In order to understand the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), it is also important to understand the unique funding method California has employed to distribute taxpayer dollars in an equitable manner state-wide known as the Local Control Funding Formula or LCFF. 

The acronym LCFF refers to the Local Control Funding Formula.  The LCFF was first enacted in 2013 and changed how local educational agencies (LEAs) are funded across the state.  It also created a checks and balances system to ensure the use of funds exhibits measurable results and provides LEAs with a baseline of priorities to allow all students to reach their greatest potential.   

With the creation of the LCFF came four components designed to assist and fund LEAs and give the public an active role in the way money is spent in LEAs.   The California Accountability Model and School Dashboard component was created to provide public information on how LEAs are meeting the needs of California's diverse student population. The LCFF Support and Assistance component started a three-tiered framework to enable the California Department of Education to provide assistance directly to LEAs, County Offices of Education (COEs), and charter schools.   

The LCFF apportionments component includes the "Principal Apportionment" which is the primary source of an LEA's general-purpose funding along with funding for many other programs.   The fourth component is the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) which is explained in the block to the right.

The acronym LCAP refers to a Local Education Agency's (LEA) Local Control Accountability Plan.  With the creation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), the LCAP was created as a component to link spending directly to measurable outcomes and to ensure higher-performing LEAs address the needs of low-performing schools or student groups in the LEA. 

The LCAP template is approved by the California State Board of Education.  All school districts, County Offices of Education (COEs), and charter schools are required to develop an LCAP that outlines goals, how they intend to meet those goals annually, as well as how the organization plans to integrate the state's priority areas within its goals.