Gaining Local Control of School Funding

I attended the Education Update with Dr. Michael Kirst on 9/28 in which Dr. Kirst provided some insights on the new local control funding formula for California public schools and what kinds of changes we can expect to see in 2014.

Roughly 10% of the 1,000 school districts in California meet the school funding Review Limit through local property taxes.  I say "roughly" because the number varies from year to year as property taxes fluctuate and not all school funding is from property taxes.   These school districts which meet the State's goal for Revenue Limit funding through local property taxes are called Basic Aid.  The Los Altos, Palo Alto and Mountain View-Los Altos school districts are all locally funded or Basic Aid school districts according to the state's revenue estimates for the 2013-14 school year.  Not all these districts are Basic Aid every year, as property taxes fluctuate, but they have been recently.

Most school districts, as well as charter schools, in California receive the Revenue Limit meaning that the State tops off their funding to meet the calculated Revenue Limit per student.   The problem with the old Review Limit funding model is that the funding formula, established in 1972, has become too complex and the distribution of funds across California are not equitable.  With the passage of Prop 30, California has funds to meet their funding goals for all school districts and charter schools for another six years.  The idea being that California has six more years until the Prop 30 funds run out to fix the problem.

The first step in Dr. Kirst's and the Governor's plan is to fix the school funding formula.  The new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) passed with full bipartisan support.  LCFF simplifies the funding formula and provides a basis for how to add additional funds.  The model is more equitable by providing the same amount of funding per student, for all of California, adjusted by grade level.  The one item Dr. Kirst said is not accounted for in the new LCFF is cost of living expenses that vary depending on where one lives in California.  He touched on funding for Students with Disabilities, but I am not clear on how this will work.  He did say that LCFF provides additional funding for just three groups of students in need:  low income, English language learners, and youth in Foster Care.  

The one area of exception to the equity rule remains the roughly 10% of the school districts that keep their funding "overflow" from local property taxes.  Overflow is a strange term to use for California given how low public school funding is here versus the rest of the United States.  Anyway, I digress.  These Basic Aid districts are now called Community Funded school districts with the passage of LCFF.  A more clear term than "Basic Aid", for sure.  This also means that the Prop 30 funds will most likely NOT benefit Basic Aid school districts, but they should benefit charter schools in all districts.  Charter schools will have the same level of funding as all LCFF school districts across the state.    

Rather than raise new school funds at the state level, the emphasis of the new funding plan is to push control of public school funding down to the local level.  LCFF changes the role of the state and the county as well.  The State and County Boards of Education will have a supervisory role rather than explicit direction according to Dr. Kirst.  This will be defined in 2014 through templates for Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP).  The idea being that each school district and charter school will submit their LCAP to the County Board of Education for review.  These details are yet to be worked through.

What is the plan to bring California school funding on par with the rest of the United States?  The primary way to fix school funding in the future will be to rely on "Local Control".  Dr. Kirst said that 35 years ago when he and Jerry Brown were in their 30's and in office last time, they thought they had all the answers.  So, the State Board of Education controlled much of school funding.  He said, now in their 70's, they are less confident that they have all the answers, so they want to leave it to local communities to decide what is best for themselves.  Dr. Kirst also said that any changes to Prop 13 tax law were highly unlikely based on polling data.

If we in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto and Mountain View want more funding for our public schools, it will most likely come from local sources such as sales taxes, bonds, donations and parcel taxes.   Dr. Kirst said that we should look for a change in Parcel Taxes in the future.  It would most likely be a ballot measure -- much like Prop 39 was for school bonds which lowered the passage rate for school bonds to 55% and provided for local funding of facilities for charter schools.

Click here to learn more about Revenue Limit from Ed Source.