Giving Compass' Take:

• California's weighted student funding formula has impacted support systems for English learning and low-income students. 

• How can officials address the changes in the funding formula so that all students' needs are met? 

• Read more about California schools' funding. 

With California’s weighted student funding formula, adopted in 2013, high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District saw lower class sizes, more options for elective courses and lighter class loads for teachers, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study released Thursday.

But with the “hiring surge,” made possible by additional funding through the Local Control Funding Formula, novice teachers were “unevenly assigned” to English learners, and the gaps in achievement between ELs and fluent English speakers — those no longer classified as ELs — widened over the five-year period examined by the study.

The percentages of fluent English speakers exceeding state standards in English language arts increased in both low- and high-poverty schools. “But ELs, already performing at low levels, drifted even lower,” the researchers wrote. In addition, many of the new course options did not offer credit that would qualify students for admission to the state’s two public university systems.

Conducted by sociologist Bruce Fuller and doctoral student Joon-Ho Lee, the paper delves into the decisions LAUSD made as the state decentralized funding, making additional amounts above the base allocation available for ELs, students from low-income families and students in foster care.

“Overall, these findings accent the importance of theorizing not only whether district leaders fairly distribute new revenues among schools, but also how new monies alter the staffing or social organization of campuses,” they wrote.

Read the full article about LA high schoolers by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.