Alisal Union presents draft Local Control and Accountability Plan; public hearing set for June 4

Alisal Union Elementary School District staff presented the district’s draft Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and said the plan will go to a public hearing on June 4 and be brought to the school board for approval on June 25.

The Assistant Superintendent, who opened the presentation, said the LCAP must address eight state priorities and described the district-level data that drives proposed actions. “The plan must be described around the eight priorities the state requires,” the Assistant Superintendent said through a Spanish-language presentation. Dr. Álvarez joined the Assistant Superintendent in explaining how the district’s dashboard results, student-group performance and funding proposals shape the draft.

Why it matters: the LCAP defines local spending priorities for state-directed funds and must demonstrate how the district will support academic standards, English learners, school climate and other state priorities. The district’s performance on the California School Dashboard and the composition of its student groups determine which actions the LCAP must include.

District staff told parents and community members that the LCAP is a three-year plan and that the district is finishing its first year of the current cycle. Staff said the second LCAP cycle begins July 1, 2025, and that the draft must go through a public comment period before the board approves a final plan to be submitted to the county office for review and budget approval.

Staff reviewed the district’s English-learner results and California Dashboard colors. They said the district’s overall English-language development indicator is in the red because fewer students made the state’s required annual progress measure compared with the prior year. The presentation included specific school-level declines: Loya (down 39.4 percentage points), Comunidad Alisal (down 29.4 points), Montaña (down 22.2 points), Creekside (down 15.6 points) and Sánchez (down 11 points). Those figures were presented by staff as the basis for targeted actions for English learners.

Staff reported an enrollment of about 7,200 students and said roughly 65% — approximately 4,500 students — are English learners; they described state rules that require a specific action in the LCAP when a site has 30 or more English learners. Staff also noted that schools with long-term English learners require tailored actions for literacy and math.

On proposed changes, staff said the draft will keep most existing goals for year two, add an independent-study credit recovery goal, and remove the virtual-academy goal because only 28 students used that program and staffing costs were disproportionate. Staff said some actions will continue unchanged for the remainder of the three-year cycle while other supports can be adjusted through local strategies without changing the LCAP’s stated goals.

Funding and budget details presented by staff show total LCAP-related dollars of $34,484,960 in the draft — an increase of $799,944 from the previous year — and staff said the majority of that funding is budgeted for personnel. They also reported $3,490,542 remaining from federal/state learning-recovery funds related to COVID-19 that the district must track and publicly report how it is spent.

Staff stressed the county office will review the board-adopted plan and the district budget; if the county office does not approve the plan, it can affect budget approval. The Assistant Superintendent described the public-comment period that will be part of the June 4 board agenda and said staff will collect suggestions and return an updated plan for the June 25 board meeting.

During the presentation staff named department leads associated with draft goals: Ms. García for well-being actions, Mr. Mancera for English-learner supports, Mr. Fausto for school-based extensions of services, and Ms. Ansel for professional learning. Staff invited attendees to review each goal and provide written questions or suggestions before and during the June 4 hearing.

No formal board action was taken at the presentation. Staff divided meeting attendees into small groups to review plan goals and collect community feedback before the public hearing.

The district’s next steps, as presented, are a public hearing on June 4, incorporation of community feedback, and board consideration of the final LCAP at the June 25 meeting before submission to the Monterey County Office of Education for review.