Local Control Funding Formula Equity Multiplier

EC Section 52064(d)(7) requires that LEAs receiving Equity Multiplier funding include focus goal(s) in the LCAP for each school generating Equity Multiplier funding; the LCAP instructions require that these goals be developed in consultation with educational partners at the school site(s).

Additionally, the LCAP requires the following, as applicable:

• To identify all schools within the LEA receiving Equity Multiplier funding
• Consultation with educational partners in the development of the focus goal and development of the adopted LCAP for each applicable school
• Required Metrics for each identified student group and measuring progress

For specific requirements, please see pages 6, 10-11 and 13 of the LCAP template instructions.

Focus goals for Equity Multiplier schoolsites must address all student groups that have the lowest performance level on one or more state indicators on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard), and any underlying issues in the credentialing, subject matter preparation, and retention of the school’s educators, if applicable to the schoolsite. In addition, focus goals for each and every Equity Multiplier schoolsite must identify specific metrics for each identified student group, as applicable.

An LEA may create a single goal for multiple Equity Multiplier schoolsites if those schoolsites have the same student group(s) performing at the lowest performance level on one or more state indicators on the Dashboard or, experience similar issues in the credentialing, subject matter preparation, and retention of the school’s educators.

When creating a single goal for multiple Equity Multiplier schoolsites, the goal must identify the student groups and the performance levels on the Dashboard that the Focus Goal is addressing, or the common issues the schoolsites are experiencing in credentialing, subject matter preparation, and retention of the school’s educators, if applicable.

An Equity Multiplier Focus Goal must include a metric(s) for each identified student group at each specific schoolsite, as applicable, to measure the progress toward the goal, and/or the specific metrics used to measure progress in meeting the goal related to credentialing, subject matter preparation, or educator retention at each specific schoolsite.

For specific requirements, please see page 13 of the LCAP template instructions.

Yes, an LEA receiving Equity Multiplier funds must consult with educational partners at schools generating those funds in the development of the LCAP, specifically, in the development of the required focus goal for each applicable school.

An LEA receiving Equity Multiplier funds must also include a description of how it consulted with educational partners at schools generating Equity Multiplier funds in the development of the LCAP, specifically, in the development of the required focus goal for each applicable school.

An LEA may create a single goal for multiple Equity Multiplier schoolsites if those schoolsites have the same student group(s) performing at the lowest performance level on one or more state indicators on the most recent Dashboard or experience similar issues in the credentialing, subject matter preparation, and retention of the school’s educators. The focus goal must identify the schools to which the goal applies.

If the LEA does not have a student group(s) performing in the lowest performance level on the Dashboard, the LEA must use available state and local data to identify the student group(s) performing at the lowest level within the LEA and address the needs of the identified student group(s) in the Equity Multiplier focus goal. It is the responsibility of the LEA to identify the student group(s) and consult their educational partners on how to best address their needs as part of the development of the focus goal.

Eligibility for Equity Multiplier funding is determined annually; it is not guaranteed year over year. Schoolsites with prior year nonstability rates greater than 25 percent and prior year socioeconomically disadvantaged pupil rates greater than 70 percent, as reported in the California Department of Education’s Stability Rate Data file, within a county office of education, school district, or classroom-based charter school that generates an LCFF entitlement are eligible for Equity Multiplier funding.

For additional information, see “What is the Stability Rate and how can it be accessed?”

As previously stated, eligibility for Equity Multiplier funding is determined annually. If a schoolsite is eligible for funding one year but is not eligible the next year, it will not be provided with Equity Multiplier funds in the year it is ineligible.

LEAs locally determine any underlying issues in the credentialing, subject matter preparation, and retention of the school’s educators using local data available to the LEA. LEAs are encouraged to utilize the Teaching Assignment Monitoring Outcomes data in this identification.

Please see the Equity Multiplier Goal Powerpoint Presentation on the Tuesdays @ 2 webpage.

Schoolsites with prior year nonstability rates greater than 25 percent and prior year socioeconomically disadvantaged pupil rates greater than 70 percent, as reported in the California Department of Education’s Stability Rate Data file, within a county office of education, school district, or classroom-based charter school that generates an LCFF entitlement are eligible for LCFF Equity Multiplier funding. Charter schools that are nonclassroom-based as of the prior year’s Second Principal Apportionment are ineligible for LCFF Equity Multiplier funding. (EC 42238.024 )

Schoolsites that are eligible based on prior year data but closed in the current fiscal year will not generate LCFF Equity Multiplier funding.

Funding will be automatically calculated for each eligible schoolsite and will be allocated to LEAs through the Principal Apportionment based on the statutory formula. There is no application process for LCFF Equity Multiplier funding.

The LCFF Equity Multiplier is a school site funding calculation. For each eligible schoolsite, a calculated statewide Equity Multiplier rate will be multiplied by each schoolsite’s adjusted cumulative enrollment for the prior year, as identified in the Stability Rate Data file. The schoolsite will receive the product of this calculation or $50,000, whichever is greater.

The statewide Equity Multiplier rate is determined by the total amount of LCFF Equity Multiplier funding and the total adjusted cumulative enrollment eligible to generate funding in any given fiscal year. The rate is equal to the amount needed to fully allocate LCFF Equity Multiplier funding.

In 2023–24, the total amount of LCFF Equity Multiplier funding to be apportioned is $300 million. Commencing in 2024–25, this amount will be increased by the cost-of-living-adjustment pursuant to EC 42238.02(d)(2) .

For LEAs with eligible schoolsites, LCFF Equity Multiplier funding will be included in the LEA’s monthly Principal Apportionment payments in accordance with the Principal Apportionment Payment Schedule. Payments will commence with the 2023–24 First Principal Apportionment certified in February 2024. LEAs that are apportioned LCFF Equity Multiplier funds will distribute funding to eligible schoolsites based on the amounts calculated by the California Department of Education.

For more information on the Principal Apportionment, please refer to the Principal Apportionment web page.

Funding results will be posted on the LCFF Equity Multiplier funding profile with each certification of the Principal Apportionment. Calculation details will also be available as a funding excel file with each Principal Apportionment certification.

No. LCFF Equity Multiplier funding is a separate source of funding allocated outside of the LCFF entitlement and is not offset by the LEA’s local revenue. Funding is identified as a separate line item of the Principal Apportionment Summary. Revenue and expenditures are tracked with a unique Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) code.

For SACS coding, use Resource Code 7399, and Revenue Object Code 8590.

EC Section 42238.024(b)(1) requires that Equity Multiplier funds be used for the provision of evidence-based services and supports for students.

Evidence-based services and supports are based on objective evidence that has informed the design of the service or support and/or guides the modification of those services and supports. Evidence-based supports and strategies are most commonly based on educational research and/or metrics of LEA, school and/or student performance.

Equity Multiplier funds must be used to supplement, not supplant, funding provided to Equity Multiplier schoolsites for purposes of the LCFF, the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P), the Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists (LCRS) Grant Program, and/or the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP).

As noted above, Equity Multiplier funds must be used to supplement, not supplant, funding provided to Equity Multiplier schoolsites for purposes of the LCFF, the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P), the Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists (LCRS), and/or the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP). This means that Equity Multiplier funds must not be used to replace funding that an Equity Multiplier schoolsite would otherwise receive to implement LEA-wide actions identified in the LEAs Local Control and Accountability Plan or that an Equity Multiplier schoolsite would otherwise receive to implement provisions of the ELO-P, the LCRS, and/or the CCSPP.

Prior to expending Equity Multiplier funds at an eligible schoolsite, the LEA must determine which student group(s) at that schoolsite are in the lowest performance level (i.e., performing in the Red) for each state indicator on the most recent Dashboard. Then, the LEA must engage the educational partners at said schoolsite in developing one or more focus goal(s) to improve the performance of the identified student group(s). Documentation of this educational partner engagement, the focus goal(s) and related actions and expenditures will be captured in the LCAP for the coming year. Therefore, an LEA may not begin expending Equity Multiplier funds until the LCAP has been adopted by the local governing board.

At present, statute does not identify a spending deadline for Equity Multiplier funds. It is the intent of the legislature that Equity Multiplier funds be expended on evidence-based services and supports for the students who generate the funding each year.

If a schoolsite does not expend all the Equity Multiplier funds it receives, those funds will roll over to the subsequent school year. As Equity Multiplier funds have a unique SACS code, they maintain the spending restrictions year over year; thus, they must be used for evidence-based services and supports at eligible schoolsite(s).

At present, Equity Multiplier funds are not included in the annual audit guide.

No; Equity Multiplier funds may only be used for evidence-based services and supports for the identified student groups at the Equity Multiplier eligible schoolsites.

The stability rate is a measure to identify the number and percent of students who receive a “full year” of learning in the same school. The measure is intended to serve as a tool to help better understand the complex needs of students and schools. These data are reported on an annual basis on the California Department of Education’s public reporting site DataQuest found under the report subject “School Climate Data” and available in downloadable files on the Stability Rate Data web page.

Detailed information about the Stability Rate Measure can be accessed on the Information about the Stability Rate Report web page.

Any student who is eligible for free or reduced priced meals is included in the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged student group. The Socioeconomically Disadvantaged student group is comprised of students who meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. neither of the student's parents has received a high school diploma
2. the student is eligible for or participating in the Free Meal program or Reduced-Price Meal program
3. the student is eligible for or participating in the Title I Part C Migrant program
4. the student was considered Homeless
5. the student was Foster Program Eligible
6. the student was Directly Certified
7. the student was enrolled in a Juvenile Court School
8. the student is eligible as a Tribal Foster Youth

The Stability Rate Report will be released early 2024.