Fostering Innovation: How User-Centered Design Can Help Us Get the Local Control Funding Formula Right

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has introduced positive and much-needed change to California’s approach to K-12 education funding by allocating resources according to student need and freeing districts to make decisions that address local priorities. For all of LCFF’s advantages, however, the Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) in which districts articulate their programmatic and spending decisions have received criticism for being archaic, cumbersome, difficult to complete, opaque, and incoherent.

A new brief from the California Collaborative on District Reform and Pivot Learning, Fostering Innovation: How User-Centered Design Can Help Us Get the Local Control Funding Formula Right, describes an alternative approach to solving policy problems. The brief shares four prototypes that emerged from a November 2016 design sprint as new approaches to achieving LCFF goals. By embracing user-centered design, California’s education leaders have an opportunity to overcome flaws in the LCAP, fulfill the potential of LCFF, and preserve the funding system through the upcoming statewide elections and into the future.

This brief is the fifth in a series from the California Collaborative on District Reform exploring key issues of LCFF implementation. For additional resources on LCFF, please visit http://www.cacollaborative.org/topics/school-finance.