The Local Control and Accountability Improvement Process: The County Office Role

• In Event: To Devolve, Democratize, and Redistribute: Investigating Implementation of California's Historic Local-Control Funding Formula

Abstract

The passage of the Local Control Funding Formula in 2013 created a new local process for determining how school districts spend state education funds and for assessing the quality of local services. The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) is the centerpiece of these local processes, and county offices of education play important roles in reviewing district plans and providing technical assistance to districts that need help. If county offices focus on process—whether plans comply with the narrow criteria in state law—the LCAP could become just another plan that districts are required to develop. Consequently, the ability and willingness of county offices to help districts improve is a critical element in the success of the program.

This research project examined the current capacity of county offices of education to help school districts improve the quality of education delivered to students. We use the following sources of data for this report:
• Information on how other states provide oversight and technical assistance to districts. Other states have developed regional systems to assist struggling school districts. The project summarizes the critical elements of those systems and other factors that affect their success.
• A comparison of county office fiscal and educational responsibilities. County offices play an important role in monitoring and intervening in districts that show signs of fiscal distress. We compare the responsibilities and powers given to county offices under LCFF to those created by the “AB 1200” process for district fiscal issues.
• The perspectives of county superintendents. Information on the attitudes and opinions of the county superintendents provide significant insight into what they feel they can offer at the current time, what they hope to offer in the future, and the resources they need to be most effective. This information is collected through interviews with selected county office representatives and a statewide survey of all 58 county superintendents.
• An analysis of county office LCAPs. One measure about the capacity of county offices to provide meaningful guidance to districts is the effectiveness of their own LCAPs—the quality of indicators used to judge performance, the use of data for decision making, the clarity of plans for improving future services.

Preliminary findings suggest that both districts and county offices are carefully navigating the requirements and responsibilities of LCFF. Many county superintendents see LCFF as an opportunity to collaborate with districts. Yet, it will take time for these relationships to bear fruit. While county offices are working together to develop practices and procedures for their oversight responsibilities, the state could support county superintendents by developing guidelines and criteria that help structure county office reviews. For instance, the state could review available “needs assessments” for ease of use and consistency with LCFF.

Author

• Paul Warren, Public Policy Institute of California