The Local Control and Accountability Plan or LCAP is a critical part of California’s new school funding system called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCAP plan is required by each school district and county office of education. It is a three-year, district-level plan that outlines the actions and expenditures associated with the base funds and supplemental and concentration funds received as part of LCFF. The plan outlines a district's goals for students and details the actions that will occur during the following three years to meet those goals. It also details the specific metrics that will be used to evaluate progress towards meeting those goals and the effectiveness of the actions associated with those goals.
Included with each annual revision and refinement of a three year plan, is an update section. The update section describes the progress associated with action during the year, shows the actual expenditures made toward each action during the year, and shows the progress made related to each metric during the year. Because situations occur during a school year that may require alterations in the initial plan, the update section allows the community to see the progress made on each year’s LCAP and to see the refinements that will be made in the coming year.
The LCAP addresses the needs of all students within the district and details the actions associated with meeting the specific needs of English learners, foster youth, and low-income students. Within the LCAP each district must address the state of California's eight priorities in the areas of Pupil Outcomes, Engagement, and Conditions for Learning. School districts may also include their own local priorities in designing this plan.
Stakeholder engagement is a major condition of constructing a district LCAP. A district level parent advisory committee and an English learner parent advisory committee must be formed to provide input on the development of the LCAP. Comments from these groups must be addressed, in writing, by the Superintendent. Other stakeholder groups (teachers, administrators, other staff, association members, parents, and students) must be consulted with during the process. This consultation can be done using meetings, surveys, evaluations, etc., but written responses to these groups are not required in the legislation.
The approval process for the LCAP involves a public hearing and a separate approval by the local Board of Education prior to submission to the County Office of Education for review and approval. The public hearing for the LCAP is held on the same night as the public hearing for the District budget. The adoption of the LCAP is done on the same night, prior to, the adoption of the District budget. The Local Control and Accountability Plan or LCAP is a critical part of California’s new school funding system called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCAP plan is required by each school district and county office of education. It is a three-year, district-level plan that outlines the actions and expenditures associated with the base funds and supplemental and concentration funds received as part of LCFF. The plan outlines a districts goals for students and details the actions that will occur during the following three years to meet those goals. It also details the specific metrics that will be used to evaluate progress towards meeting those goals and the effectiveness of the actions associated with those goals.
