East Side union high associate superintendent previews 2026–27 LCAP, flags budget shifts and equity multiplier changes

Associate Superintendent Teresa Marquez told the East Side Union High School District Board of Trustees on May 21 that the district’s preliminary Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for 2026–27 will be a maintenance‑of‑services document shaped by prior staffing reductions and constrained budgets.

“The LCAP is a three‑year plan,” Marquez said, “and for the 2026–27 cycle you will see the goals, the actions, the expenditure that will be proposed as part of the update.” She gave a detailed overview of state LCAP requirements, the eight state priorities and the district’s process for aligning goals, metrics and expenditures to those priorities.

The presentation identified the district’s equity‑multiplier schools for 2026–27 as Calero, Foothill, Pegasus and Phoenix; Marquez said Apollo no longer qualifies for that funding. She translated the projected funding into working figures: a supplemental funding estimate of about $32,900,000 (based on an unduplicated count near 70%), a concentration grant projection of about $18,600,000 (including a roughly 15% add‑on) and roughly $2,100,000 in unspent learning‑recovery emergency block grant funds that must be accounted for in the plan.

Marquez stressed the funding is largely a reallocation rather than new money. “This isn’t new money per se,” she said, noting the district must account for those amounts within the LCAP’s budget overview for parents and in the action‑level budget tables. She said carryover from last year is approximately $3,000,000 and that the LCAP will show detailed proposed expenditures and the budget overview when posted ahead of the June 1 public hearing.

Trustees pressed on language and optics about “new money.” Vice President Lorena Chavez and others asked the administration to keep messaging clear so the public does not assume additional revenue beyond what has already been included in prior budget reports. Marquez and the superintendent’s office reiterated that the district is working to prioritize and maintain services after approximately $16,000,000 in earlier staffing and operational reductions.

On staffing and actions, Marquez said most positions described in the LCAP are existing roles whose funding sources will be shifted into the LCAP; the only new hires she listed were four community resource technicians. She also listed continued and LCAP‑funded roles such as school counselors, social workers, bilingual paraeducators, nurses, and a data‑and‑reporting 0.5 FTE for CALPADS and reporting needs. The district estimates roughly $7,700,000 of existing costs will be placed into the LCAP to preserve services rather than to expand staffing.

Marquez described adjustments to community engagement for 2026–27: the district relied more heavily on a standing LCAP advisory committee that met monthly rather than holding the 30–50 community sessions typical in past cycles. She said the committee’s input, site forums and a handful of virtual sessions informed priorities and the menu of actions presented to families.

What happens next: Marquez said the proposed LCAP will be posted before the June 1 public hearing; the board will hold the required public hearing on June 1 and is scheduled to take action on the plan on June 18. “I wanted to take this opportunity in May prior to June 1 so that you had an idea as to what some of those major changes are going to be,” she said.

The board’s discussion noted multiple tradeoffs: trustees and administration emphasized the LCAP’s role in preserving key supports for foster youth, English learners and socioeconomically disadvantaged students while acknowledging constrained fiscal realities. The board will receive the posted plan and the required budget overview for parents ahead of the June 1 hearing.