LCAP midyear update: district on budget track; English-learner progress down as newcomer share rises
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Summary
Banning Unified reported midyear Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) metrics and expenditures on Feb. 6. District staff said overall spending is on track while interim academic metrics show mixed results; staff attributed a drop in English-learner progress to a rise in newcomer students.
District staff presented a midyear update on the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the Budget Overview for Parents at the Feb. 6 board meeting, reporting that expenditures are on track while academic indicators showed mixed interim results.
Dr. Kazi Bush and the district's ed-services team said the district's overall local-control funding number and supplemental/concentration funding remained unchanged from the adopted budget and that about 46.2 percent of budgeted expenditures had been recorded as of Dec. 31, consistent with being five months into an 11-month spending cycle. The team reported the district's supplemental concentration budget totaled about $18.6 million and that combined LCAP-related budgeting with other funds produced a $27.2 million total for targeted activities.
On metrics, staff used interim measures such as i-Ready to report that 53.7 percent of students were at or above grade level in English-language arts and 47.2 percent in math at midyear; they cautioned that state-dashboard updates arrive annually. Dr. Merlos highlighted improvements in climate metrics: the suspension rate had declined to 3.37 percent and expulsions to 0.02 percent; chronic absenteeism had dropped to 24.5 percent from a prior baseline of 34.7 percent.
Staff and trustees also addressed a 21 percent decline in the English-learner progress indicator in the districtwide dashboard. Dr. Pimbleton said the demographic mix of English learners has shifted markedly: "Two years ago, we had only about 40% newcomers enrolling in our school district. We are up to 88% of newcomers entering our school systems," a change staff said explains much of the decline because newcomers typically score lower on initial English proficiency assessments and can take five to seven years to reach grade-level English proficiency.
Board members asked about chronic absenteeism strategies and recent changes to independent-study rules; staff described attendance-recovery programs such as Saturday Academy and clarified that recent state Ed Code adjustments affect independent-study recoverability and contract timing. Trustees did not take action on the LCAP midyear report; staff said district and site teams will continue community engagement and will bring a draft LCAP to the board later in the spring for adoption.
