The Long Beach Unified School District released a draft of its 2023-24 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and is seeking feedback from the community on priority areas.
The LCAP is a three-year plan that describes the district’s goals, plans and actions to support and address local and state priorities. The plan also outlines how to spend the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funds, which is the state funding of K-12 education.
The draft, presented at the May 3 board meeting, states goal measures and actions as well as reflections on successes and needs.
Based on past community engagement and feedback, the LCAP recognizes three priority areas: social-emotional well-being, enrichment and tutoring. The district is asking for specific feedback on what they can do to create a better experience for students in these areas.
As per the draft, the plan has five goals:
- Provide basic services
- Create supportive places
- Foster academic progress
- Foster college and career-readiness
- Actively engage students in their learning
Each goal has different measures for success and actions to meet these goals. Some actions include using platforms for monitoring academic progress like ELLevation, iReady and PULSE surveys. The draft also mentions including more academic support personnel like recreation aides, counselors and curriculum coaches.
“The actions within each goal are the programs and services designed to support district work and student achievement,” Assistant Director of Equity James Suarez said, adding that each measure includes a baseline data point, two years’ worth of data and a desired outcome for the 2023-24 school year.
All actions will have budgeted sums but will not be included in the current draft until Governor Gavin Newsom presents the revised state budget in May. There will be a second draft presented to the board and community in mid-May with these revisions.
LBUSD parent Lilia Ocampo said during public comment that the district needs to provide better quality tutoring opportunities for students.
“Most of the time they have tutoring, but it’s general tutoring,” Ocampo said. “It’s imperative to help our students to get to where they’re supposed to be and that the tutoring that is offered to them is according to their needs.”
“Although LBUSD has invested millions of dollars into tutoring to support us, these investments are not effective because the time and place of tutoring are not convenient neither for us as students nor poor families,” said Angel Steven Garcia, a Poly High School student and leader with Latinos in Action California.
Garcia shared a recommendation for the LCAP to provide vouchers for parents to seek tutoring at a time and location that works better for their schedule.
Parents and community members can read the full draft on the district’s website and provide feedback online. There will also be opportunities for in-person feedback.
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