Districts face challenge of prioritizing public input on school spending | EdSource Today:
California’s school funding reform laws have triggered a burst of outreach efforts to solicit parent and community input – along with a plethora of suggestions about how to spend the additional funds districts will receive.
But what is not clear is how these multiple recommendations – in some districts running into the thousands – will be prioritized so that they will be useful to school officials and school boards as they draw up their Local Control and Accountability Plans before the rapidly approaching deadline of July 1.
California’s new school funding reform law requires parents and other key stakeholders, such as school personnel and community representatives,
San Diego Unified, for example, has sponsored five meetings to review its Vision 20/20 strategic plan, and is currently in the process of holding 16 smaller meetings to discuss the district’s LCAP. Lisa Berlanga, president of San Diego United Parents for Education, attended a meeting on March 20 at Patrick Henry High School – the same school where her son is enrolled. Berlanga said that
In this era of school reform, turn around, and educational change, it is easy to overlook the basics of why we educate and what we want for our children. These aren't the typical basics—reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. Rather, these are the "real basics" of learning: developing a sense of belonging, instilling a sense of purpose, and expanding each child's potential for what the future may hold.
Yesterday at This Week in Ed I wrote aboutthe American Statistical Association’s reporton value-added modeling in education:
