In this policy brief, we use the case of California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to provide policy makers and educators guidance on how to involve the public in goal setting and resource distribution decisions. We provide clarity around who is and is not participating, why, and what broader lessons we can draw for implementing federal and state education policies mandating public engagement. Our findings indicate tremendous room for improvement. LCFF's target populations (e.g., low-income, English learners) are not more likely to be aware of or participate in decisions than nontargeted groups, which suggests weak accountability for the use of public funds by the policy's target populations. Although LCFF has defined a broad set of stakeholders, only a narrow segment of the public (i.e., individuals with stronger ties to and positive views of schools) is aware of and engaging with the policy. Finally, we find a substantial gap between actual participation in LCFF and interest in participation, which may relate to a lack of self-efficacy, time, trust, perceived appropriateness, and information. As states and districts respond to mandates for engagement, these results suggest the need for greater investments in: (1) communication, (2) targeting a range of stakeholders, and (3) capacity building.

中文翻译：

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公民参与教育：加利福尼亚州地方控制资助计划的见解

在本政策简介中，我们以加利福尼亚州的地方控制资金公式（LCFF）为例，为政策制定者和教育者提供有关如何使公众参与目标设定和资源分配决策的指南。我们明确说明谁在参加和不参加，为什么参加，以及在实施强制公众参与的联邦和州教育政策方面可以吸取哪些更广泛的经验教训。我们的发现表明仍有很大的改进空间。LCFF的目标人群（例如，低收入，英语学习者）比非目标人群更不了解或参与决策，这表明该政策的目标人群对使用公共资金的责任制较弱。尽管LCFF定义了广泛的利益相关者，但只有一小部分公众（即 与学校有更紧密的联系并拥有正面观点的人）知道并参与该政策。最后，我们发现实际参与LCFF与参与兴趣之间存在巨大差距，这可能与缺乏自我效能感，时间，信任，感知的适当性和信息不足有关。随着各州和地区对参与任务的回应，这些结果表明需要在以下方面进行更大的投资：（1）沟通，（2）针对一系列利益相关者，以及（3）能力建设。