Buncombe Cons SD 43 vs Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
IL · 51 students • CA · 55 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Buncombe Cons SD 43 and Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- Both direct a similar share of each operating dollar to classrooms.
- Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary is far more dependent on local property taxes (49% of revenue vs 23%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
- Buncombe Cons SD 43 reports fewer students per teacher (7.3 vs 13.8). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 51 | 55 |
| Schools | 1 | 1 |
| Grades served | K–8 | K–8 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Johnson County | Merced County |
| State | IL | CA |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 100.0 | 98.3 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $20,845 | $20,696 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $20,854 | $21,060 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $20,319 | $19,824 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Buncombe Cons SD 43
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Buncombe Cons SD 43
- Local 23.5% Locked
- State 53.3% Locked
- Federal 23.2% Locked
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
- Local 49.0% Locked
- State 38.4% Locked
- Federal 12.6% Locked
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 23.5% | 49.0% |
| State share of revenue | 53.3% | 38.4% |
| Federal share of revenue | 23.2% | 12.6% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How IL funds its districts
Evidence-Based Funding: an adequacy target per district, with new state money directed first to districts furthest below their target.
How CA funds its districts
LCFF — Local Control Funding Formula: a base grant per pupil plus supplemental and concentration grants driven by low-income, English-learner and foster-youth counts.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Buncombe Cons SD 43
- Instruction 61.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 0.0% Locked
- Student support 2.3% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 7.8% Locked
- Transportation 2.6% Locked
- Food service 6.3% Locked
- School administration 3.6% Locked
- District administration 9.5% Locked
- Other support 0.1% Locked
- Other current 7.0% Locked
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
- Instruction 62.7% Locked
- Instructional staff support 0.0% Locked
- Student support 1.5% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 6.6% Locked
- Transportation 5.9% Locked
- Food service 5.7% Locked
- School administration 8.5% Locked
- District administration 4.7% Locked
- Other support 4.1% Locked
- Other current 5.7% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Buncombe Cons SD 43 minus Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 61.9% | 62.7% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 13.1% | 13.1% |
| Transportation share | 2.6% | 5.9% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 7.3 | 13.8 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 11.7% | 10.5% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -22.7% | -32.1% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Buncombe Cons SD 43
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- Federal cliff exposure More than 20% of revenue is federal, a share that is unusually exposed when temporary federal programmes end.
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -22.7% | -32.1% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Buncombe Cons SD 43
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in IL and CA.
- At least one district sits outside a metro area with its own published price index, so its cost adjustment uses the statewide index. That is a coarser adjustment.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Buncombe Cons SD 43
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Buncombe Cons SD 43 | Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $5,414 | $13,161 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 20.4% | 40.6% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Buncombe Cons SD 43: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Funding measures on the ballot
Buncombe Cons SD 43
We have not read IL’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Buncombe Cons SD 43. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
Nobody has read IL’s school election results yet — that is a gap on our side, not a fact about this district. Its county elections office holds what it asked its voters for and what they answered, and that is a public record you can request. What it says is worth asking about at a board meeting.
Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
We hold every school funding measure the state of CA published for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and this district appears in none of them.
What this state publishes: School district bonds and parcel taxes as the California Elections Data Archive compiles them for the Secretary of State. Bonds carry the principal; parcel taxes are quoted per parcel and carry no comparable dollar figure. Recalls and advisory questions are not included.
CA published no results for 2010, so a measure put to voters in that year would not appear here. That is a gap in the state’s own publishing.
What this band does not answer yet
The detailed figures for Buncombe Cons SD 43 and Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
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Compare something else
Buncombe Cons SD 43 on its own · Snelling-Merced Falls Union Elementary on its own