Local Control Accountability Plan

In June, the Fullerton elementary and high school districts each approve an annual Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). Over ten years ago, a per-student-based education funding program called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) replaced the convoluted categorical education funding process, allowing school districts to spend funds to serve their students best. The state allocated additional funds to enhance services for children experiencing low income, learning English, or in the foster youth system.

The California Department of Education created the LCAP to provide stakeholders (school staff, parents, and community members) with a transparent, data-driven guide recording how these state funds were allocated to district services and actions and student outcomes toward achieving California’s main education goals. The LCAP ensures that good decisions are respected and creates institutional knowledge over time, independent of when administrators, staff, and parents leave the district.
Today, few community stakeholders read the cumbersome document because continuous state changes made LCAPs over 80 pages long, use confusing acronyms and education language, and they look completely different each year, making them difficult to understand.

Though the document never lived up to the original promise to be concise and easy for all stakeholders to read, the LCAP is vitally important because a student’s education is never well served utilizing only the educator’s point of view. Parent and student perspectives are needed to create an inclusive educational atmosphere that support students so that they feel secure and safe enough to focus on learning.

Changes at both FSD and FJUHSD over the past decade reflect parent and student input, showing the LCAP process is worth the struggle to make it user-friendly to all stakeholders.

In 2014, FJUHSD spent an average of $10,114 per student. FJUHSD’s goals centered on considering purchasing Chromebooks, trying to align textbook curriculum districtwide, and working to increase students’ college-ready status (using an “a-g requirement” metric). LCAP parental and student input called for school document translations into home languages, adding family liaisons, school site nurses, and mental health care. The district needed parent and student input to highlight student challenges to provide a more supportive educational environment for students.

The current LCAP shows the district spends $17,800 on average per student, and every student’s daily learning environment includes Chromebooks, e-books, and technology. Student support services range from academic tutoring 24 hours a day to mental health wellness centers, family liaisons, and nurses at every school site.

School information is translated into Spanish and Korean, there is districtwide core subject textbook uniformity, and the students’ broad range of classes raised the a-g completion rate from 48% to 58%. With stakeholder input, student mental health, family liaison outreach, and communication needs were acknowledged and addressed.

Ten years ago, the elementary district focused on enhancing technology, introducing a dual language program, and reviewing art and specialized educational programs. A decade later, FSD’s dual language program includes both Spanish and Korean cohorts. The district embraces numerous educational environments, from the historic GATE and multiage programs to hybrid and online options, and works to integrate art into core subject areas.

Parent LCAP input supported families having additional school choices, creative nutrition, community school resources, mental and physical health supports, and enhanced safety for a more secure educational environment. Currently, low parent survey and advisory committee participation challenges FSD to meet families where they feel comfortable involving themselves in the stakeholder process.

Participating LCAP parents offer the essential knowledge when identifying successful support services to keep school facilities safe, welcome family participation, and provide effective support, allowing students to gain skills and knowledge to transfer to higher-level learning. Families with English learners and students with disabilities need to share which programs and services function to best serve their children.

Parents often have a greater understanding of their child’s stress levels and how engaged they are in school which helps chronic absenteeism discussions, leading to effective solutions bringing students back into the classroom faster.

Post-pandemic, school districts understand that schools are hubs that provide students with services and resources for academic achievement, mental and physical health support, student nutrition, and safe environments daily. The more parents and guardians involve themselves in the LCAP process, the better the education environment works for students. The LCAP may need perfecting, but it still provides a record of district challenges, applied solutions, and student outcomes so that new stakeholders can share their perspectives to find new solutions and not repeat old mistakes.