How Principals Lead in the Era of LCFF and LCAP to Meet the Needs of All Students

The goal of this study was to discover how secondary principals lead in the era of the Locally Controlled Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to meet the needs of all students, what skills are critical in ensuring LCAP alignment and implementation, and how LEAs can support school administrators in understanding and implementing the local educational authority’s or district’s LCAP. In an effort to address the funding disparity experienced by many schools and school districts throughout the state, California introduced a new funding formula in 2013. The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) removes many restrictions placed on school funding and allows local education authorities (LEAs) more flexibility in allocating funds to address the needs of high-needs students. The three core components of the LCFF are the base grant, the supplemental grant, and the concentration grant. Based on student enrollment and the number of students in identified subgroups, these core components are used to determine how much state funding a school and a district receives. This study provides a brief history of the role and impact of a school principal. Information on the introduction, structure, and impact of LCFF and LCAP is provided. Unique high-needs subgroups are identified. Schools receiving state funding are enlisted to provide services to these subgroups. In-depth personal interviews were conducted with 10 secondary principals in order to gain insight from their personal and professional experiences. The flexibility of the LCFF is not without oversight. Each LEA is required to create an LCAP to show how the district plans to spend appropriated funds. It is a requirement that this plan be designed with input from students, staff, parents, and community stakeholders. Principals then must create a site plan that addresses the needs of the campus and community and reflects the district’s goals. Interviews were conducted with 10 high school principals in an effort to ascertain what skills they felt were important in leading their respective schools through the process and how their district could help them navigate the LCFF/LCAP process