Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2014 V 44 No 1 | Page 8

A primer for navigating
school finance and
accountability reforms
Learn everything you
need to know about
LCFF and LCAP, and
how to develop your
own best practices.

8

Leadership

T

his past school year can be characterized as a time of historic
education reform. In the summer of 2013, the California Legislature adopted a new school finance model
called the Local Control Funding Formula.
This is the first time in about 40 years that
our state has changed the Proposition 98
school funding methodology from a revenue limit school finance model to the LCFF.
Hand in hand with the LCFF comes the
Local Control Accountability Plan, which
aligns school finance with the instructional program within LEAs (local education agencies) in order to provide a system
of local accountability for student learning.
Additionally, most states across the nation have adopted, for the first time, the
same set of academic standards known as
the Common Core State Standards, which
are to be measured beginning in the 2014-15
school year by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.
As California policymakers deliberated
the development of the LCFF, they focused
on five key goals:

1. Ensuring equity and greater resources
for students with greater needs, including
English learners, low-income youth and
foster youth.
2. State support for local decision making.
3. Creating a system of accountability.
4. Transparency regarding school budgeting.
5. Aligning school budgets with an accountability plan.

The new funding formula
For more than four decades, California
has funded education through a school finance model made up of a base revenue
limit, or a common amount of funding
for students in elementary and secondary
school. Additionally, until the end of June
2013 there were more than 50 categorical
or restricted funds for programs such as
fine arts, professional development, school
counseling, instructional materials, eco-

By Gina Potter