About

What's an Ed Fund?

An education fund is a city-based organization that usually aligns with one school district, though it can serve multiple districts. Education funds take many forms depending on the needs of their school communities. They often run programs that directly support classrooms, school beautification projects, field trips, teacher professional development, school volunteer programs, and family engagement through groups such as parent teacher associations (PTAs). They may also provide tutoring, mentorship, and other resources that enrich student learning and school life.

How Public Schools are Funded

Public school districts receive funding from three main sources: federal, state, and local. These sources intersect with student average daily attendance (ADA) to create the formula that determines the per-pupil budget.

Federal funding makes up less than 10% of all public school funding nationwide. In California, about 8% of school funding comes from federal sources (NEA 2025 Rankings and Estimates Report). This funding is typically tied to poverty rates among households of enrolled students. It includes programs such as Title I (for schools where 40 percent or more of families are low-income), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding, and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funds (EdSource).

The largest share of school funding comes from state and local sources. Before Proposition 13 in 1978, California schools were primarily funded through local property taxes. While this provided a relatively stable revenue source, it also created large disparities between districts depending on factors of wealth and home ownership rates. After Proposition 13, income taxes became the primary source of funding. Income taxes fluctuate more than property taxes because they are tied to factors such as the stock market and wage growth. The state allocates funding through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which gives districts flexibility in shaping their budgets.

Funding is allocated based on attendance, measured by the number of students enrolled who attend school each day. Collecting daily attendance is essential for student safety, but it also directly determines how much funding a school receives. In Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), enrollment for 2024–25 is 36,217 students with an average daily attendance rate of 95.8 percent. Funding in SCUSD comes primarily from the state (about 60%), followed by local sources (33%), and federal sources (7%) (NEA 2025 Rankings and Estimates Report).

SCUSD is among the top one percent most diverse school districts in the nation (Niche), with students speaking more than 50 languages (SCUSD About). Over 25,000 of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Despite this need, funding has not kept pace. SCUSD spends about $16,400 per student, below California’s median of $19,000 and close to the national average of $16,900 (NEA 2025 Rankings and Estimates Report). This gap is even more challenging when compared to Sacramento’s cost of living, which is about 25 percent higher than the national average (Redfin Cost of Living Calculator).

The Sacramento Education Fund

The Sacramento Education Fund (Sac Ed Fund) was founded in 2025 in response to unprecedented challenges facing public schools. These challenges include declines in federal funding and support, the lasting impacts of the pandemic on students and teachers, and significant enrollment declines. Since 2020, public school enrollment nationwide has dropped nearly 4%, with projections showing a 7.6% decline by 2031 (NCES). This decline reflects a mix of factors such as growth in private, charter, and homeschooling, and a concerning rise in students unaccounted for in any school system (Brookings). Together, these shifts represent the largest departure from public schools since World War II and have weakened support for the system nationwide.

The Sacramento Education Fund was founded on three ideas:

  1. Investing more resources into classrooms and schools strengthens children's learning and sense of community.
  2. Tracking and measuring supplemental resources increases accountability and helps ensure that impact grows over time.
  3. When more community members invest their time, money, and care into schools as supporters or volunteers, they not only strengthen our public schools but also deepen civic engagement by becoming more informed, involved citizens who contribute meaningfully to their community.

The Sacramento Education Fund exists because Sacramento's students require more in order to thrive. Together, we can ensure that every child has access to the resources and opportunities needed to succeed in school and beyond.

Stronger public schools make for a stronger city, and we envision a Sacramento where every student thrives, leads, and shapes a brighter future because of their excellent public education experience.