For Immediate Release. The State Board of Education will vote this week on a new accountability system that will show if state dollars spent under CA’s 2013 education finance reform law are being used to meet the needs of CA’s highest-need students. The Local Control Funding Formula report card will – for the first time – measure whether California school districts are using funding to support students in need.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 6, 2016
CONTACT:
Leslie Fulbright, ACLU of Northern California, (415) 293-6309; lfulbright@aclunc.org
San Francisco, Calif. – The State Board of Education will vote this week (Sept. 8-9) on a new accountability system that will – for the first time – show whether the money given to schools under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) is being used to meet the educational needs of California’s highest need students.
The system uses multiple, meaningful measures of a student’s educational experience to gauge whether districts are meeting their obligation to provide high-need students with an equal education. It will replace one based solely on test scores.
“The new system will measure things that matter to low-income students of color and their parents, like absenteeism, suspension rates and disparities between our highest need students and other school children,” said Nayna Gupta, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.
LCFF is historic education reform and a critical civil rights victory for California’s most underserved students. Starting in 2014, it increased school funding and directed more resources to the state’s English learners, foster youth, and low-income students. The ACLU, Public Advocates, Californians for Justice, and PICO work with a broad coalition of education and civil rights groups to monitor and evaluate the process.
“California is the first state in the country that prioritizes equity in education and approving this new accountability system is an important next step in fulfilling LCFF’s promise of equity,” said Taryn Ishida, Executive Director of Californians for Justice.
The new system also requires school districts to monitor parental involvement when making decisions and planning.
“The state is moving in the right direction by signaling that parents are welcome and respected partners in school district decision making,” said Sergio Luna, lead organizer for PICO, California’s Education for Liberation Campaign. “But we think it must do even more to ensure that districts use LCFF dollars to improve parental involvement.”
Although the State’s adoption of the LCFF accountability report card this week is a critical first step, there is more work to be done in the next several years.
“We support this important first step of adopting an accountability system that uses more than test scores to evaluate education programs and outcomes, but we also look forward to working with the state to refine the system and make sure that our highest need students reap the benefits of LCFF dollars,” said John Affeldt, managing attorney with Public Advocates.
