Parents made suggestions in the form of post-it notes at an LCAP forum in San Diego Unified. Credit: Karla Scoon Reid, EdSource.
State and county education officials are seeking to reassure school districts that might be worried that county superintendents will reject the new accountability plans they’ll submit by July 1 for the 2013-14 year. Tighter scrutiny will come, just not for the initial plan.
“The approval process is fairly objective, at least this year” and should be non-judgmental, Christine Swenson, director of the state Department of Education’s Improvement and Accountability Division, told the State Board of Education last month.
School district officials are in the process of putting together their first Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs), which are required under the state’s new financing system. (County offices of education provide services for special-needs students, students in juvenile detention and students in alternative schools. Their LCAPs for those students will need approval from the Department of Education.)
Peter Birdsall, executive director of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, backed up Swenson’s perspective.
“There is the expectation of a good-faith effort (by school districts),” he said. “This is the first year, so nobody should have a budget denied for lack of legal compliance.”
He said he expects the “overwhelming majority” of districts will have their LCAPs and budgets approved by Aug. 15, with perhaps a few given a conditional approval.
All school boards must pass an LCAP by July 1 detailing how they will spend dollars from the Local Control Funding Formula over the next three years. The LCAP must respond to eight academic County offices to cut districts some slack for now on their LCAPs | EdSource Today: