California's current school finance system is a tangled web of funding programs, restrictions, inequities and confusion. Building a stronger finance system to benefit from resources is an important step in strengthening California's K-12 education system and better meeting the needs of its students. Gov. Brown has recently proposed the Local Control Funding Formula in hopes of accomplishing that goal. In evaluating the merits of his proposed formula, it is important to consider the principles a rational finance system would embody. This article maps out those principles, describes how elements of the governor's proposal meet many of them, and juxtaposes the new proposal against California's current system.