USC Poll: California Parents Don't Know About School Funding System

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA --A new poll shows more than half of California parents are uninformed of the state’s school funding and accountability system, according to a poll conducted by the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education.

Fifty-four percent of the registered voters who participated in the statewide poll said they were unaware of the Local Control Funding Formula. That is a slight improvement since 2015 when 65 percent of poll respondents had not heard about the law, but somewhat worse than 2014 when only 45 percent had not heard about it.

Enacted in 2013, the funding formula replaced a 40-year-old system that relied primarily on categorical funding for schools. It also gave new flexibility and a weighted student funding formula allocating additional tax dollars for high-needs students. It requires districts to engage their communities in spending decisions.

Thirty-five percent of the poll participants this year were parents with children under 18, most of them enrolled in public schools. Although these respondents seem to have the most at stake in school matters, nearly half (45 percent) said they had never heard or read about the law.

“The lack of awareness among Californians continues to raise serious questions about the implementation of one of the key tenets of the Local Control Funding Formula – meaningful stakeholder engagement in the development of district goals and decisions around resource allocation,” said Julie Marsh, a co-director of the nonpartisan Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), researcher for the poll and an associate professor of education at USC Rossier School of Education.

Among those who are aware of the law, support is high – 63 percent (versus 24 percent opposed) – and is strongest among Democrats (74 percent) and among young voters aged 18 to 29 (74 percent).

When respondents were informed that the law allocates more money to districts that have more English-language learners, 71 percent said they favored the policy, as did 71 percent who were parents with children in school and 76 percent of parents without school-aged children.

Despite the state funding formula system was designed to encourage more community member involvement in district resource decisions, 88 percent of the respondents said they were unaware of public meetings.

The plans aim to increase engagement with students, their families and communities, and create a healthy learning environment.

--Image via Shutterstock