There’s something happening here and what it is isn’t exactly clear. Schools across CA are cutting programs and laying off employees in the midst of a booming economy. Why? A fatal flaw in the five-year old Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, is pushing many school districts to the brink of financial insolvency.
Gov. Brown proposed the LCFF in 2013 as a way to restore school funding – after years of blistering cuts – to the level it was at in 2007, before the Great Recession. However, since that time basic costs have skyrocketed due to many newly imposed expenses, and the LCFF Base Grant is not generating enough funding for school districts to keep up.
