRCS compared to its peer districts over the past decade.

Budget Comparison by Object

This report compares budget allocations by object for SRCS and its peer districts.

Budget Comparison by Goal

This report compares budget allocations by goal for SRCS and its peer districts.

Salary Schedule Comparison

This report compares salary schedules for certificated employees in SRCS and its peer districts.

ADA per FTE Comparison

This report compares the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) ratios for SRCS and its peer districts.

Data

Data for this study comes from publicly available data released yearly by the California Department of Education.

Fiscal data is available from fiscal year 2003-2004 through fiscal year 2024-2025 using the SACS database and 2025-2026 July 1st Budget Projections data using the SACS data viewer. All analyses use data from the fiscal year 2024-2025 unaudited actuals.

Certificated salary and benefit data uses yearly J-90 report data.