Ed100 Parent Leader Guide: School Funding Basics
Ed100 Parent Leader Guide
School Funding
Great content for your parent meetings
Designed to help busy leaders, this ready-to-go guide makes it easy for you to have conversations that matter. It’s all here: Lessons, sample email invitations, discussion prompts, suggestions on how to take action, and resources including handouts and additional reading.
(Still not sure what this guide is all about? Read the Getting Started section first!
The Basics
(Ed100 Lessons to Read and Share)
Here are lessons and posts that can help you. Follow these links to read them; scroll down for suggestions about how to share them.
What do Education Dollars Buy?
Ed100 Lesson 8.2: "The first thing to understand about education spending is that most of it – greater than 80% on average – pays for people."
English SpanishSpending: Does California Skimp on Education?
Ed100 Lesson 8.1: "California has skimped on schools for years. These charts bring it home. (Check on funding for your school and district here.)"
English SpanishMore Money for Education: What Are the Options?
Ed100 Lesson 8.9: "California’s funding for education is quite low relative to other states. What can be done?"
English SpanishLocal Control Funding Formula: LCFF Dictates How State Funds Flow to School Districts
Ed100 Lesson 8.5: "Here's how LCFF works. The short version."
English SpanishCommunication Resources and Samples
Email or Newsletter
(Suggested content you can customize and use)
Let's follow the money!
Money is a big challenge for schools in California, including ours. I'm writing to share lessons with you from Ed100.org related to school funding. These lessons can help answer many important questions like these: Why are parents still asked to raise money to pay for basic public school programs? Hasn’t the school funding crisis been solved?
The California State PTA is working with Ed100.org to help create better-informed school communities. The lessons linked below each take about five minutes to read, and they are available in both English and Spanish. By learning together, we will have more fun, learn more, and have a much bigger chance of turning insights into actions for our school. When you go to Ed100.org, please sign in and remember to select our school in your profile. This will help us keep track of our progress... and might help us win some money in one of Ed100.org's drawings, too!
Please join our school's Ed100 team on ___date at ___time in ___location. We will be discussing the lessons below:
- Lesson 8.2: What do Education Dollars Buy?
Spanish El dinero para la educación: lo que puede comprar - Lesson 8.1: Spending: Does California Skimp on Education?
Spanish ¿Escatima California en recursos para la educación? - Lesson 8.9: More Money for Education: What Are the Options?
Spanish Más dinero para la educación: ¿Cuáles son las opciones? - Lesson 8.5: Local Control Funding Formula: LCFF Dictates How State Funds Flow to School Districts
Spanish La Fórmula de Control Local del Financiamiento Escolar: la LCFF determina el flujo de fondos estatales a los distritos escolares
Looking forward to great conversations!
Social Media
(Suggested content you can customize and use)
Announcement
Does California skimp on education? Do you know what education dollars buy? Do we need more money for education? We’re discussing these topics with Ed100.org’s Parent Leader Guide at our meeting this month.
Read the lessons and come share your thoughts! Ed100 provides the info, we make a difference for our school!
Meeting
Join us at our ____ meeting at _____ for community discussions. This month we’ll be learning more about school funding with Ed100. Looking forward to great conversations!
Announcement
Do you know what Education $$ buy? We’re learning about it with @Ed100_ at our _/_ meeting at ____. Join us!
Meeting
Join us #/# at __pm to learn more about CA #education funding using @ed100_ info. Let's make a difference at our school!
Getting Ready for Your Meeting
(Discussion Prompts, Ideas for Action and More)
Discussion Prompts
- What did you learn from the pre-reading materials from Ed100?
- Did California's low level of funding for education surprise you?
- What items do parents help fund at our school?
- How is Local Control funding (LCFF) changing the services that children and educators receive at our school?
- Budgets reflect priorities. What do you think our school district should spend less on?
Ideas for Action
- Visit our school district’s website and read the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). It should also be available on the California Department of Education web site. Is it?
- What questions about the LCAP should we share with our school principal, district administrators, PTA President or PTA legislative chair?
Resources
From the California State PTA:
From other sources:
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation: Proposition 13, A Primer
Sharing is caring!
Password Reset
Search all lesson and blog content here.
Login with Email
We will send your Login Link to your email
address. Click on the link and you will be
logged into Ed100. No more passwords to
remember!
