Why SENI Matters
Furthers LCFF’s Vision by Allocating Resources to High Need schools
The SENI identifies need at the student level, allowing schools and districts to better understand the needs of their students and communities. Deeply understanding school communities’ holistic needs allows districts to effectively funnel resources and better serve students. The index provides districts and community advocates the means to identify high-need schools and target additional funding to the communities that need it most––often Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities experiencing years of historic disinvestment.
By using a combination of indicators that reflect student outcomes and community context at the local level that sheds light on issues impacting a student’s education, the SENI applies a community-cultivated, need-based focus to the distribution of LCFF funding at the school site level. This process goes beyond LCFF’s definition of need, accounting for systemic barriers such as adverse health conditions, insecure housing situations, and higher community crime rates. These indicators can aid district leaders in addressing the root causes of school-level issues such as low attendance, declining enrollment, and student mental and physical health.
Constructing and implementing a SENI as an equity tool allows districts to center racial equity and economic justice in their efforts to meet the needs of students and communities, especially amid an evolving educational landscape.
Strengthens shared-power and shared-decision making between district and community
SENI highlights community voice through its indicators, which were co-developed and chosen by the district and community stakeholders through an extensive engagement process. Further, developing a SENI invites community involvement that centers upon uplifting the voices of underrepresented students and families. This is imperative as districts seek to identify solutions that advance a racially just and equitable education system.
Efforts to pass and implement the SENI in LAUSD’s funding formula involved students, parents, and community leaders, demonstrating community support for the SENI. Ultimately, the SENI is a student-centered index, incorporating community-based indicators that reflect the specific needs and equity barriers that impact the students in a given community.
Provides additional flexible funding for school sites
Currently, principals have limited discretionary spending to cover resource gaps within their schools, with the vast majority of funds tied to fixed costs, like faculty salaries and school maintenance.
The SENI allocates additional funding to high-need schools, giving principals the power and flexibility to address unique community and site-specific needs. This funding allows schools to make resource decisions, such as hiring instructional staff who can contribute to lower class sizes as well as additional counselors, full-time nurses, and social workers to offer support to address students’ holistic needs. It has also been used to fund programs and activities, including socioemotional development programs, gardening classes, and other enrichment opportunities for students.
