This document provides an overview of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in California. It explains that LCFF aims to give more local control over funding by providing a base grant amount to districts plus supplemental funding for low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. It outlines the accountability process where districts must adopt a 3-year Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) with input from parents and community to outline goals and expenditures. The document encourages districts to engage stakeholders early in the planning process and leverage LCFF to advance STEM goals that close achievement gaps.

1. The Local Control
Funding Formula
Opportunities for Advancing STEM
Learning
California STEM Summit
February 4, 2014

2. Goals for Today’s Presentation
Specific Takeaways
What is LCFF
How did we get here and why? How does it work?
Get Engaged
What does it mean for communities? How do you participate?
STEM in Action
How can LCFF and STEM come together at the local level?

3. What is LCFF?
How did we get here and why? How
does it work?

4. How we arrived at LCFF
LCFF was nearly four decades in the making
A diverse coalition of education, equity, business, parent and
civic leaders, in concert with the Governor’s leadership, made
LCFF a reality in 2013

5. From then to Now
Before LCFF
With LCFF
Revenue limits - varied from district to district
and were based on a historical snap shot.
Base funding – which is the same for all districts and
charters – differentiated by grade span.
Categorical programs - required district to
establish specific programs and services with
numerous and sometimes inconsistent or
duplicative requirements. At one point there
were over 100 separate programs. Temporary
flexibility was provided for approx. 40 programs
during the recent fiscal crisis.
Supplemental funding – equal to 20% of the base for the
unduplicated count of English learners (EL), low-income
students (LI) and foster youth (FY).
Concentration funding – additional funding of 50% of base
provided for districts with 55% or more of their students
English learner (EL), low-income (LI) or foster youth (FY).

6. What does LCFF mean for school funding?
Historic investment of in high need students: $10 billion once
LCFF is fully implemented
LCFF addressed part of the school funding problem:
•
Now we know how schools are funded by the state
•
Local communities will have greater control over what to invest in
•
We still need to invest more in public education: California is 49th in the nation
in our investment

7. Growth
Categorical
funding
Current year
revenue
limit
funding
Target Funding = base + supplemental +
concentration
We will transition to LCFF based on
available state funding

8. How does the formula work?

9. What does LCFF mean for accountability?
• By July 1 each year districts will be required
to adopt, with community input, a districtwide
plan: The Local Control and Accountability
Plan (LCAP)
•3-Year plan to improve teaching/learning
• For the first time this plan will be directly
linked to the entire district budget

10. Plan must meet state and local priorities
1.
Providing all students access to fully credentialed teachers, instructional materials that
align with state standards and safe facilities.
2.
Implementation of California’s academic standards, including the Common Core State
Standards in English language arts and math, Next Generation Science Standards,
English language development, history social science, visual and performing arts, health
education and physical education standards.
3.
Parent involvement and participation, so the local community is engaged in the decisionmaking process and the educational programs of students.
4.
Improving student achievement and outcomes along multiple measures, including test
scores, English proficiency and college and career preparedness.
5.
Supporting student engagement, including whether students attend school or are
chronically absent.
6.
Highlighting school climate and connectedness through suspension and expulsion rates
and other locally identified means.
7.
Ensuring all students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers,
regardless of what school they attend or where they live.
8.
Measuring other important student outcomes related to required areas of study, including
physical education and the arts.
11

11. STEM Specific: What does the law say?
• Implementation of Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation
Science Standards (NGSS) are a state
priority that must be responded to.
• Academic achievement data must be
reviewed and ideally included in LCAP multiyear measurable goals.
• The LCAP template creates numerous
opportunities to highlight STEM and develop
local expenditure/action plans to achieve
student outcomes relative to STEM.

12. Get engaged
What does LCFF mean for communities and
districts? How should you begin planning?

13. Parental Involvement
There are specific points in the development of the
district plan that necessitate parental involvement
• State Priority - Increasing parental involvement, including
input in decision-making and participation in their child’s education
• Districts must establish parent advisory
committee(s) to provide advice to the district
regarding the district wide plan
• Districts must also establish English learner
advisory committee(s) if 15% if their students are
English learners

14. Minimum Community Engagement
Requirements
•
There must be alignment between school site plans and the
district plan.
•
The superintendent must also notify the community of
opportunities to provide comments regarding the proposed plan
•
The school district board must hold at least one hearing to seek
recommendations and comments from members of the public
prior to adopting the LCAP
•
The LCAP must be adopted at a public hearing at the same time
as the budget is adopted

15. District Plan Adoption:
Minimum Requirements of the Law
County Offices of
Education must
approve district
LCAPs

16. Build Relationships: Partnerships
are key
Groups and local stakeholders across California are
organizing to engage in LCFF planning efforts.

17. What can districts and communities do now?
3 Critical Opportunities
LCFF creates a unique opportunity to:
1
Focus on long-term, multiyear planning
2
Implement early, ongoing and meaningful
community engagement
3
Leverage the requirement to link planning
efforts to the entire district budget

18. What can districts and communities do now?
1
Focus on long-term, multiyear planning
LCFF provides an opportunity to set a vision.
Upon full implementation of LCFF funding, what outcomes,
services and support does the district community envision will
be in place for students?
The LCAP is a three year plan.
What are the short term steps that can be achieved in the
next three year window to support the vision?
Each year the district has to adopt a budget aligned to the plan.
What strategic investments can be made next year that are
aligned and moving toward the vision?

19. An example.
This school district presented its community with about a
dozen proposed goals, with over half of those—including
this one—within the Student Achievement priority area

20. What can districts and communities do now?
2
Implement early, ongoing and meaningful
community engagement
Authentic Engagement: Take the time and create the environment for all
stakeholders to actively participate in the conversation.
Build Understanding: Meaningful dialogue builds understanding and
support for difficult decisions about where to focus scarce resources.
Transparency: Increased transparency about budgets is essential to build
or rebuild trust and increase community support for public education.

21. An example.
This school district has identified the following community
partners for LCAP engagement

22. What can districts and communities do now?
2
Implement early, ongoing and meaningful
community engagement
Below are some ―best practices‖ that districts and communities
can deploy in the near term:
• Identify staff-community liaisons. For example:
• Parents (including English learners, foster youth
education rights holders)
• Students
• Foster Youth County Liaison
• Business
• Review parent advisory committee(s) structure and function
• Determine ways to align site plans and process with district
plan

23. What can districts and communities do now?
Implement early, ongoing and meaningful
community engagement
2
Below are some ―best practices‖ that districts and communities
can deploy in the near term:
•
Determine timeline and format for community wide forums and/or
school site level forums
•
Begin creating materials to provide information on LCFF and the
LCAP and make them widely available
•
Talk about what is in the law and what is still being determined in a
way that is easily accessible to the public
•
Offer multiple forums at times and locations that are convenient for
all stakeholders
•
Provide translators and childcare at forums

24. What can districts and communities do now?
3
Leverage the requirement to link planning
efforts to the entire district budget
Parents and community members can be most effective by
helping boards and school sites set goals and prioritize
strategies
This approach gives community members the opportunity to
influence resource allocation
decisions IF:
•
Budgets are developed around goals AND
•
Districts begin budget development in the fall

25. STEM Specific: How does STEM fit into the
planning and engagement process?
•
Analyze your STEM achievement data and set multi-year
goals for each student group.
•
Engage district, community, business, and other partners
committed to quality STEM education in your community.
•
Develop a multi-year vision for STEM in your district,
including how it will help close achievement and
opportunity gaps.
•
Identify STEM programming that serves all students, as
well as STEM programming that principally benefits lowincome students, English learners, and/or foster youth.
•
Identify how STEM helps advance other district goals
across multiple priority areas.
•
Prepare to make the case for STEM investments!

26. STEM in Action
How can STEM and LCFF come together at
the local level?

27. SFUSD STEM’s charge
―Overcoming the predictive power of demographics‖
―72% of all students who graduate with a degree in
engineering in the United States have a family member
who is engineer.‖ Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis, President and
Director of the Museum of Science, Boston

28. SFUSD STEM’s charge
The size of our solutions needs to be equal to the
size of the problem.
We’re talking about all 56K students.

29. Right time, Right place
10K districts in US
Largest 100 serve 25% of the students
Largest 100 serve 40% of the students who are from
historically underserved populations

30. Right time, Right place
Arrival of Common Core State Standards and the
Next Generation Science Standards has created
an opportunity to define what counts as math
and science
We serve the student populations with the greatest
untapped potential

31. Questions?
AB: Assembly Bill
CDE: California Department of Education
EC: Education Code - A collection of all the laws
directly related to California K-12 public schools. Ed
Code sections are created or changed by the
governor and legislature when they make laws. (Ed
Source).
EL - English Learner
ELD: Early Learning and Development - High
Quality programs and services, such as preschool,
that support the cognitive, social, emotional and
physical development of children 0-5 years old.
LCAP: Local Control and Accountability Plan– A
plan adopted by a district, county office of education
or charter school governing board, in concert with
their budget, that reflects the goals and specific
actions that will be pursued based on the 8 state
priorities outlined in the LCFF legislation, as well as
any locally adopted priorities
LCFF: Local Control Funding Formula - California's
new school finance model to allocate funding from
the state to local school districts, county offices of
education and charter schools
LEA: Local Education Agency - School districts,
county offices of education, and charter schools
FY: Foster Youth – A child that has been removed
LI: Low Income - Students who are eligible to
from their home due to suspicions of abuse or
neglect, is living in an out-of-home placement and is
under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
receive free and reduced price meals
SB: Senate Bill
SBE: State Board of Education