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SCFF Overview and Hold Harmless

In 2017-18, there was a shift from 100% enrollment-based funding to a Student-Centered Funding Formula. The former state funding system under SB361 (2006) was 100% based on student enrollment and growth. The Student-Centered Funding Formula (SCFF), established in 2018-19, funds districts at 70% based on student enrollment with the remaining 30% tied to student success achievements and outcomes related to serving low-income students. Specifically, the multi-factor formula calculates apportionments by using the following three allocations across more than 30 metrics:

  • 70% Base Allocation –Current factors (primarily credit FTES)
  • 20% Supplemental Allocation –Counts of low-income students
  • 10% Student Success Allocation –Counts of outcomes related to the Vision for Success, with “premiums” for outcomes of low-income students

The District is currently being buoyed in its funding by a $757,000 “hold harmless” amount in 2022-23.
Due to what would be a sudden drop in revenue, the District has been allowed a transitional “hold harmless” funding period, which guarantees at least the 2017-18 Total Computational Revenue (TCR) Apportionment revenue adjusted by cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) each year that the hold harmless period is in effect. The enacted 2020-21 state budget codified a two-year extension to the “hold harmless” period. In 2021, The District was granted a wildfire exemption due to enrollment impacts of the CZU wildfire, giving the District a 3-year period (through 2023-24) to regain lost revenue before experiencing a decline. This year, the state budget established a base funding level replacing the “hold harmless” from 2017-18 with a “new floor” wherein the District will receive at least as much as it receives in the 2024-25 fiscal year in succeeding years. While this will provide a level of stability, there is the drawback that unless significant gains occur in student enrollment or other SCFF metric, the funding level will not increase nor will it benefit
from future COLAs.
Student enrollment has been declining over time and growth is not projected in the future. This means enrollment growth funds are likely to be unavailable to the District. In addition, declining enrollment means that when the District is released from emergency conditions, a reduction in funding will occur since enrollment losses since 2017-18 have not yet been restored. 

 

SCFF Dashboard:

The SCFF dashboard is a tool that we can use to better predict apportionment schedules and conduct longer-range planning (financial and otherwise). We will begin to reference and consult it as we build future budget projections in the cycles to come.

Student Centered Funding Formula Dashboard Phase 2 Links to an external site. 

Instructions:

  1. Click on left menu "explore my college."
  2. Click on top right dropdown menu to choose Cabrillo.

 

Then Cabrillo's dashboard will load.

Here is a link Links to an external site. to the August 22, 2022 All College Zoom Budget Meeting when Dr. Matt Wetstein gave an overview of the SCFF.  

This is a slide on the State Budget in President Matt Wetstein's All College Day Presentation in 2022. It states that there is a COLA of 6.56%, overall 12% increase to base funding, hold harmless gap shrunk to $757,000, and still not out of the woods with enrollment declines.

30:50 on video

Student-Centered Funding Formula. (From California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Joint Analysis pg. 9 Links to an external site.)
The 2021 Budget Act extended the SCFF’s existing minimum revenue (hold harmless) provision by one year, through 2024-25. Under this provision, districts will earn at least their 2017-18 total computational revenue, adjusted by COLA each year, if applicable. The Administration and Legislature expect the SCFF’s stability provisions to protect district funding levels in 2022-23, despite uncertainties about recent enrollment declines. In addition, the Budget Act includes an increase to the SCFF’s funding rates, discussed below.

The [2022-23] enacted budget extends the revenue protections in a modified form, with a goal of avoiding sharp fiscal declines in 2025-26 and supporting a smooth transition to the SCFF by formula over time. Under the provision, a district’s 2024-25 funding will represent its new “floor,” below which it cannot drop. Starting in 2025-26, districts will be funded at their SCFF generated amount that year or their "floor” (2024-25 funding amount), whichever is higher. This revised hold harmless provision will no longer include adjustments to reflect cumulative COLAs over time, as is the case with the provision in effect through 2024-25, so a district’s hold harmless amount would not grow.