Travis Unified School District

 

Education funding has shifted in California.  In the past, districts received general funding called the revenue limit, plus more than forty small categorical funds with tight spending restrictions.  This led to a situation where districts might have a real need to fund after school tutoring programs for struggling students, for example, but the money they had could only be used for tobacco use prevention programs.  This was frustrating to families, staff, and Boards of Education, especially in times of declining revenues.

 

To address this problem, the Governor and Legislature recently established the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).  Under this new funding method, districts receive unrestricted funding based on the number of students they serve.  This funding replaces the old revenue limit funding.  In addition, districts receive funding to improve the academic performance of struggling students.  The amount of funding in this category is determined by the number of English learners, students eligible for free/reduced price lunch, and foster children.  This funding is called the Supplemental Grant.  It replaces the old restricted categorical funding, and must be used to help struggling students.

 

Districts where the percentage of students in the three categories above exceeds 55% receive a large amount of additional funding called the Concentration Grant.  You may read in the media that some districts are experiencing a large increase in funding.  That is coming from Concentration Grant funding.  Travis Unified has a free/reduced price lunch rate of 28%, and only 3% of our students are English learners, so we do not come close to meeting the criteria for qualifying for Concentration Grant funding.

 

With local control comes local responsibility.  Our district is still accountable for meeting state and federal performance targets for all students.  The LCFF only reduced categorical restrictions.  

 

Legal requirements, community priorities, capacity, and educational research all influence what we provide for students.  Education is a people business, and most of our money goes for salaries and benefits.  We also must pay for energy use, building maintenance costs, instructional materials, equipment and supplies.  The district has an overall budget of about $44 million, but very little of it is discretionary.

 

 

 

We are required to meet performance targets in the following eight state priority areas:

1. Basic services, including facilities maintenance, teacher credentialing, and availability of textbooks
2. Implementation of Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math, and implementation of other California standards
3. Course access, including the broad course of study outlined in the Education Code and access to our most rigorous course options
4. Student achievement, including meeting Academic Performance Index (API) and other state and federal targets plus college and career ready targets
5. Parent involvement in LCAP development as well as other parent involvement
6. Student engagement, measured by attendance, dropout, and graduation rates
7. School climate, as measured by suspension/expulsion rates and other measures of school safety and connectedness 
8. Other student outcomes not included above, as determined by the Board to reflect local priorities

 

 

•  California State PTA
•  California Department of Education LCFF information