'Governance First': CSBA's LCFF theme
Published: October 1, 2013
The impacts of the new Local Control Funding Formula are immense, and CSBA is taking the lead on an ambitious campaign to educate its members about the issue, as Executive Director Vernon M. Billy and others explained during the association’s Back-to-School Webcast, now archived online for easy viewing anytime at www.csba.org/BTS 2013.
At its most basic, LCFF ties most school district funding to student populations, with low-income students, English learners and foster youth generating extra funds to help districts meet the unique needs of those students.
LCFF funding requires careful tallies of demographic data to ensure those students are accurately represented in district figures. Officials must also consult district teachers, administrators, parents and the wider community in developing Local Control and Accountability Plans under LCFF to improve student outcomes in eight “priority areas.”
“There’s been a sense that some basic aid districts … don’t have to do the Local Control and Accountability Plans,” said Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Dennis Meyers. “Not true. All of the transparency and public input and parental input [requirements], local accountability plans—all of those things apply to all districts across the state, and to all charter schools.”
“I want to re-emphasize that to our members,” agreed Billy. “LCFF and the accountability, all of it applies to every single district.”
‘Governance First’ regional briefings
“We’re making sure that our members are aware of the governance implications,” Meyers said, pointing to both CSBA’s robust online resources—at www.csba.org/LCFF—and to a series of “Local Control Funding Formula: Governance First” regional briefings planned through November.
Local Control Funding Formula: Governance First
Sessions have already taken place in Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Mateo, Sacramento and Bakersfield. Still to come:
Irvine, Oct. 16
Sonora, Oct. 24
Ukiah, Oct. 29
Santa Cruz, Nov. 14
Fortuna, Nov. 19
Other events may be added, but this phase of CSBA’s LCFF outreach is currently scheduled to conclude at the Annual Education Conference and Trade Show in San Diego Dec. 5-7, where a dozen workshop sessions are tied to LCFF and it will also be a major component of the State of the State General Session that concludes the conference (see related story).