Cost of Living Study Memo with Table (2018)

Legislative Council Staff conducts a study of the cost of living in each school district every two years to update the cost-of-living factors used in the state's school finance funding formula as required by state law.  The first study was conducted in 1993, and a study has been conducted during the summer and fall of each odd-numbered year since.  The 2017 study results are used to determine school district cost-of-living factors for fiscal years 2018-19 and 2019-20.  The results of the 2017 study indicate that the cost of living, adjusted by where employees live, increased in 162 of the 178 school districts in the state.  In 87 of these districts, the change in the cost of living from 2015 to 2017 was large enough to increase the cost-of-living factor used in the school finance funding formula.