Currently browsing Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
State Board handed job of defining rules of new funding system
The Legislature will vote today on a bill establishing Gov. Brown’s historic school funding system that punts to the State Board of Education some key decisions on how dollars for disadvantaged students must be spent and accounted for. Senate Bill 91, the 178-page “trailer” bill containing statutory changes for Gov. Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, was released Thursday, one day before lawmakers must vote on the $96 billion state budget that includes funding for the new … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, Advocates for Education, Featured, Program innovation, Reporting & Analysis, School Boards, Site Councils, State Board of Education, Systemic Change, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
LCFF lemmings poised to leap?
The current Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) legislation pending before the Legislature utterly fails to reach any of the key reform goals that Gov. Jerry Brown and his advisers articulated. The bill presents the Legislature and governor with a stark choice. The key goals of LCFF, as articulated by the governor’s astute adviser Mike Kirst and his colleagues in a seminal paper, were as follows: Allocate Revenue Based on Needs. Though the bill would direct substantial funding … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Foster youth win big in California’s new budget
Among the winners and losers under California’s new budget, one student group stands out as a big winner: the state’s 42,000 school-age foster children. Often neglected by their schools as well as their families, foster youth can no longer be ignored. Schools, districts and county offices will be held accountable for the academic progress of their foster youth as a separate subgroup under the state’s Academic Performance Index. The API measures the performance of a school’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Finance, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Students, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Michael Kirst, father of new school funding formula, looks back and at the work ahead
It was the morning after the evening of the last revision, and the father of the Local Control Funding Formula looked upon all that the governor and Legislature had made, and declared, “Hey, not bad.” Michael Kirst is relishing the all-but-certain passage later this week of the comprehensive school funding reform that he co-designed. That was five years ago, and, after many twists and iterations, the final version, negotiated over the weekend by Gov. Jerry Brown, Assembly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Reporting & Analysis, State Board of Education, State Budget, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Adult ed, regional occupational centers, partnership academies get reprieve
Once-threatened programs that prepare high school students for careers and adults for jobs or college appear likely to get at least a two-year reprieve under the compromise budget plan negotiated between legislative leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown. Under the compromise, districts that currently have adult education programs or are involved in Regional Occupational Centers and Programs, which provide hands-on learning in specific careers for high school students, will be required to keep their current programs for two … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adult education, Career Technical Education, Categorical Funding, College and Career Preparation, Featured, Finance, Funding and Taxation, Internships, Service Learning, Jerry Brown, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula), Workforce preparation
It’s a deal: Brown, top lawmakers raise base funding in finance formula
In a nod to suburban districts that argued they would be shortchanged, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders negotiated a new version of Brown’s plan for school finance reform that will increase the base funding level for all students and lower the extra dollars for some high-needs students. Late Monday, the Joint Legislative Budget Conference Committee, made up of lawmakers from the Senate and the Assembly, approved a compromise version of Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Equity issues, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Funding reform worries potential ‘loser’ schools within ‘winning’ districts
Until now, the greatest tension over Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance reform has been largely among districts: a political tussle between unhappy suburban and optimistic urban school factions over how new education dollars should be divvied up. But signs of discord in Los Angeles Unified indicate that the same battles over money may eventually play out among “winner” and “loser” schools within large diverse districts – like Oakland, San Diego and San Jose – that have both … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Jerry Brown, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
No agreement yet on how to hold districts accountable for new state money
Gov. Jerry Brown’s new school funding system is based on the idea that school districts, not Sacramento, should be given control over spending and then held accountable for students’ results. But with time running out to work on details of the Local Control Funding Formula, negotiators from the Assembly, Senate and the governor’s office have yet to agree on what, when and how districts should be judged. All agree that districts should be measured by more … Read entire article »
Filed under: A to G Curriculum, Career Technical Education, Common Core standards, Featured, Jerry Brown, Parent Activism, Poverty, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Tests, Turning around failing schools, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
No year’s delay: Deal likely on school finance reform, Steinberg says
The Senate has dropped its call for a year’s delay in implementing Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for sweeping K-12 finance reform, making it likely a deal over Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula will be struck in the next few days, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Thursday. Steinberg made the prediction during a public luncheon address in Sacramento with Mark Baldassare, president of the Public Policy Institute of California. Taking an extra year to work out details on finance reform was one of the key differences with Brown in Senate Bill 69, the version of the funding formula that the Senate passed last week. Other key differences remain, however. The Senate version eliminates the concentration grant, the extra dollars for low-income students and English learners that Brown would provide districts in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Quick Hits, Revenue and taxes, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Video Highlights from
2013 EdSource Symposium
Transforming Public Education: What's Next For
Students, Teachers and Schools
- In Partnership with the California State PTA -
May 4th symposium in San Jose featured a number of prominent speakers on key challenges in education today, including Linda Darling-Hammond, Martha Kanter, and Pedro Noguera.
You can find video of those speakers and more at our new YouTube channel by clicking below.
After historic win, much collective work lies ahead
June 14th, 2013 | 1 Comment | By Ted Lempert / commentary
California is about to embark on the most comprehensive reform to its school finance system in 40 years, putting local communities in the driver’s seat and making a historic investment of more than $10 billion in high-needs students. The compromise Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to be voted on by the state Legislature by the June 15 deadline also fairly addresses the earlier “winners-losers” concern by increasing the base grant and ensuring that all districts … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)