On July 1, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 97, a bill that aims to increase education funding and put more funding under school district control. An integral part of Brown’s bill, the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) promises an increase of $4.5 billion dollars in funding through restructured processes.
LCFF will replace the previous complex funding model with a more transparent, efficient system that targets student needs. In accordance with state guidelines, the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) has been taking steps to implement LCFF. To meet the state deadline set at June 1, SMUHSD has engaged students, teachers, parents, and staff to help build its new Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).
Up until now, California school districts were funded through categorical funds (funds from the state designated for specific programs), property taxes, and other state funding. Now, the state will give funding to districts in a lump sum for internal allocation.
With this new model, LCFF will give districts a base grant dependent on the grade level and number of students at a school. Additionally, the state will give supplemental grants for each student identified with high needs (defined as English learners, foster youth, or low-income students). Districts with over 55 percent of students identifying with one or more of these high-need categories will receive an additional concentration grant. If possible, the state will distribute additional funding based on needs such as lower- level reading.
“Prior, ‘Title One’ funds were designated to schools based on number of students reading below grade level,” says Assistant Principal Jim Coe. “Now LCFF goes from bottom to up. After student needs are known, the money will be designated.”
Currently, the district is working to create a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) to facilitate changes anticipated by Brown’s changes. To create an LCAP, a district must identify main goals and needs of the schools by garnering input from teachers, students, staff, parents, etc. As stated on Aragon’s website, SMUHSD’s main goals center on conditions of learning, pupil outcomes, and engagement. To further facilitate the changes, the district is required to take further action to engage parties of interest.
“We have a budget council or committee that is in place in the district,” says Cynthia Clark, the district director of curriculum and assessment. “That committee will serve as advisory for the LCAP for input. Parents from each constituent group are required by law and have been invited by each school site, specifically parent representative groups from low-income, English learners, foster youth. It’s another avenue for the district to gather input from the community.”
Posted on School Loop sites around the district, a survey hosted by the National Center for School Leadership presented parents, teachers, staff, and students with an opportunity to indicate needs and reactions to the district goals. On April 30, the National Center for School Leadership closed the survey.
“The results go to the superintendent office and will be ready to use during the input portion of the LCAP,” says Clark. “We just want to make sure that we are getting all the information possible so our plan reflects the needs of the district.”
While changes will affect the district, they will have minimal impact on Aragon, as Aragon employs fewer categorical funds. These funds were formerly distributed by the state and now need to be allocated by the district.
“It is important to understand that categorical funds make up only five percent of Aragon’s budget,” reiterates Kurtz. “The rest comes from property tax.”
In accordance, calculations indicate that SMUHSD’s 2013-2014 budget allocates $11,468 dollars per student, which remains extremely high in comparison to Oakland’s current budget of $7,502 dollars per student. The new funding formula will work to address this problem. As seen in the 2020-2021 projections, SMUHSD, a district with only 24 percent of students identifying as high-need, will still receive $11,468 dollars, while Oakland, a district with 80 percent of students identified as having high student needs, will receive $11,810 dollars.
In regards to the process, a budget council—which serves as a major advisor for the implementation for the LCAP— will be holding another meeting in the upcoming week to solicit further input from community members.
“Following the meeting, the anticipated steps are to gather input, continue to refine our LCAP to get it to the board by June for their approval. It will then go to the county who certifies it, and then it will go to the state,” Clark says.
