Lawmakers Demand Accountability for Funds Earmarked for Disadvantaged Students | Ogo Okoye-Johnson

Lawmakers Demand Accountability for Funds Earmarked for Disadvantaged Students | Ogo Okoye-Johnson

Lawmakers Demand Accountability for Funds Earmarked for Disadvantaged Students

On January 6, 2020, Assemblywomen Shirley Weber of San Diego and Sharon Quirk-Silva of Fullerton introduced Assembly Bills 1834 and 1835 as a result of the California State Audit that revealed that the funds earmarked for disadvantaged students for the purpose of closing the achievement gap under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) are not being used for these students as intended. Both bills will correct two deficiencies of the LCFF recommended by the audit.

Assembly Bill 1834 “would require the State Department of Education to develop, on or before January 1, 2021, a tracking mechanism for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to use to report the types of services on which they spend their supplemental and concentration grant funds. The bill would require each local educational agency, commencing July 1, 2021, to annually report to the department the types of services on which it spends its supplemental and concentration grant funds using the tracking mechanism developed by the department.”

Assembly Bill 1835 would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to identify unspent supplemental and concentration grant funds by annually reconciling and reporting to the department its estimated and actual CONTINUE READING: Lawmakers Demand Accountability for Funds Earmarked for Disadvantaged Students | Ogo Okoye-Johnson