The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) replaced categorical funding for schools in California in 2013, providing flexibility, targeted student funding, and local accountability. Two years in, research shows optimism and concern. The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) faces challenges, stakeholders need more engagement, and implementation requires capacity and overcoming the emerging teacher shortage. Public awareness of LCFF lags at 65%.

California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) represents a major shift in the state's education system by empowering school districts to allocate funding based on the needs of their students, with added funds for disadvantaged students. The LCFF eliminates categorical funding streams and promotes local democracy by requiring stakeholder engagement. The implementation of the LCFF is still in its early stages, and this study examines how school districts are using their newfound budget flexibility and engaging stakeholders, as well as identifying opportunities and challenges.

The passage describes the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in California, which is expected to bring new revenues to school districts. The report suggests that strategic decision-making and goal-setting based on research-based strategies are crucial to realizing the potential benefits of the LCFF. Recommendations include an investment in four key areas that can produce real gains in school and student performance.

The policy brief examines the impact of QTEA on teacher recruitment, retention, and overall teacher quality in the San Francisco Unified School District. It provides evidence of the effectiveness of salary increases in attracting and hiring higher-quality teachers, and the importance of strategic hiring and retention efforts. The brief also highlights the need for teacher confidence in the longevity of such policies, and suggests the Local Control Funding Formula as a means to ensure sufficient funds for competitive teacher salaries.

California’s school finance system has been criticized for being irrational, inequitable, and inefficient. The proposed Local Control Funding Formula aims to simplify funding and give local leaders more control, but raises questions about balancing transparency with improved outcomes, providing meaningful incentives, and effectively allocating funds.

The LAUSD invested over $19B to build 130 new facilities to relieve overcrowded schools. A PACE policy brief analyzed its effects on student achievement and found robust gains for many elementary-school pupils who switched from old to new facilities. However, significant gains were limited to elementary school students and new high school facilities produced weak and inconsistent achievement gains. The report also tracked thousands of students who moved from overcrowded to new facilities over the 2002-2008 period.

CA's school finance is highly regulated, with state funding allocated through categorical programs. In 2008-09, 40 Tier 3 programs were given fiscal freedom, leading to concerns that districts with more Tier 3 funding were disproportionately affected by the state's budget crisis. However, data show that all districts lost a similar share of their budget, with no large-scale changes in spending. Districts with more Tier 3 funding spent relatively more on alternative education, adult education, and non-instructional goals, and more of their budget on pupil services and special education.

California's system of school finance is highly regulated and prescriptive. A large share of state funding is allocated through categorical programs, that is, programs whose funding is contingent upon districts using the money in a particular way or for a particular purpose. In 2008–09, the strings were taken off 40 of those programs, collectively known as the "Tier 3" programs, as part of a budget deal that also reduced the funding for those programs.

This report commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Getting Down to Facts project, which sought to provide a thorough and reliable analysis of the critical challenges facing California’s education system as the necessary basis for an informed discussion of policy changes aimed at improving the performance of California schools and students. The report focuses on the four key issues that received emphasis in the Getting Down to Facts studies: governance, finance, personnel, and data systems.

Governor Jerry Brown has called for a major overhaul of California’s school finance policies. His proposal for a weighted pupil funding system would simplify the rules that govern the distribution of funds to schools and school districts, while targeting a larger share of available resources to the schools and students with the greatest needs. In this policy report Mary Perry offers an overview and analysis of the policy change that the Governor has proposed.

This report explores how 10 California school districts responded to the deregulation of $4.5 billion in education funding, which became entirely flexible in 2009. The study investigates how district leaders made budget decisions and what local factors influenced their responses. The research was conducted by a team of scholars from the RAND Corporation, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and San Diego State University.

This report discusses the effects of California's partial release of categorical funds to local school boards in 2009. The increased flexibility has provided an opportunity to observe how districts respond to the policy change, but the impact is difficult to isolate as most districts have been struggling to maintain core services during a severe budget crisis. The report includes preliminary results from an ongoing study of district responses to the increased categorical flexibility.

This brief analyzes the relationship between teacher employment, collective bargaining laws, and school district policies in California. The authors examine the extent to which California's legal structure constrains or facilitates district-level discretion over teacher employment policies and practices. They classify various aspects of the teacher-school district employment relationship into four categories, and conclude that California statutory law is somewhat more constraining of administrative decision-making in teacher employment matters than in four other large and diverse states.

This working paper examines the use of Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) funds, which allocated $2.6B over seven years to California's lowest-performing schools. The authors conducted a study of four Los Angeles high schools to investigate how QEIA dollars were spent in the first year, who made the decisions, and how funds were used to improve teaching and the instructional program. The study found that district officials and principals had discretion in allocating funds, consistent with recent efforts to deregulate categorical-aid programs and give local educators fiscal discretion.

This article explores the reasons why education has become a central focus of modern societies and the largest public expenditure around the world. The state has built and expanded national education systems, made attending school mandatory, and linked adult success to academic performance. The article delves into the economic factors behind state financing and provision of schools.

This article discusses how teacher recruitment and retention affect the quality of teaching in schools. The supply and demand model, including wages and non-pecuniary job attributes, influences the supply of potential and current teachers. The demand for teachers depends on factors such as student enrollment and institutional constraints such as hiring authorities' skill and efficiency. The article identifies common policy approaches to improve recruitment and retention and summarizes current research on their effectiveness.

Economics of education has grown in importance over the past two decades, as education is viewed as a critical factor in a nation's economic success. Economics can help improve the productivity of educational institutions by focusing on incentives, choice, and competition. The article reviews important theoretical concepts in the economics of education, including human capital, markets, and education production, and how they have been used in empirical studies.

This policy brief examines the recent development and approval of Proposition A in the San Francisco Unified School District, which included a parcel tax for increasing teacher salaries, introducing flexibility to the salary schedule, and strengthening accountability for teacher performance. The author describes how the district and union worked together to increase compensation and align school district goals with teacher salaries.

This policy report reviews the approval of Proposition A, a parcel tax initiative in the San Francisco Unified School District, which aimed to improve teacher salaries and fund innovative compensation programs. The report includes an assessment of the programs funded by the tax revenues, and is based on interviews and public documents.

California is midway through one of the grandest public infrastructure projects ever attempted. Over the coming decade school officials will complete an $82 billion effort, building new schools and renovating old facilities, supported by taxpayers and private investors. But are state officials and local planners building schools mindfully to advance educational quality and lift local communities?

Getting Down to Facts is an extensive investigation of CA's public education system commissioned by a bipartisan group of CA leaders. The project aimed to describe California's school finance and governance systems, identify obstacles hindering resource utilization, and estimate costs to achieve student outcome goals. The project resulted in 23 reports by scholars, which highlight that the current school finance and governance systems fail to help students achieve state performance goals, particularly those from low-income families. The reports provide a framework for assessing reform options.

This policy brief proposes a more rational and equitable school finance system for California that links district revenue to student needs and regional costs. The proposal aims to ensure that all districts are held harmless at current funding levels while providing essential backdrop for broader reform issues. The brief discusses the problems with the current finance system, the principles and concepts that guide the reform, and simulations of how it might work in practice. The report shows that significant improvement in the finance system can be achieved with modest new investment.

This report examines factors that affect student achievement in California schools, finding that family background and school context are important determinants. The report recommends that schools focus on providing high-quality instruction, improving reading and math skills, and creating a positive school climate. Policymakers should increase resources for under-resourced schools and promote parental involvement. Continued research is needed to better understand the complex factors that shape student outcomes.

This report focuses on estimating the costs for California school districts to meet state-set achievement goals and how these costs differ across districts with different student characteristics. The study uses an econometric cost function approach to estimate base costs and marginal costs associated with poverty, English learners, and special education. The findings are compared with cost studies in other states and used to analyze whether the current school finance system appropriately accounts for cost differentials across districts.

The report explores the impact of teacher sorting, or the tendency for high-achieving students to be assigned to more effective teachers, on student achievement. It finds that teacher sorting has a significant positive effect on student achievement in both math and English language arts. The effects are particularly strong for students who start out low-achieving. The report argues that policies aimed at reducing teacher sorting, such as random assignment of students to teachers, may be counterproductive for student achievement.