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Yesterday marked the start of the traditional school year. For the first time in five years, California schools will experience a significant increase in funding. This came out of the state legislature's and Governor Brown's local control funding formula (LCFF) and a healthy stream of revenue.
However, as schools receive the new funds, the California Department of Education must still figure out how to track whether or not the dollars are effective and being spent properly.
The 2013-2014 school year is an important transitional year since it's the first year of LCFF implementation. An extra $2 billion will be allocated to school districts across the state.
School administrators may be hesitant to make big spending decisions with that money. LCFF included the freedom for school districts to spend as they see fit, but districts will be held accountable for that spending through measures which are currently unknown.
The State Board of Education (SBE) is responsible for the development of those measures, essentially creating a template. Once the template is developed, districts can create their own local control accountability plans (LCAPs).
According to California's Education Code, summarized by SI&A Cabinet Report, the following is the timeline to develop accountability measures:
On or before Jan. 1, 2014Before Jan. 30, 2014By Jan. 31, 2014On or before March 31, 2014On or before Oct. 1, 2015
The State Board of Education continues to hold hearings with stakeholder input on which spending regulations would be most effective and viable.
California school funding is still being developed, despite Gov. Brown and education advocates' long battle for increased budgets. Securing school funding was only half the work for the state. Throwing money at education is not effective policy, which is why the state is careful to develop spending guidelines.