Fair School Funding Passes

02 Jul Fair School Funding Passes

By Fermin Vasquez

In a landmark vote on June 15, California legislators approved Governor Jerry Brown’s fair school funding proposal, known as the Local Control Funding Formula.

The new formula increases base funding for all school districts in the state budget but also allocates additional funding for school districts if they have high concentrations of low-income students, English learners and foster care youth.

“This victory will result in closing the huge funding gaps between wealthy and poor school districts in California,” said Arun Ramanathan, executive director of The Education Trust-West, an education research group. “But to achieve true equity the money most flow directly to the student.”

Students on the front lines of fighting for this legislation reacted positively to this news. “As a student from Fremont High School in South L.A., I feel good about this new law because it will provide more funding for resources that our schools need, such as drop out prevention programs, access to the library and more counselors,” stated Armando Peña, a student leader with Community Coalition who went to Sacramento to lobby legislators.

Fermin Vasquez is a communications specialist at Community Coalition.