Parent Poll Informs Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)'s Implementation or Does it?
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| Real Parent Engagement or Just Another Sash and Scepter Parent involvement show |
So now we have Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and a new SCUSD Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) Advisory Committee. What will change? If history is any guide, not much.
So what could be done to get REAL PARENT ENGAGEMENT?
Maybe a little democracy is in order. How about using the current structure of parent committees and add in some of the community organizations such as the Black Parallel School Board, HIP Hmong in Politics, Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education and others (yes including the Charter School Companies) that have participated in Sacramento Education. Instead of a new committee use the established committees and groups to hold the district accountable. Stop dividing parents into groups that represents how the district see parents and start bringing the community together. Simply ask these existing organization to vote on Major Policy issues and post the results. While not binding on the district this voice might be a little more productive when compare to current Parent Involvement efforts.
Sacramento-area school districts are soliciting ideas on how to spend new state money intended to aid disadvantaged students.Parents are critical stakeholders to ensure that the transition to the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) is successful and a new poll gauges how they currently interact with schools, their knowledge about LCFF and their eagerness to get more engaged in influencing funding decisions – an essential element in LCFF’s implementation.
The Sacramento City Unified School District is inviting parents and community members to a public forum Wednesday at the Serna Center, 5735 47th Ave.
The meeting, which starts at 6 p.m., will include information on existing programs that satisfy new goals the state wants districts to achieve with the money. Those include implementation of Common Core State Standards, improving parental involvement and reducing absences. (Sacramento BEE... http://bit.ly/KH7Rib)
LCFF is clear that parents, community members and stakeholders should be involved in the process to make decisions at the school district level and at each individual school site. This poll is an important benchmark to inform the ongoing work to implement the funding formula and what’s needed to help engage parents in the decision-making process.
Here are the survey findings:
- More than three in four parents (76%) say they are involved in their children’s schools; however, parents with lower incomes report less involvement.
- The majority of parents mentioned a lack of time (69%) and intense work schedules (66%) as reasons for why they are less involved than they would like in their children’s schools.
- California public school parents (72%) are generally pleased with the performance of local public schools. When asked to evaluate school performance, 30% of parents gave an “A” and 42% gave a “B” letter grade.
- Parents are most likely to learn about what goes on in their children’s schools through their children and the leading sources include direct conversations (97%), information sent home with students (87%) and conversations with their child’s teacher (85%).
- While parents are very involved in many aspects of their kids’ schools as they attend parent teacher conferences (87%) and assemblies, or sporting or performing arts events (77%), few attend school site council or committee meetings (24%).
- About one-third of parents believe that only a small group of parents are given the opportunity to participate in decision-making at their school, and two in five parents with incomes of 30,000 or less say that only a small groups of parents have the opportunity to engage in decision-making.
- Close to three in four parents (72%) say they would be willing to spend more time guiding school decision-making, with a majority (61%) saying they could commit between one and three hours per week.
- When asked what actions schools could take to increase parent involvement, parents supported efforts that aim to:
- Get advance notice of scheduled meetings (83%)
- Be informed when their voice will have meaning in the decision-making process (80%)
- Increased frequency of information on LCFF (76%)
- Provide classes or training for parents on how they can get engaged (64%)
- Provide child care at meetings (45%)
- Offer communications in languages other than English (33%)
- Provide transportation to meetings (27%)
Read this EdSource article for a full summary of the poll findings. To help parents, community members and stakeholders remain engaged in the state and local process to implement LCFF, Children Now recently launch a new website, lcff.childrennow.org, with the latest facts, tools and resources.