The coronavirus pandemic is likely to cause a huge budgetary problem for California school districts. The problem is no one knows for sure how bad things could end up. School districts in California get most of their funding from the state, through something called the Local Control Funding Formula. The state gives each district the same level of base funding per student, depending on grade level, and it can grant more depending on levels of high-need populations like low-income students, students in foster care and English learners. That formula mostly leaves school budgets at the mercy of the state and facing plummeting tax revenue due to an economy that has essentially been left dead in the water due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s nowhere near clear what the state budget,
