(a) A pupil enrolled in a receiving district pursuant to this chapter shall be included in the unit count of the receiving district for all purposes relating to the allocation of all state and federal education funding and shall not be included in the unit count of the district of residence for any such purposes. (b) If a parent of a pupil enrolled outside the district of residence pursuant to this chapter moves during the school year to a district different from either the district of residence or the receiving district, the child's first district of residence shall continue to be responsible for payments to the receiving district for the balance of the school year pursuant to subsection (e) of this section. The child's new district of residence shall be responsible for all such payments during succeeding years, and such payments shall be calculated as the lower local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, of the new district of residence and the receiving district. (c) The Department of Education shall annually calculate the local cost per pupil expended by each school district for each type of pupil for the school year immediately preceding and shall annually certify each district's local cost per pupil expenditure by September 1 of each year. (d) Local cost per pupil as used in this section shall be calculated as follows: Total Operating Expenditure in Preceding Fiscal Year Total Division I Units minus Special School Units Number of Pupils per Unit Where: Total local Operating = Sum of all expenditures from local Expenditure in Preceding FY sources minus local expenditures for tuition minus local expenditures for debt service minus local expenditures for Minor Capital Improvement minus local cafeteria expenditures minus any other local expenditures deemed by the Secretary of Education to be inappropriate for inclusion for the purpose of this chapter. Division I Units for each = Division I Units certified by the Department District or Special School of Education as of September 30 of each year Pupils per Unit = Number of Pupils required for one particular unit of funding as specified in § 1703 of this title (e) The district of residence shall, except as provided for in subsection (h) of this section, pay to the receiving district the lower local cost per pupil expenditure of the 2 districts, adjusted by an inflation factor specified annually in the annual appropriations act, such payment to be made by November 30 of each year. In the case of a district of residence that has a higher local cost per pupil than the receiving district, the district of residence shall pay in to a special fund to be known as the "School Choice Fund," the difference per pupil between their local cost per pupil expenditure and that of the receiving district. The Department of Education shall establish and administer the School Choice Fund as an appropriated special fund account. Deposits by districts of residence to this account shall also be completed by November 30 of each school year. (f) Once all payments have been made pursuant to subsections (b) and (e) of this section, the full amount in the "School Choice Fund" account shall be allocated to all receiving districts that had a local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, that was higher than the district of residence for pupils choosing to attend schools in districts other than their district of residence. These funds shall be provided in a pro-rata fashion so that the gap that exists in a receiving district between the local per pupil cost in the receiving district and the amount paid by the district of residence is closed by an equal percentage in each receiving district. (g) Once all payments have been made pursuant to subsections (b), (e) and (f) of this section, the State, from the annual appropriations made for Division III Equalization and/or that portion of the Growth and Upgrade Contingency that represents actual Division III Equalization unit growth, will provide funding to all receiving districts that had a local cost per pupil, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, that was higher than the district of residence of pupils who choose to attend school in said receiving districts. This funding will be provided to each such receiving district so that the gap that exists in such receiving district between the local per pupil expenditures in the receiving district and the amount paid by the district of residence is closed by an equal percentage in each receiving district to the extent that the actual appropriations allow. (h) Any pupil, who because of educational need, requires services that are appropriately financed pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 6 of this title, either at the outset or subsequent to a decision to enroll in a public school other than a school in the pupil's district of residence, shall remain the financial responsibility of the district of residence. The amount of the financial obligation shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 of this title. (i) Any payment received by a local school district pursuant to this section may be used for current operations, local share of minor capital improvements, local debt service payments or to make tuition payments. (j) In the event of any mid-year termination of a pupil's enrollment under this chapter, nothing contained in this section shall prevent the district of residence and the receiving district from entering into an agreement providing for the pro-ration of student funding between or among the district of residence, the receiving district, a successor district of residence and/or a successor receiving district.
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