EdSource’s John Fensterwald writes that organizations advocating for minority children and analysts of LCFF spending say that a lack of clarity, ambiguities, uneven enforcement and loopholes are undermining the effectiveness of the funding law, which Gov. Jerry Brown fought hard to pass and regards as his education legacy. And they are counting on the State Board of Education to hold districts more accountable for funding for high-needs students and to make it easier for the public to monitor districts’ spending.
An opportunity will come in September, when the board revises regulations governing the template for the Local Control and Accountability Plan, the document that districts write spelling out how they will use money from the funding formula to improve results for all students and high-needs children in particular.
John Affledt is quoted in the article: John Affeldt, managing attorney with Public Advocates said that the finance department is “getting too wrapped up in what is a categorical.” LCFF created “a third way,” a requirement to spend a proportion of a district’s funding on the state’s high-needs students, and “that obligation does not go away just because the year ended. Otherwise, the law would make no sense and would be too easy to undermine.”
Read the entire article here.
