San Ysidro district reports midyear LCAP gains, flags areas for further support

San Ysidro School District leaders presented a midyear Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) update to the governing board, reporting modest revenue gains and mixed academic and well-being results while asking the board to maintain funding for attendance and mental-health programs.

The presentation, led by Assistant Superintendent Manuel Locorquez and Chief Business Official Marilyn Adrianson, summarized district benchmarks, state-dashboard measures and midyear budget changes. "The LCAP is the Local Controlling Accountability Plan and it is a tool for all our local educational agencies to set a district level plan that describes the goal, the plan actions, the services, and the leverage resources to meet those goals," Locorquez said.

The district reported that general-fund projected revenue rose from $78,700,000 in the adopted budget to $82,600,000 in the first interim, a change staff attributed to LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) increases and carryover. Staff tied most budgeted spending to staffing and classroom support: they reported about $38.8 million for certificated/classified/administrator staffing, roughly $2.9 million for small-group instructional support, and about $4.5 million for dual-language programs.

Staff walked the board through academic benchmark snapshots for units 1–2, showing declines in some areas and gains in others. For early-grade literacy the district reported a year-to-year dip (all students from 52% to 47% on a benchmark metric cited), while third–eighth grade reading rose about 10 percentage points in one comparison presented. In math the district reported mixed results: some grade bands slipped while others improved.

On nonacademic indicators the district highlighted gains in attendance and declines in suspensions at many sites. Staff said the child nutrition program increased breakfast servings 129%, serving 216,000 breakfasts to date and 723,000 lunches so far this year. Universal screening for social-emotional needs showed about 73% of screened students in a low-risk tier, with about 3% in the highest-risk tier (82 students in the high-risk tier in the fall screening reported to the board).

To address chronic absenteeism and student well-being the presentation tied several actions to budget lines: a three-year attendance initiative with first-year spending of $650,000 (part of a $1.5 million three-year budget), mental-health supports budgeted at roughly $376,000, MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) at roughly $1.0 million, and a $50,000 universal-screener allocation.

Board members asked for school-level practices that produced measurable gains and for disaggregated data on students in the highest-risk screening tier (for example, how many students with IEPs were represented). Board member questions prompted staff to commit follow-up with site administrators for more detailed breakdowns and explanations of promising practices used at schools cited as improving.

The presentation materials and staff remarks referenced the California Healthy Kids Survey and state accountability dashboards as sources for trend comparisons; staff also described required midyear LCAP reporting timelines that will lead into formal hearings and final adoption in June. The district said it will continue community LCAP outreach (roadshow events, DELAC/DPAC, coffees with principals) and present the annual LCAP in a public hearing at the first regular board meeting in June, with adoption at the second June meeting.

The midyear update concluded with staff recommending continued funding for the initiatives shown and committing to provide requested disaggregated data and further school-level practices for board review.