District Advisory Council (DAC) Semi Annual Report to the Board of Education Tuesday, June 9, 2015

DAC Updates The DAC executive team and Monitoring and Accountability Reporting are developing a SSC training video. The purpose of this video is to give SSC members an opportunity to receive training via a video posted on the SANDI.NET website at their convenience. The district reports presented at the DAC meetings have been meaningful. We especially appreciated the presentations concerning the district’s plan for English Learners, the a-g report for the Class of 2016 and beyond, and the LCAP presentation and accompanying, user-friendly document. We are making adjustments so hours long board presentations are done in 10-20 minutes at DAC meetings.

DAC Updates The DAC has embarked on a districtwide journey to discover the needs of parents to be sure we are truly serving them as best as we can with the few dollars we have. Most advisory groups and clusters have been engaged in this dialogue via myself, a DAC rep, or a cluster leader. District staff did solicit input from the San Diego Council of PTAs and Project Ujima. Based on the results from the dialog, a team which includes staff from the Communications and Research and Development Departments will design a survey to be given to parents. The results from this survey will be used to reshape the Parent Involvement Policy that will hopefully be before you in December.

DAC Perfect Attendance Awardees Perfect Attendance between October 2014 and April 2015 Emerson/Bandini ES Marshall MS Hamilton ES Ocean Beach ES Horton ES Roosevelt MS Jefferson ES Sandburg ES Kearny EID HS Twain HS Language Academy K-8 Wangenheim MS Lee ES

DAC Concerns Lack of transparency of site funding. The DAC is concerned by the lack of transparency around the timely release of the formula used to determine site allocations and the failure to provide financial information about school site allocations from the 2014-15 school year and the 2015-16 school year to the DAC. No LCFF funding details given to DAC after release of Governor's January budget proposal. The DAC should be advised as to the amount of money the district is receiving in the base grant, the supplemental grant, and the concentration grant. This information is vital so DAC and others can make recommendations that are meaningful. Timing of the release of the LCAP. A document of this importance should be out in the public 30 days in advance of the first read. This gives all advisory groups and the public a just amount of time to make suggestions on such an important document. Adjustments can be made if needed post release of the May revise. The user-friendly document was an awesome tool for our discussions, but the actual LCAP document is the contract between the state and the district and is the document your constituents use to hold you accountable. Do not let state budget revises, contract negotiations, etc., delay the release of this important document. This document and budget information belongs to all stakeholders.

DAC Concerns Cuts to site funding. High schools each lost between $75,000- $100,000+. All other schools saw cuts as well. Schools were forced to make cuts that hurt students such as the loss of push in/pullout support and after school tutoring for youth at risk of failing classes. Limited support to some low poverty schools (Schools with less than 90 percent poverty, but still qualifying for Title I.) These schools with a significant number of children in poverty are receiving no or little more assistance than district’s wealthier schools. These schools saw cuts to their site funds and they do not have the support of a foundation. Open opportunities to all Title I schools. DAC would like to see programs like the Chollas/Mead Summer Program and the arts program be expanded to all Title I schools. Improvements needed in SSC engagement during the budget process. The district needs to develop a protocol for sites concerning true site engagement in the budget process. More time with budget books is needed. Ideally, sites should have enough time to meet twice on this issue.

Coming from the DAC Special Meeting Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Title I Central Office Budget Memo: More support for Translation Support to Private Schools to legal minimum Recommendations for savings found as a result of the DAC requested audit of funds. LCFF/LCAP Memo: The DAC executive team will review the draft LCAP now that it is available and make recommendations to the board. The recommendations will include input given by the general DAC membership at the May 20, 2015 meeting. The general DAC input was given based on the user-friendly LCAP document.