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early childhood education through adult education programs . Following is additional information on the key investments in school funding , including changes to statutory provisions with significant policy implications .
Local Control Funding Formula
As we highly anticipated , the governor funded the LCFF targets established in 2013 two years ahead of schedule . The final budget agreement allocates $ 3.67 billion in ongoing Prop . 98 funding to further implement the LCFF for school districts and charter schools , bringing the total amount provided for LCFF to $ 61.1 billion . While the statutory cost-of-living-adjustment is only 2.71 percent , the governor and Legislature appropriated an extra percent for a total of 3.7 percent COLA which is meant to help districts offset their increased pension liabilities . ACSA is working with a coalition of education organizations and school districts as a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 2808 ( Muratsuchi ), legislation to establish new aspirational LCFF targets starting in the 2019-20 fiscal year .
In addition to providing funding for LCFF , the budget compromise includes legislative intent to enact legislation in the 2017-18 session to redesign the Local Control and Accountability Plans ( LCAPs ). The intended changes to the template include streamlining the template to increase accessibility for parents and other local stakeholders and presenting information in a manner that more clearly shows whether services are being targeted to specific school sites or provided on a districtwide , countywide , or charterwide basis . ACSA will seek input from administrators statewide who may have feedback on this topic .
In an effort to increase transparency of the LCFF funds , commencing with the 2018-19 fiscal year , Local Educational Agencies ( LEAs ) will be required to provide a parent-friendly budget summary that links budget expenditures to corresponding goals , actions and services in the school district ’ s LCAP . The budget summary for parents will be required to be part of the LCAP . At the state level , since LEAs are considered to be funded at the original LCFF targets , the California Department of Education will also be required to post online the amount of supplemental and concentration grant funding awarded to each LEA on an annual basis .
It has become customary for the governor to propose , and for the Legislature to agree , to provide one-time discretionary funding for school districts , charter schools , and county offices of education as a way to offset any applicable K-12 education mandate reimbursement claims owed to schools . For the 2018-19 fiscal year , the Legislature provides approximately $ 1 billion in one-time Prop . 98 funding to be distributed on a per-student basis . The statute includes legislative intent that these funds be prioritized for deferred maintenance , professional development , beginning teacher induction programs , instructional materials , technology infrastructure and any
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other investments necessary to support implementation of state academic standards . Unlike prior years , the final budget agreement requires that these funds first offset an LEA ’ s allocation with the balance of any payments due to the state for the Medi-Cal billing settlements .
Career Technical Education
While the CTE Incentive Grant did not receive the level of funding the Legislature and a coalition of CTE proponents were seeking , the budget compromise resulted in two separate funding streams of ongoing funds for this intended purpose . The compromise includes $ 150 million ongoing Prop . 98 funding for the existing CTE Incentive Grant program . Most notably , the CTE Incentive Grant program was modified to include a 2:1 local match requirement and includes additional reporting requirements for the CDE . The legislation also eliminates the CTE Incentive Grant technical assistance coordinators and specifies that the K-12 Workforce Pathway Coordinators and the K – 14 Technical Assistance Providers established through the Strong Workforce program will provide technical assistance to grant applicants .
In a nod to the governor ’ s January budget proposal , $ 150 million in ongoing Prop . 98 funding were provided to establish the K-12 component of the Strong Workforce Program for purposes of expanding the availability of high-quality , industry-aligned CTE . Despite opposition from ACSA and other education organizations , the funding will be allocated through the Community College Chancellor ’ s Office to existing regional consortia based on the following factors in each region : 1 ) the unemployment rate ( 33 percent ) 2 ) the region ’ s total average daily attendance for students in grades 7 to 12 ( 33 percent ), and 3 ) the proportion of projected job openings ( 34 percent ). Regional consortia are required to collaborate with regional workforce and educational entities , develop a grant application process and allocate grants to LEAs to implement or expand CTE programs aligned with the consortia ’ s regional plan . The legislation requires grantees to provide a local match and requires specified data to be reported to the consortia and CDE . There is an additional $ 14 million in ongoing Prop . 98 funding dedicated to support the Workforce Pathway Coordinators , K-14 Technical Assistance Providers and the consortia administrative costs . The Workforce Pathway Coordinators and Technical Assistance Providers will be required to also provide technical assistance for grantees of the CTE Incentive Grant program .
Teacher residency program
Building on the governor ’ s January budget proposal , the budget includes a total of $ 75 million in one-time Prop . 98 funds for locally sponsored teacher residency programs for teacher shortage subject areas . Of this amount , $ 50 million is for teacher residency programs for special education teachers and $ 25 million is for teacher residency programs for Science , Technology , Engineering and Mathematics ( STEM ) and bilingual education teachers .
Teacher pipeline for special ed
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The CTC was tasked with distributing $ 50 million in one-time Prop . 98 funding for competitive grants to LEAs to develop and implement new , or to expand existing , locally identified solutions that address a need for special education teachers . Grant funding may be used for teacher career pathways , signing bonuses for newly credentialed teachers , mentors for existing teachers , professional learning communities , service awards , teacher service scholarships , student debt payment , living stipends for newly credentialed teachers , or other solutions .
Low-performing students
Earlier this year , Assembly member Weber introduced AB 2635 to adjust the definition of “ unduplicated pupils ” under the LCFF statute to include students who are included in the lowest performing student group ( s ) based on the most recently available mathematics or language arts results on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress . This legislation would have excluded students with disabilities , English learners , economically-disadvantaged students and foster youth from receiving the supplemental funds , thus ensuring the additional resources would be allocated to students based on ethnic or racial group .
With strong support from the Legislative Black Caucus , $ 300 million in onetime Prop . 98 funding is allocated to a new Low-Performing Students Block Grant in order to provide LEAs with additional funding for low-performing students who are not otherwise identified for supplemental grant funding under LCFF or eligible for special education services , which mirrors similar provisions as AB 2635 . LEAs who receive the funds are required to develop a plan for how the funds will be used and to report to the State Superintendent .
Classified employees
The California School Employees Association successfully negotiated the inclusion of $ 50 million in one-time Prop . 98 funds for LEAs to receive a grant based on the number of classified school employees employed by the LEA in the immediately preceding fiscal year . The funds received pursuant to this new grant program may be expended for specified purposes relating to the professional development of classified school employees , with first priority being professional development for the implementation of school safety plans , if applicable . While ACSA argued that professional development for school safety was a responsibility of all school employees , and that access to these funds for school safety training should be expanded to other employee classifications , including teachers and administrators , the Legislature decided to keep the funds narrowly focused .
Despite Gov . Brown vetoing bills in recent years that would have provided a stipend for classified school employees who do not work in the summer , the Legislature successfully negotiated the inclusion of one-time funds to establish this program . LEAs may elect to participate in this program , but are not required , under which an LEA may withhold an amount from an eligible classified employee ’ s monthly paycheck during the 2019-20 school year
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and deposit the amounts in an account within its general fund , to be known as the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program Fund . The CDE is required to apportion funds to participating LEAs to provide a participating classified employee up to $ 1 for each $ 1 that a participating classified employee has elected to have withheld from his or her monthly paychecks .
ACSA joined a coalition of education management organizations , school districts and county offices of education who expressed strong opposition to the use of Prop . 98 funding for this purpose . It will be important to monitor the outcome of this program , as we have concerns that this financial responsibility could potentially be shifted from a state-funded incentive to a new requirement encroaching on district ’ s limited general fund resources .
School facilities
For the 2018-19 school year , the anticipated Prop . 51 general obligation bonds for school facilities will be $ 640 million , which is the same amount the governor had suggested in the January budget proposal . This will continue to be an issue of interest for the education community to put pressure on the next governor to issue a larger amount to meet the program ’ s demand for eligible projects that have been approved , but have not been funded .
Special education
Despite strong support for AB 3136 by Assembly member O ’ Donnell to increase funding for special education by equalizing the rates and providing additional funding for early childhood education services for students with exceptional needs , the Legislature could not overcome the governor ’ s resistance to allocating new funds in 2018-19 . The importance of this issue will need to be conveyed to the next governor in 2019 , as many in the education community see this as a major fiscal issue that needs to be funded in addition to increasing funding through LCFF .
Adult education
The Legislature appropriated $ 21.5 million to give a COLA to the Adult Education Block Grant for the first time since its creation in 2015 . The corresponding budget language limits the amount of funding that can be used for administrative costs for adult education consortium members to 5 percent of funding received . The bill also extends the three-year planning cycle for adult education regional consortia by one year , to allow for an extra year of planning . It requires adult education programs and community colleges to use a statewide student identifier consistent with the identifiers assigned to students in K – 12 education programs , if the student is not already identified by a social security number in the data system of the adult school or other local educational agency providing the adult education programs , courses , or classes . The Legislature argued this was necessary to allow for better tracking of student outcomes .
More analysis from ACSA ’ s Martha Alvarez will be forthcoming in the next issue of EdCal .
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