Cost of Living Study Memo with Table (2020)

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. 1 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 2019 study results are used to determine school district cost-of-living factors for FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22. The results of the 2019 study indicate that the cost of living, adjusted by where employees live, increased in 174 of the 178 school districts in the state. In 103 of these districts, the change in the cost of living from 2017 to 2019 was large enough to increase the cost-of-living factor used in the school finance funding formula.