Draft LCFF regs, template released
Join CSBA at crucial SBE meeting Jan. 16
Published: January 1, 2014
CSBA’s Annual Education Conference and Trade Show last month set the stage for what promises to be a crucial meeting of the State Board of Education Jan. 16 over regulations implementing the Local Control Funding Formula for K-12 schools.
“If you are not communicating to the State Board at this January board meeting, you are in effect making a conscious decision to cede your authority to other folks. That’s the bottom line,” CSBA Executive Director & CEO Vernon M. Billy warned during AECs final session, the annual State of the State panel discussion.
Billy—like many others at AEC and in the education community throughout California—was anticipating the release of a draft template and regulations proposed for the Local Control and Accountability Plans and expenditure regulations required under LCFF. WestEd, the State Board’s consultant on LCFF implementation, posted a draft template just five days after AEC ended. A formal agenda item containing a revised template and proposed regulations was to be posted on the State Board’s Meeting Agenda Web page.
A chorus of voices is urging local governance teams to make their voices heard before and at the January meeting of the State Board.
“Here’s a quiz for you: Where should you be Jan. 16?” asked Wes Smith, Ed.D., the executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, in his first appearance on CSBA’s State of the State panel.
The answer—at the State Board meeting—was widely understood.
“We need to be communicating that now,” agreed Dennis Meyers, CSBA’s assistant executive director for Governmental Relations. The message: This “massive change” in governance is being handled well by the folks in charge at the local level—school governance teams. “If you can’t be there, then write a letter, send an email,” Meyers urged.
LCAP priority areas
The draft template lays out the guiding questions for local educational agencies and the forms to document plans to improve student outcomes. The priority areas that must be incorporated in each LCAP are organized into three categories:
- Conditions of learning, which includes the priorities of basic services, implementation of state standards, course access, expelled students, and foster youth
- Pupil outcomes, incorporating the student achievement and other student outcomes priority areas
- Engagement, which covers the priorities of parent involvement, student engagement, and school climate
Each section includes guiding questions to help governance teams clarify how they engaged stakeholders and how that outreach is reflected in the LCAP.
‘January … the critical time’
State Board member Carl Cohn, who attended and spoke at AEC, cast the coming State Board meeting as “critical,” saying the debate over LCFF regulations and accountability “is going to define the future of education for a long time. People who care about [local control] absolutely have to show up January 16.”
At another AEC session, State Board member Sue Burr and Jannelle Kubinec, director of WestEd’s Comprehensive School Assistance Program, fielded question after question about LCFF’s impact on district budgets and practice. The dialog prompted Burr to stress the importance of hearing from local boards before the SBE acts.
“We’re investing a lot of faith in your ability to make good decisions,” Burr said. She warned that if boards do not embrace that authority responsibly by responding to their community’s concerns, “instead of 60 categoricals, we’ll have 160.”
Talking points
CSBA Legislative Advocate Andrea Ball said after the drafts were released that local governance teams must impress upon the State Board that they understand LCFF is a new way of doing business—and that they are:
- Prepared to be accountable to their communities, and focused on using LCFF funds to benefit students living in poverty and those struggling with language and family conditions
- Hopeful that the regulations will not be so restrictive that they impede programs and services that meet local needs
- Actively meeting with and listening to local communities, parents, teachers, staff, and students to drive the development of their budgets and LCAPs
- Recognize the concerns of parents, civil rights and public interest groups and take seriously the need for transparency
- Are committed to addressing equity and listening to stakeholders as budget priorities and LCAPs are developed
CSBA is partnering with ACSA to encourage governance teams to write the State Board and, if possible, attend the Jan. 16 meeting to testify in support of LCFF. Please contact Legislative Specialist Suzy Costa for more information (scosta@csba.org).
Investment needed
For all the attention given to how limited resources are allocated and how districts will justify their use, the fact remains that California investment in education funding is still among the lowest in the nation. Incoming CSBA President Josephine “Jo” Lucey renewed the call for adequate, consistent funding during the second General Session of AEC: “We must invest enough resources to educate our students well, and we must distribute that money in a manner that matches resources with need.”