Contracts for Excellence
The 2007-08 Enacted State Budget included unprecedented increases in school aid, primarily in the form of a new category, Foundation Aid. For districts that received an increase in Foundation Aid over a certain dollar or percentage threshold and had at least one school with substandard academic performance, the Contracts for Excellence (C4E) Program was established to provide additional accountability. C4E was designed to be a comprehensive approach to targeting fiscal resources to specific allowable programs which were believed by the Legislature and Governor to raise the achievement of the students with the greatest educational need. Limits to the Foundation Aid phase-in held Contract amounts flat for over a decade. However, with the full phase-in of Foundation Aid as part of the 2023-24 Enacted State Budget, the amount of Foundation Aid subject to Contract requirements has increased significantly and continues to grow steadily.