Staff and members of the State Board of Education promised to revise proposed spending rules for the new school funding system after hearing speed testimonies Thursday from Californians from all corners of the state. The speakers disagreed on what they wanted but largely agreed they didn’t like some of what they saw.
Sue Burr, a State Board member active in planning the funding regulations, promised speakers the board would consider their criticisms and comments.
Promising that the revision the State Board will vote on in January “will look differently,” board member Sue Burr, who has worked closely on the proposed regulations, said, “This was a first shot, a draft. We are open to what you had to say today.”
There was no consensus on what the 188 speakers – school superintendents, executives of advocacy organizations, parents needing interpreters, high school students and teachers – had to say during the orderly but often impassioned one-minute testimonies that went on nearly five straight hours. But that was predictable.
The Local Control Funding Formula unknots the state-imposed rules that had restricted the use of K-12 dollars, directs more money to disadvantaged children and shifts control over spending to school districts. The tension between advocates for equity and defenders of flexibility was reflected in comments on proposed options for meeting the funding law’s key requirement – that districts provide additional programs and
