November 4, 2013 (Sacramento): This fall, the state is gearing up to change the way public schools are funded and how K-12 districts are held accountable for using resources.

In anticipation of these changes, the Sacramento City Unified School District on Wednesday is sponsoring a public discussion of local educational priorities aligned to resources. Input from Wednesday’s meeting will aide in the creation of a spending accountability plan as required by the state.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday (November 6) at the Serna Center, 5735 47th Ave.
When Governor Brown signed the historic Local Control Funding Formula at California Middle School on July 1, wheels were set in motion for changes to the way the state funds schools and for the creation of new accountability rules for districts.

Currently, CDE, the Governor’s Office and the State Board of Education is working to create templates and regulations for districts to follow. The state Board of Education begins this work at its meeting on Thursday, November 7, and has until March to complete it.

Once those regulations, rules and templates are in place, a district will then create a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to show how spending is related to the state’s eight educational priorities (Source: California Department of Education):
• Basic Services
• Implementation of Common Core State Standards
• Course Access
• Parental Involvement
• School Climate
• Student Achievement
• Student Engagement
• Other Student Outcomes

While the regulations regarding the LCAP have not yet been released by the state, SCUSD is beginning a proactive discussion with a broad and diverse group of stakeholders that will lay the groundwork for the development of the plan. This group, which will include students, parents, community members and partners, will work and learn together about the eight priority areas that must be addressed through the LCAP. This group will also discuss how to build on good work already being done in these areas, such as the district’s Common Core State Standards implementation, SCUSD Linked Learning Career Pathways and innovative parent engagement programs such as the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project and Academic Parent Teacher Team pilot programs.