Jerry Brown's Next Trick in California: Weighted School Funding
In my story on the state fiscal outlook for K-12 in 2013, I mentioned that even with the passage of Proposition 30 in California, the school funding outlook in the Golden State wouldn't instantly go from rancid to rosy. But that's not the only conundrum facing Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and state lawmakers in the next year. A nice article by Kevin Yamamura in the Sacramento Bee on Dec. 26 highlights the class divide between relatively rich and poor districts that could become a controversial topic next year.
In simple terms, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, wants to create a weighted student-funding formula that would provide more cash to districts that have an outsized share of "disadvantaged" students, which in practical terms means those coming from relatively poor households or those with English-language-learner status. The funding "weight" given to districts would jump significantly for those districts that have more than 50 percent of their students falling into the "disadvantaged" category. Brown actually came out with two versions of his weighted funding formula in 2012, and in the second one, while the weight given to disadvantaged students compared with non-disadvantaged students actually declined somewhat, the same formula gave additional weight for students in grades 9-12, as well as lesser weight to those students in grades 7-8 and K-3. (Students in grades 4-6 received no additional funding weight in Brown's proposal.)
The Public Policy Institute of California ran a model of both Brown's original and revised weighted funding
In simple terms, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, wants to create a weighted student-funding formula that would provide more cash to districts that have an outsized share of "disadvantaged" students, which in practical terms means those coming from relatively poor households or those with English-language-learner status. The funding "weight" given to districts would jump significantly for those districts that have more than 50 percent of their students falling into the "disadvantaged" category. Brown actually came out with two versions of his weighted funding formula in 2012, and in the second one, while the weight given to disadvantaged students compared with non-disadvantaged students actually declined somewhat, the same formula gave additional weight for students in grades 9-12, as well as lesser weight to those students in grades 7-8 and K-3. (Students in grades 4-6 received no additional funding weight in Brown's proposal.)
The Public Policy Institute of California ran a model of both Brown's original and revised weighted funding