District Accountability Committee outlines spring priorities, flags SAC survey limits

The District Accountability Committee (DAC) presented its spring work plan to the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education on Jan. 28, highlighting updates to school accountability committee (SAC) guidance, engagement on the Be Well survey analysis, continued policy review and refinements to its SAC spending-priority survey.

Why it matters: DAC serves as a conduit between SACs and the board. Its priorities influence how parents and volunteers engage with school leadership and how the board understands school-level needs during a period of fiscal constraint.

DAC Chair Chris Haines said the committee will update the SAC manual (last dated 2019) and produce case-study examples and materials that SACs and principals can use to onboard new members and run effective meetings. Haines said DAC would explore adding a short message of appreciation from the board or district leadership to the revised materials to validate SAC work.

On mental health and wellness, DAC members noted they expect the district—s Renee Crown Wellness Institute analysis of last fall—s Be Well survey sometime this spring and requested time to review the report with the board and district staff. "We would engage the board first, with those results," said Chris Haines.

Policy subcommittee leads said they will continue to track policies the board reviewed in the fall—notably personal technology device rules, searches and interrogations, and the recently adopted neurodiversity policy—and to offer community input where implementation intersects with SAC experiences. Felicia Gorman, speaking for the policy group, emphasized interest in Title IX, equity issues and PTO funding formulas as possible future focus areas.

The data and Unified Improvement Plan (UIP) subcommittee praised district staff for new data dashboards and said it will work with SACs to improve how school-level UIPs are used at the SAC level. Haines told the board DAC intends to help SACs interpret UIP artifacts beyond a sole equity lens, but said he would follow up with specifics on the subcommittee—s communication strategy with principals.

Budget and finance: The DAC budget subcommittee reported a revised SAC spending-priority survey format, with simplified questions asking SACs to identify areas for increased funding and areas where funding could be reduced. Ricky Romachka, budget subcommittee chair, said mental-health staffing and counselors remained the top priorities for increased funding districtwide; elementary schools emphasized general-education teachers, paraeducators and interventions; high schools prioritized electives and experiential learning. The survey—s new "where could you reduce funding" questions produced inconsistent responses because many SACs selected items they currently do not have, complicating cross-school comparisons.

Romachka said DAC will continue refining the survey and invited the board to clarify what information would be most useful to them: priorities, trade-offs or themes emerging in SAC discussions.

Family engagement: DAC said the family engagement subcommittee will begin a needs-assessment and information-gathering phase to identify opportunities for district support, acknowledging that any substantial deliverables will likely extend into the next school year.

Board reaction and next steps: Board members praised the DAC—s work and urged DAC to focus on a few high-impact deliverables this term, notably an updated SAC manual, calendar policy engagement, SAC-support materials for budgeting and the Be Well report review. Board members also recommended DAC consider reframing the SAC spending survey to surface community questions and themes rather than item-level budget minutiae.

DAC will return with revisions to the SAC survey, an updated SAC manual draft and proposals for how it will engage around Be Well results and UIP dashboard rollouts.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A at the Jan. 28, 2025 Boulder Valley School District Board meeting; DAC presentation by Chris Haines, Felicia Gorman and Ricky Romachka.

Ending note: DAC identified several near-term deliverables for this semester but signaled that some work (notably family engagement initiatives) will continue into the next academic year.