Complexity cuts hit FWCS budget Study logs drop in funding for disadvantaged students ASHLEY SLOBODA | The Journal Gazette Fort Wayne Community Schools has for years absorbed the sting of declining state funding for disadvantaged students. Known as complexity funding, it is based on students and families in each district receiving welfare or food stamps or caring for foster children. The theory is students from less-advantaged homes require more resources to educate. At FWCS, these dollars have fallen an average of about 5% annually from $1,707 per student in 2013-14 to $1,068 in 2020-21, Chief Financial Officer Kathy Friend said. This forces decisions about whether to reduce services or to use other funding to maintain programming, she said.