The local control funding formula: Staking out the ground for early learning

Abstract

Early childhood education was not among districts’ priorities in the first round of Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) budgeting. Few districts added new early childhood education programs or dollars. However, the authority and flexibility the LCFF gives districts to determine how to allocate their education resources creates a potential opening for expanding preschool offerings for the California’s three- and four-year-olds.