Governance corner
Practical tips from our MIG faculty
The importance of involving all educational partners in support of LCAP updates

Perhaps board members can remember those immortal lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, about the best of times and the worst of times. One might ponder on whether Dickens could have ever imagined the “times” that school districts and county offices of education are experiencing in the 2020s. COVID, teacher shortages, budget crises and more are front-and-center issues in trustees’ minds these days.

In these difficult times, meaningful engagement with all educational partners becomes critically important, particularly in preparation for the local educational agency’s Local Control and Accountability Plan and its updates. At its November 2021 meeting, the State Board of Education adopted the use of the term “educational partners” as a replacement for the term “stakeholder.”

Educational partners is used to refer to groups that LEAs are required to engage with in developing the LCAP. The LCAP template has been updated as well to include a section titled, “Budget Overview for Parents,” with the expectation that the section is written in a way that it is understandable and accessible to parents. Trustees have the obligation to support LEA staff involved in LCAP outreach, and boards should reflect on ways they can provide that support to administrators tasked specifically with drafting the document itself.

One veteran administrator pointed to the sincerity of the outreach effort in getting true feedback. “[Educational partner] engagement needs to be sincere, not just checking a box, not just going through the motions,” they said.

The following are some questions boards can address as they strive for meaningful outreach.

  • In what ways can our LEA refresh its practices of identifying key educational partner groups beyond the usual parents, students, teachers and other staff?
  • How is outreach to local businesses and organizations, government officials and others with a stake in schools in the community being practiced on an ongoing basis, so buy-in from these key groups is solidly in place?
  • How is messaging personalized to ensure the target audience feels the request for their engagement is not one size fits all?
  • Is outreach ongoing to remind educational partners of the tangible positive effects of a strong local school system? An example is communicating how good schools can produce good citizens, foster community goodwill, and even boost creativity and improve the state of social and emotional well-being.

Utilizing resources and expressing the board’s commitment to a robust effort to solicit involvement and input from educational partners in LCAP development ensures that additional and relevant voices are included, and that cooperation and input can propel districts and COEs toward the much hoped for “best of times.”

More information can be found on the California Department of Education’s website: www.cde.ca.gov/re/lc/ and on the CSBA blog at blog.csba.org/sbe-report-nov-2021/.