By directing funding to the state’s poorest schools and targeting racial disparities statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing the biggest changes in a decade to the state system of funding and governing schools. His plan would be an implicit acknowledgment...

Most newcomer students enter school with very low or beginning English language proficiency (ELP), but their language skills can develop rapidly under the right conditions, according to the first in a new series of briefs by Policy Analysis for California...

A new analysis by the research nonprofit PACE (Policy Analysis for  California Education) examines the tradeoffs and various options for one of the key decisions awaiting the Legislature this spring: how to fund TK-12 schools following two years of steep...

Revolutionary change in public education is rare. Yet California's public school districts are today in the midst of a sea change, due largely to the efforts of Michael Kirst, the longest serving state Board of Education president and a longtime professor...

It’s been eight years since then-Gov. Jerry Brown restructured California’s school funding formulas to direct billions of dollars to the state’s neediest students. But, in 2019, state Auditor Elaine Howle confirmed what critics had been saying for years: State and...

California’s landmark funding reform law needs to be fixed to help meet its promise of raising the achievement of underperforming student groups, conclude two recently published research studies. The co-authors of a third report, after examining recent research and interviewing...

In the broadest sense, LCFF embraced the conventional wisdom that altering the flow of money would profoundly affect educational outcomes. However, from its inception, LCFF has been awash in controversy—not over its concept, but rather its implementation. The latest attempt...

The Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, ushered in a new era of school funding in California when it was adopted in 2013. It’s regarded by many as the most significant resource equity reform the state has ever enacted. But...

Right now, school district and charter school leaders, working with parents and the community, are starting to draft their Local Control and Accountability Plans. State law requires new plans every three years and annual updates to show how they plan...

In 2013, policymakers replaced California’s convoluted education funding system with the Local Control Funding Formula, which streamlined dollars into a simplified formula. The revamped formula provides a base amount of funding for each student, plus supplemental dollars for students classified...

USC Rossier Professor of Education Policy discusses strategies for engaging local stakeholders, her experience as a researcher and how COVID-19 will impact funding for education.

It’s no secret that most school finance systems are outdated. But where can state policymakers find a blueprint for positive reform? Perhaps the best model to emulate is California’s Local Control Funding Formula. It’s still early but several studies have...

With a recession imminent and tens of millions of Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the past few weeks, state budgets are taking a beating—and schools could be in serious fiscal jeopardy. In states like Florida, where recently passed budgets...

When the coronavirus emergency abates, what happens to California’s disrupted education system and how might policymakers respond now?

As educators scramble to serve millions of children while schools are shut down there’s another crisis looming: the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is going to blow substantial holes in education budgets. It’s difficult to think about dollars and...

Few goals in education have been as frustrating and urgent as the effort to fix the deep, generational disparity in achievement between the haves and the have-nots in California schools. It is an article of faith in the K-12 school...

When then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law in 2013, California’s leaders were hopeful that this legislation would set high expectations for flexibility, transparency, and equity within school districts. In a new report, “English Language...

Recent survey results show that while more California county office of education leaders are understanding and accepting of the new roles of COEs in the Statewide System of Support, the state must further build out and enhance the system to...

Educational accountability is attracting a lot of political attention—or perhaps lip service—these days in California. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed two bills touted as bringing more accountability to education. Better tracking of how individual students are faring could, and perhaps...

A recent trend in public education spending is positive for educators: revenues are on the rise as states such as Texas, Arizona and West Virginia inject new money into school districts. While many schools will receive additional resources as a...

Research shows California schools are now relying more on counselors in order to improve outcomes for students in areas such as attendance and graduation. A report released last year as part of Getting Down to Facts II—a project involving Stanford University...

California’s new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, is creating 13 work groups to identify and recommend strategies for addressing some of the state’s thorniest education challenges. The work groups will address the challenges identified in a study issued...

Years of advocacy have resulted in better understanding of the needs of California’s foster students, translating into more funds that target gaps. School districts now report yearly on how funds earmarked for youth in care are spent, a relatively new...