VOTERS IN SIX Marin County school districts are considering new tax measures in the June 2 election. Understanding how public funds are distributed to schools can make those decisions easier.
In a recent conversation, Marin County School Superintendent John Carroll described how a recipe for federal, state and local money works to keep the lights on, feed students, and repair playgrounds in Marin’s 17 school districts.
But those public dollars, along with other sources, are not distributed evenly across the county.
“We are an example of a county where you see the less-than-equitable two-part or two-modality funding system in effect, probably as much as any county in the entire state,” said Carroll.
How schools are funded
Community-funded districts — those that have a high enough property tax base to fund their own schools — usually raise more money per student, according to Carroll.
Most of California’s school districts operate using a basic level of state support. The amount of that entitlement is calculated by the state each year using a Local Control Funding Formula. Factors that go into the calculation include the district’s property tax income and the number of students who qualify for federal aid programs, such as free and reduced-price lunches.
“Once that entitlement is calculated, then the local property tax is compared to that,” said Bree Brown, assistant superintendent of business for the Marin County Office of Education.
If their property taxes are higher than what their LCFF entitlement is, then they get all their cash locally from local property taxes, Brown said. If a district’s property tax income is less than its entitlement, then the state supplements the difference. The district meets its entitlement amount either way, whether they are dependent on supplemental LCFF funding or are entirely community-funded through local property taxes.
Carroll published a research brief about how the system evolved. Before 1972, school districts in California relied primarily on local property taxes to operate their schools, according to the paper. That system led to significant disparities, as wealthier areas could generate more revenue through higher property values while poorer areas struggled to raise sufficient funds.
In 1971, the landmark Serrano v. Priest case in the California Supreme Court challenged that system and set the stage for the new funding model. The state would establish an entitlement amount and add funds only if the district needs funds to reach the entitlement amount.
“If you count all your local tax dollars that come into your district, and that number is more than what you would get through the LCFF funding, you automatically become community funded,” Carroll said, adding that districts do not get to choose.
“Sometimes all that money is just a dollar more, like in Ross Valley,” Carroll said. “When you’re on the border like that, the very next year, they could easily go back to state funding. Ross Valley is right on the edge; it goes back and forth.”
The straw that tips the scale is the federal funding, which Carroll estimates accounts for about 10% of the county’s school budgets. Federal sources are determined by a count of students who are learning English as a second language, are in foster care, or qualify for a free or reduced-price federal lunch program.
A district like San Rafael has a lot of English language learners, for example, and benefits from more federal funding, even though they are in the same LCFF model as Ross Valley, said Carroll.
“Ross Valley is in this sort of pickle because they have LCFF funding, but they have very few English language learners, very few foster care youth, and very few kids who would qualify for free lunches,” he said. “When you’re on the border like that, the very next year, they could easily go back to state funding. Ross Valley is right on the edge; it goes back and forth.”
Some very small Marin County districts with high property values can generate significantly more revenue per student than larger districts that rely on state aid, Carroll said, even with small student populations. He cited the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District as an example. Expensive coastal real estate, including rental properties, supports about 109 students.
“A house in Stinson Beach can be $10 million,” Carroll said. “That doesn’t mean the kids attending school there come from families that own those houses, but the property tax value is high.”
Parcel taxes head to voters
Parcel taxes, like the ones that appear on several ballot measures, bring in extra money, Carroll said. Both types of funding models, LCFF and community funded districts, can legally place parcel taxes on a ballot to be approved by voters.
On the June 2 ballot in the Ross Valley High School District, Measure H would add a $540 tax per parcel on top of the current $742 tax for a total annual property tax of $1,282.
This year, the Trump administration tried to throw a wrench in the formula by attempting to claw back federal funding, even withholding money for a staff position without giving a reason. At the very beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, Carroll said his office received a letter that he interpreted as a threat.
“It said you need to sign off on compliance with the Trump administration’s version of diversity, equity, inclusion, or we will not put anything federal or otherwise into those programs,” Carroll said, adding that the funds were finally released. “California has a group that pushed back, and we’ve been successful in the courts where that was finally dropped about a month and a half ago.”
