Report co-author Kenneth Kapphahn says California’s new mechanism for giving local districts more control over their finances has worked to root out a number of outdated processes in the education system.
But, he says: “Transportation’s been one of the exceptions to that. So there’s a real opportunity here for the legislature to address something that’s been kind of out-of-date for a number of years.”
In fact, the LAO report says California’s school transportation funding rate has been unchanged since the early 1980s.
Among other recommendations, the LAO suggests the state create a new, targeted program that helps districts with unusually high school transportation costs.
The state locked in school transportation funding at 2012-13 rates when it adopted the local funding formula last year. But the legislature directed the LAO to review the entire school transportation funding system.
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