The good news is, California is designating funding to close the educational achievement gap. The bad news is, the state resists measures to track whether that spending works.
That is the analysis of CALmatters’ columnist Dan Walters on the Local Control Funding Formula plan.
The rift pits Gov. Jerry Brown and his top ally, the California Teachers Association, against educational reformers and civil rights advocates who demand accountability.
“Outside examinations of LCFF have shown both a pattern of diverting the extra money away from helping at-risk students and no substantial narrowing of the achievement gap,” Walters writes in his July 16 column.
The Future Lies in the Election
With Brown and the top elected education official, Tom Torlakson, termed out, the future falls on the subsequent governor and state superintendent. Gavin Newsom, the gubernatorial frontrunner, is aligned with the CTA.
While the superintendent race is more wide open than the governor’s race where Newsom is the overwhelming favorite, it pits CTA-backed Tony Thurmond against reform-minded Marshall Tuck. Both are Democrats.
Read Walters’ full analysis here.
