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District reports midyear LCAP progress, highlights major literacy gains and funding priorities
Summary
Superintendent presenters reviewed the Local Control and Accountability Plan midyear update, noting large phonics and phonemic-awareness gains across K–2 cohorts, $1.6M allocated for professional development and $2M for reading intervention teachers; the district reaffirmed a goal to reach 95% third-grade readers.
Dr. David Moore and Tim Smith presented the Santa Paula Unified School District's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) midyear review, explaining that the LCAP guides spending and actions targeted to English learners, foster youth and homeless students and that the district is monitoring both metrics and expenditures through a three-year LCAP cycle.
The presentation called out $1.6 million allocated to professional development (about half expended so far) and roughly $2 million used for reading-intervention teacher salaries. The presenters said some programs originally listed for LCAP funding (for example, a footstep-style early literacy program) remain delayed or are being shifted to other funding sources for this year.
Tim Smith reviewed K–2 literacy measures, contrasting CORE phonics assessments and Heggerty phonemic-awareness measures. He said the district is seeing midyear gains across cohorts: for example, midsemester results showed markedly higher shares of students at grade level than the prior year, and the presenters cited that 83.8% of second graders were at grade level on a phonics-related measure at midsemester. Tim and Dr. Moore stressed that isolated-skill measures (phonics or phonemic awareness) are a leading indicator of reading development but must be tied to fluency and comprehension measures before conclusions about overall reading proficiency or EL reclassification can be made.
The presentation reiterated an aspirational district goal to have 95% of students reading at grade level by third grade and described next steps: the K–2 literacy task force will continue work on fluency and comprehension metrics, the district will pilot or evaluate assessment tools (including an Amplify assessment pilot and possible benchmark assessments), and the EL task force will meet to coordinate designated and integrated ELD instruction and reclassification criteria.
Board discussion focused on how phonics/phonemic gains translate into EL reclassification and whether current measures capture comprehension and writing. Trustees requested further linkage between the literacy measures and ELPAC/reclassification outcomes so the board can track progress toward both instructional gains and bilingual/EL status changes.
Presenters also provided updates on non-academic goals in the LCAP, including restorative justice circles (over 100 students served directly, >530 community-circle participants) and technology infrastructure allocations (roughly $800,000 allocated for equipment and $300,000 for infrastructure, both about half expended).
