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Friday, December 13, 2013

Draft of local accountability plan – key piece of funding formula – open for comment | EdSource Today

Draft of local accountability plan – key piece of funding formula – open for comment | EdSource Today:

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Public comment is being invited on draft plans schools will use when creating spending plans and setting campus priorities over the next several years. Credit: EdSource file
The public has an opportunity, though not much time, to provide suggestions on a draft of the Local Control Accountability Plan or LCAP, the primary tool or template that school districts will use in writing a spending plan for the new state funding formula.
WestEd, the consultant working for the State Board of Education to develop the accountability plan, posted the eight-page document this week and is inviting comments to be emailed to lcff@wested.org before the next revision is posted on Dec. 20. Still to come is the companion piece, the proposed regulations on how districts can spend the additional dollars – the supplemental and concentration grants – that districts will receive for low-income students, students learning English and foster children under the Local Control Funding Formula. The closely watched, much debated regulations are the key element that will guide districts as they create their first LCAP for the school year starting July 1. The proposed regs and the revised template will be published next Friday in the State Board’s agenda for its Jan. 15-16 meeting.
The draft LCAP template lays out the process that each district must follow and the forms it must complete to document its use of LCFF money. The template requires districts to cite student achievement goals, data that a district used to choose those goals, specific actions – with dollars attached – to accomplish them, and metrics to measure progress. If, for example, data show that the high school dropout rate for English learners is high, the district could choose that as a primary goal, specify how it plans to deal with it – hire more guidance counselors or add Partnership Academies offering mentorships, perhaps – detail costs and designate specific schools that will get