Source: Education Dive
California’s redesigned school funding formula, as well as updated standards and assessments, are pushing the state’s education system in the right direction, according to a comprehensive package of studies released Monday. But Getting Down to Facts II — a follow-up to an influential policy report released more than 10 years ago — also concludes that large achievement gaps remain, young children are already behind when they enter kindergarten, and changes to the finance system have failed to address funding issues such as employee pensions, special education and school facilities. While the state’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) — the result of a ballot initiative in 2012 — helped districts recover from the recession, per-pupil funding is still below the national average at just more than $12,000 per student, compared to $13,701 nationally.