Time to Make School Funding in CA Truly Equitable: A Conversation with Todd Collins
“Laguna Beach USD receives more than twice as much funding per student each year than LAUSD.”
To better understand how funding differs among California’s school districts and why “Basic Aid” policy leads to a lack of educational equity, we spoke with Todd Collins, a former Palo Alto school board member, educational advocate, and founder of the California Reading Coalition. In this interview, Todd shared his insights on how LCFF’s Basic Aid affects most of California’s students and the urgency in addressing it so that all students have equal opportunities for school success:
How does funding for school districts work in California?
School funding in California is really a tale of two systems. The majority of schools are funded by the state through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF provides every district with a base amount per student, plus additional funding for “high-need” students, which include low-income students, foster youth, and English learners. Districts with over 80% high-need students receive even more funding. The core principle is clear: the higher the need, the higher the funding.
However, about 10% of districts operate as a holdover from an older era when local property taxes funded individual communities’ schools. Examples in the LA area include Beverly Hills, Malibu, Laguna Beach, and Newport-Mesa. These are now called “Basic Aid” districts, and they represent the wealthiest districts in the state. Some of these can have two or three times the funding of neighboring state-funded schools, despite having a far smaller number of high-need students.
How has the “Basic Aid” policy led to a growing lack of equity in California?
The single biggest expense for every district is teachers, and Basic Aid districts have a massive advantage in paying to attract and retain top talent. Our recent study showed that top Basic Aid districts paid their teachers over $25,000 a year more than their neighbors. It’s an incentive that’s hard for teachers to ignore. As a result, veteran teachers often move from high-need districts to Basic Aid districts, leaving high-need schools to rely on less experienced educators.
Furthermore, Basic Aid districts generally have more of everything: more paraprofessional aides, more reading specialists, more special educators, and more student electives and activities. It creates a fundamentally different educational experience purely based on the zip code you live in
What are the implications of this kind of funding approach? How does it hurt students, especially those from low-income communities who rely on education to succeed in life?
California was once a trailblazer for fair school funding, starting in the 1970s. State leaders recognized that, if schools are to be the engine of social mobility, we must provide strong schools for every child, not just the well-off. We’ve made great progress—the current LCFF is a perfect example.
But the Basic Aid loophole threatens to undermine this entire concept. How can we call it fair when schools in Beverly Hills have twice the funding as those in East LA or Southeast LA? Social mobility and a fair society cannot work without strong public schools, and public schools cannot work without fair funding.
What can be done to remedy California’s inequitable funding for schools?
There is no easy answer, but the first essential step is awareness. Most people don’t know about the Basic Aid loophole and its detrimental impact on our schools. So, first and foremost, let’s start talking about it. You can learn more details at our website, www.FairFundingCA.org.
We anticipate legislation to address this issue will be introduced as soon as next year. Please keep an eye out for it, and make sure your elected officials know that you support fair funding for all of California’s schools.