Our Place in the School-Funding Puzzle

voteheatherhopkins
4 days ago
3 min read

For decades, California lawmakers have tried to close the significant funding gap between school districts across the state. This year, districts like Las Lomitas have drawn renewed attention as conversations about funding fairness ramp up again in Sacramento—with new research, policy ideas, and proposals on the table.

How School Districts Are Funded

Las Lomitas is one of California’s "community-funded" (or “basic aid”) school districts. Unlike more than 85% of districts statewide, we don’t rely primarily on state dollars through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Instead, our strong local property tax base provides more than what the state formula would allocate.

Thanks to this local support, districts like ours can invest more per student than most others in California. (To dive deeper into how this works, check out my blog post.)

A Brief History of Funding Reform

In the 1970s, the California Supreme Court ruled that relying on local property taxes for school funding created unequal opportunities for students. The state stepped in to even things out, and lawmakers began passing new measures to strengthen statewide funding. Still, disparities persisted between community-funded districts like ours and those that depend mainly on state dollars.

In 2013, the state adopted the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) — a system that is still in effect today and directs additional funding to districts serving more low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. Although this was designed to promote equity, property values in community-funded districts have grown faster than state funding, widening the gap once again.

Renewed Legislative Focus

This year, Senator David Cortese (who represents the district just south of us) introduced Senate Bill 743, which would create an education endowment fund to boost resources for districts primarily funded by the state—without taking money away from community-funded districts like Las Lomitas.

This bill is about equalization and reversing the consequences of past mistakes... No existing school funding would be reduced.”

-- Senator Cortese

The bill passed the Senate with support from our local Senator, Josh Becker, but stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in August. Senator Cortese may reintroduce it next year.

A New Call to Action

Other solutions to evening the funding playing field have cropped up as well. This month, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) released a report titled “Excess Revenue, Unequal Opportunity: Revisiting Basic Aid in the LCFF Era.” Because PACE’s work often shapes how lawmakers approach school funding and equity reforms in Sacramento, the impacts of this report are worth watching.

It outlines five policy ideas to reduce funding disparities. Three could directly affect Las Lomitas, which PACE identifies as an “excess advantage” district:

Regional Service Sharing: Requiring some districts to consolidate or share services with neighbors to distribute resources more equitably.
Expanded Interdistrict Transfers: Making it easier for students to transfer into higher-funded districts.
Revenue Redistribution: Redirecting some property tax revenue from community-funded districts to those with fewer local resources. (For the record, I think this is unlikely.)

PACE’s other suggestions include (1) adjusting the state’s funding formula to reflect regional cost-of-living differences and (2) providing targeted aid to lower-wealth districts — similar to Senator Cortese’s proposal.

Looking Ahead

It’s worth keeping an eye on how these conversations evolve. My two cents? I think lawmakers will look for ways to increase total investment in education—like Senator Cortese’s education endowment idea—without reducing resources in community-funded districts like ours.

I’ll continue following these developments and will share updates as they unfold.