Category Archives: Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)

Secondary principals to present student achievement plans board meeting – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

The principals of Benicia Unified School District’s middle and high schools will go over the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) at each of their sites at Thursday’s school board meeting.

SPSAs are put together by school site councils to develop goals that support the academic performance of all students and are aligned to BUSD’s Strategic Plans and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The principals of Benicia’s secondary goals will be presenting their SPSAs for board approval.

Benicia High School’s SPSA highlighted a variety of goals. The first goal was to improve school culture and student-staff relationships, which would be measured through an increase in students’ Relationships, Effort, Aspirations, Cognitions, Heart (REACH) scores from 63 to 70 percent by June 2018. The second goal was to have the students increase the school’s overall English Language Arts (ELA) score on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) from 73 percent meeting or exceeding standards in 2017 to 78 percent in 2018. Likewise, the third goal was to increase the amount of students exceeding or meeting standards on the math portion of the SBAC from 52 to 55.6 percent. Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt also highlighted a long-term goal for the school to increase the number of students exceeding or meeting math standards on the SBAC to 70 percent by June of 2022, which would require a growth of 3.6 percentage points each year for the next five years.

Source: Secondary principals to present student achievement plans at Thursday’s school board meeting

Vacaville schools supe offers detailed look at district – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

In her annual report to the governing board, Vacaville Unified Superintendent Jane Shamieh on Thursday offered a detailed, data-filled snapshot of the school district during the 2016-17 academic year, a mixed bag of good and, she appeared to concede, sometimes disappointing news.

Using a computer-aided slide presentation, Shamieh, standing at a lectern in the Educational Services Center, laid out the numbers, from enrollment and student demographics to the annual budget and CASSPP scores to the graduation rate and physical education programs to student intervention and support practices and changes in child nutrition, to name a few segments.

She also offered year-end data about the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan, or LCAP, the document that outlines parameters for student achievement, closing the so-called “achievement gap,” and enhancing school climate, among other things. (The LCAP, a key component of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, guides virtually all spending for California’s 1,000 school districts, especially for programs affecting English learners, low-income students and foster youth.)

Source: Vacaville schools supe offers detailed look at district

Sierra Vista MPR and Supes contract on VUSD Agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders, when they meet Thursday, are expected to approve a $5.2 million contract for a new multipurpose building at Sierra Vista, hear the superintendent’s year-end report for 2016-17, and approve a resolution recognizing Red Ribbon Week in late October.

Trustees likely will green-light a contract not to exceed $5.2 million with Landmark Modernization Contractors, a Loomis-based firm, to build a new multipurpose room at the K-8 campus on Bel Air Drive, already undergoing significant, multimillion-dollar upgrades under Measure A, the $194 million bond approved by district voters in 2014. Bond money will pay for the school’s new multipurpose room.

Superintendent Jane Shamieh will present a look-back of the 2016-17 school year, a detailed glimpse of the district during that time. It includes data about schools, district staff, enrollment numbers, student demographics, the annual budget, accomplishments, the graduation rate, Career Technical Education programs, student intervention and support practices, physical education improvements, changes in child nutrition, and CAASPP scores, among other things.

Source: VUSD Agenda

TUSD workshop today: Budget 101 – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Travis Unified leaders, when they meet this afternoon in a special meeting, will hear a brief presentation about how the district’s budget is cobbled together.

Chief Business Officer Sonia Lasyone will make the presentation in the Travis Education Center in Fairfield.

The five-member governing board will have a chance to ask questions and mull over the information.

“It’s a budget 101 workshop,” Superintendent Pamela Conklin said Monday. “It’s just explaining the components of the budget and how to read certain reports.”

It will include the obligatory pie charts, showing how the district’s $56.7 million 2017-18 budget is broken down into its various parts, revenues and expenses, chief among them salaries and benefits, at 82 percent, she noted.

Source: TUSD workshop today

Assistant supe provides update on LCAP goals to school board – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District heard an update on the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) at Thursday’s school board meeting.

The LCAP is a plan that is required by all public schools in California to receive funding provided through the Local Control Funding Formula, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2013. BUSD’s LCAP has outlined three goals for the district:To create a collaborative team of highly engaged staff that supports the academic, emotional and social success of all students for college and career readiness.To modernize and improve infrastructure to provide a learning environment that offers opportunities for 21st-century teaching and learning.

To increase community and parental involvement through awareness and engagement.Assistant Superintendent Dr. Leslie Beatson and Educational Services Coordinator Stephanie Rice presented an update on the LCAP, which Beatson described as “a wrap-up from last year’s (strategic) plan.”

Source: Assistant supe provides update on LCAP goals to school board

School board to consider reappointment of 2 Bond Oversight Committee members tonight – Benicia Herald

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By Nick Sestanovich

The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District will be voting to reappoint two members of the Measure S Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) at tonight’s meeting.Per the general obligation bonds of Measure S which was approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide funding for facility improvements at Benicia schools, the district is required to have a CBOC with seven members who meet quarterly to go over bond expenditure reports. The seven members consist of one person representing a local business, one person representing a senior citizens’ organization, one person representing a taxpayers’ organization, a parent or guardian of a Benicia Unified student, a parent or guardian of a Benicia Unified student who also serves on a parent-teacher organization or school site council, and two at-large community members.

The term for each member is two years, and the terms of two— at-large member Ron Arrants and taxpayers’ organization representative Pat Lopes— are slated to end on Oct. 1. Per CBOC bylaws, members can not serve more than three consecutive terms and the school board has the ability to appoint members based on the recommendation of the superintendent.Superintendent Dr. Charles Young is recommending that the board reappoint Arrants and Lopes for two-year terms that run through Oct. 1, 2019. Both members had previously been re-appointed in 2015.

Source: School board to consider reappointment of 2 Bond Oversight Committee members tonight

Sample Policy & Administrative Regulation – School Attendance Review Boards (CA Dept of Education)

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The State School Attendance Review Board (SARB), an advisory panel to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), has developed a sample policy on attendance supervision that is consistent with state laws that became effective on January 1, 2017.

With the passage of Assembly Bill 2815 in 2016, the role of attendance supervisors has been expanded to include more effective practices to address chronic absenteeism and truancy. These changes are designed to help promote a culture of attendance and improve local systems to track student attendance by grade level and subgroup.

The new laws directly relate to the priorities districts must address in their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP). Addressing chronic absence is included as a State Priority in the Pupil Engagement section of the LCAP template.

Source: Sample Policy & Administrative Regulation – School Attendance Review Boards (CA Dept of Education)

Fairfield-Suisun leaders to consider budget – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Like so many California school districts in summertime, with their 2017-18 LCAPs and budgets sent to county offices of education, Fairfield-Suisun Unified has posted a relatively light agenda for its Thursday meeting in Fairfield.

Trustees will hear several presentations at the outset, including a report, delivered by students, about the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) camp at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Under the consent calendar, items typically approved in one collective vote, governing board members will OK a $1.13 million contract with the state Department of Education for child development services.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun leaders to consider budget

Vacaville school trustees face light agenda Thursday – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

With new LCAPs and annual budgets sent to county offices of education, California school districts tend to face light midsummer agendas in July and August and that will be the case Thursday, when Vacaville Unified leaders meet.

In what likely will be a short meeting, concerned mostly with financial matters, trustees are expected to approve a revised 2017-18 salary schedule for classified, or school-suppport, managers, an unrepresented employee group that ranges from custodial manager and public information officer to director of maintenance and technology coordinator, with monthly pay, depending on which of five steps they fall under, that ranges from (all Step 1, or beginning, salaries, for example) $5,340 and $7,524 to $8,925 and $9,167.

There was no indication in agenda documents about why the salary scheduled was revised.

Source: Vacaville school trustees face light agenda Thursday

Vacaville school district leaders approve LCAP, $116M budget for 17-18 – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Meeting a state-mandated deadline, Vacaville Unified leaders Thursday approved the school district’s 2017-18 budget and the accompanying Local Control Accountability Plan, with some minor changes to the plan as requested by Michael Kitzes, the governing board’s president.

In California, annual school district budgets and LCAPs, the latter a key part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, must be submitted to respective county offices of education on or before June 30.

Although they detail spending for all student programs, LCAPs typically lay out in detail funding for programs that help English learners, foster youth and low-income students in efforts to close the “achievement gap,” the difference in standardized test scores between whites and ethnic minorities.

The district’s chief academic officer, Mark Frazier presented the changes to the 2017 LCAP, as requested by Kitzes at the June 15 meeting.

 

Source: Vacaville school district leaders approve LCAP, $116M budget for 17-18

VUSD leaders expected to nix charter school petition – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A possible denial of a charter school petition, several large contracts, from auditing services to crossing guards to food services, and formal approval of two Local Control Accountability Plans and the 2017-18 budget are on the agenda when Vacaville Unified leaders meet Thursday.

According to agenda documents, the seven-member governing board will vote to deny or approve a petition to establish the Pacific Valley Charter Academy, currently called Heritage Peak Charter School, an independent study learning center housed at 354 Parker St.

There will be a staff presentation, a presentation by Paul Keefer, executive director of the school’s parent organization, the Sacramento-based Pacific Charter Institute, which operates several charter schools, followed by trustee questions and comments.

But the district already appears ready to deny Keefer’s petition, as a formally worded resolution to do so was included as part of the agenda.

 

Source: VUSD leaders expected to nix charter school petition

Revised Vacaville Unified grading system sets off lengthy debate at board meeting – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

On a night when Vacaville Unified leaders faced a full agenda — the 2017-18 budget and its accompanying LCAP and other LCAPs — the real showstopper was a report on revised district regulations about grading and ways to assess student achievement, a still-in-the-works system one trustee called “huge” in its impact.

At issue during Thursday’s meeting were revisions to administrative regulation 5121, changes to which have been the subject of board, district staff and classroom teacher discussion and debate for well more than a year.

Source: Revised Vacaville Unified grading system sets off lengthy debate at board meeting

Vacaville Unified school board trustees put final touches on 2017-18 budget – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders late last week put finishing touches on the final 2017-18 school district budget some Local Control Accountability Plans, which will be approved, perhaps with some minor changes, at the governing board’s June 29 meeting.

In California, annual school district budgets and their accompanying LCAPs, a key part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, must be submitted to respective county offices of education on or before June 30.

Although they detail spending for all student programs, LCAPs typically lay out in detail funding for programs that help English learners, foster youth and low-income students in efforts to close the “achievement gap,” the difference in standardized test scores between whites and ethnic minorities.

Source: Vacaville Unified school board trustees put final touches on 2017-18 budget

Several public hearings, manager contracts, developer fees on TUSD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Several public hearings, senior manager employment contracts, and a proposed hike in developer fees are on the agenda when Travis Unified leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

The first public hearing concerns the district’s school facilities needs analysis and a resolution, set for a vote later in the meeting, on Level 2 developer fees.

Likely to pass muster among the five-member governing board, the resolution calls for a hike in developer fees from $5.42 to $5.49 per square foot for new housing, with the exception of any residential development subject to mitigation agreement or a Mello-Roos Community Facilities District (CFD) special tax.

Trustees also will hear any public comments about the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan, or LCAP, the document that guides virtually all of a school district’s spending under Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula.

 

Source: Several public hearings, manager contracts, developer fees on TUSD agenda

English-learner report, student achievement plan on Dixon Unified agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified leaders, when they meet Thursday, will consider the annual District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC) report, approve new courses at C.A. Jacobs Intermediate School, discuss a teacher survey on elementary school reconfiguration, and likely approve the Measure Q Citizen Oversight Committee membership roll.

Mike Walbridge, assistant superintendent of educational services, will present the DELAC report.

Every California public school district, grades K-12, is required to form a DELAC if it has 51 or more English-learner students. The committee is comprised of school staff, parents of English-learner students, other parents and community members who are interested in English-learner programs. The committee advises the district’s governing board (in person, by letters or reports, or through an administrator, on programs and services for English learners).

In the agenda documents, Walbridge noted that an unspecified number of parent members will offer a brief “needs assessment as part of the LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan) stakeholder engagement process.”

 

Source: English-learner report, student achievement plan on Dixon Unified agenda

Annual LCAP begins to take shape in VUSD – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

In the coming year, Vacaville Unified’s evolving Local Control Accountability Plan may emphasize lowering the student-teacher ratio, boosting K-1 reading skills, and monitoring the social-emotional needs of the district’s 12,500 students.

In a presentation Thursday, during an LCAP workshop and special governing board meeting, district officials discussed timelines, identified, then developed top priorities and actions for the 2017-18 LCAP, a document that guides virtually all spending under the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula. Both the district’s proposed 2017-18 budget and LCAP must be submitted to the Solano County Office of Education by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Source: Annual LCAP begins to take shape in VUSD

Vacaville school leaders, in a workshop tonight, to hear details, priorities of LCAP – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified leaders, when they meet tonight in a workshop, will discuss the 2017-18 Local Control Accountability Plan, a document that lists priorities, from student achievement to parental involvement to school climate, and guides much of the school district’s spending.

The district’s chief academic officer, Mark Frazier likely will lead the discussion that will review the current year’s actions and goals — including increasing college and career-readiness efforts, closing the achievement gap, and enhancing school climate — and cite document-approval timelines. Required by state law, school district LCAPs are typically submitted to county and state education officials at the same time the district’s budget is submitted. They can be regarded as something of a snapshot of the district.

Frazier also will touch on the concepts of equality vs. equity and review the district number of “unduplicated students,” that is, English learners, poor and foster youth, which accounts for 42 percent, or 5,250, of some 12,500 students. District schools with the largest percentages of unduplicated students are Markham, Fairmont, Padan and Hemlock elementaries, Country High School and Vaca Pena Middle School.

 

Source: Vacaville school leaders, in a workshop tonight, to hear details, priorities of LCAP

State’s new school “report card” system debuts Wednesday – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

After some field testing, the state’s new school “report card” system, giving parents another way to evaluate their child’s learning environment, will finally debut Wednesday, state officials have announced.

The California School Dashboard, as it’s called, will go live to the general public at www.cde.ca.gov/dashboard.

The public rollout will come nearly nine weeks after the State Board of Education formally approved it, with several changes to be made to strengthen and improve it for the 2017-18 academic year, when it will go into full effect.

Source: State’s new school “report card” system debuts Wednesday – The Reporter

Budget development, LCAP goals, configuration of elementaries on DUSD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

An update on the 2017-18 budget development process, a review of several LCAP goals, and configuration models for elementary schools are on the agenda when Dixon Unified leaders meet Thursday in Dixon.

The rural school district’s chief financial officer, Adrian Vargas, will lead the discussion about the 2017-18 budget development.

In fewer than a dozen slides, he will cover the Local Control Funding Formula “gap funding” percentages, enrollment projections, Local Control Accountability Plan actions, and highlight major ongoing commitments.

In an interview Tuesday, Vargas said his presentation will take into account subjects that will affect his second interim budget report, set for March 16.

 

Source: Budget development, review of LCAP goals, configuration of elementaries on DUSD agenda

SCOE to sponsor ‘cultural proficiency’ program for educators – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

California has the most diverse public school student population in the nation and it is increasingly “minority majority” in its enrollments.

Under components of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, the state’s 1,000 school districts must devise a plan of action to meet the educational needs for every student in California, where, according to data from the 2000 Census, 60 percent of state residents speak only English, while 40 percent speak another language (either instead of, or in addition to, English).

To that end, the Solano County Office of Education plans to launch a “cultural proficiency” program to better serve students in an increasingly diverse county, where, essentially, the world has arrived during the better part of the last half century.

Source: SCOE to sponsor ‘cultural proficiency’ program for educators – The Reporter