District presents midyear LCAP update: iReady growth, attendance gains and budget snapshots

The Lawndale Elementary School District presented a midyear update of its Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), reporting preliminary student-growth data, attendance improvements and a budget snapshot for four LCAP goals.

President Coronado introduced the report and said the presentation would cover actions, outcomes and some expenditure data. Lehi Varela, director of teaching and learning, and Anne Marie Mohit, 21st Century Learning coordinator, joined Dr. Ho for data and budget details.

Varela described iReady diagnostic comparisons between fall and winter, saying the district sees overall growth across language-arts and mathematics domains. "Green is increasing. Red is decreasing," Varela said while reviewing slides that compared the two diagnostics. She credited stronger tier 1 instruction, professional development, and grade-level teams focused on essential standards and common formative assessments.

Dr. Ho presented budget figures tied to each of the LCAP goals and an interim budget comparison. For LCAP Goal 1 (increasing academic achievement) the budget was listed as $7,600,000, with roughly $3.7 million expended as of January 2025 and about $3.8 million remaining to be committed by the end of the year. For Goal 2 (access and equity) the budget was $3,400,000 with $1.5 million spent to date. Goal 3 (parent and student engagement) had a $2,500,000 budget with $1.2 million spent; Goal 4 (21st-century learning) had a $2,300,000 budget with $1.2 million spent so far.

Dr. Ho said the district's adopted budget at first interim showed increases in several revenue lines: state funding rose by about $700,000 (largely for home-to-school transportation and grants), federal funds rose by approximately $2.4 million (carryover and Title program increases), and local funds were up a little more than $2 million (interest revenue, Medi-Cal LEA funding and other grants such as CalSHAPE).

On attendance, the district reported an average daily attendance rate of nearly 97 percent and said students at risk of chronic absenteeism were about 16 percent this year, down from 20 percent the prior year. Varela and Mohit tied attendance improvements to school incentives and targeted outreach including home phone calls, home visits and attendance team meetings. The district plans to continue an attendance recovery program beginning in March.

Staff also described the TREK program — technology, robotics, engineering and coding — which the district runs K–8 through makerspace labs at elementary schools and more structured coursework at middle schools. The program includes first Lego League participation and an integration of computer science and engineering standards in spiraled curriculum maps, district staff said. Varela described a recent addition of integrated ELD (English Language Development) lessons tied to TREK for middle-school ELD classes.

Board members expressed support for expanded technology instruction and the ELD-TREK integration. Trustee Phillips noted that starting technology and coding in elementary school gives students pathways into high-school programs such as esports and hands-on engineering. Trustee Morales and others emphasized the importance of attendance and inclusive supports for English learners.

Trustees asked about federal funding risks; Dr. Ho said the district was monitoring federal policy and judicial developments and had contingency planning in place.

The board thanked staff for the report and asked for the presentation materials to be shared with trustees after the meeting.