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LCFF Year Three: Paving the Way to Equity
California’s school funding law, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), has strong support and is helping some school districts’ spending become more strategic and targeted, but law is still “a work in progress,” researchers say.
This report seeks to help policymakers and others better understand ways in which LCFF implementation is changing fundamental aspects of resource allocation and governance in California’s K-12 education system. The LCFF provides all districts with base funding plus supplemental and concentration grants for low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. The law eliminated most categorical programs, giving local school systems resource allocation authority and requiring Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) developed with input from parents, community members, students, and educators. The goal is more equitable and coherent resource allocation decisions and improved and more equitable student outcomes.
Equity in Arts Education
California State PTA adopted the Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning to reaffirm its commitment to a full curriculum that includes the arts. California State PTA connects families, schools and communities and is the nation’s largest volunteer child-advocacy association working to improve the education, health and welfare of all children with the motto “every child, one voice.”
“Parents know, the arts matter. Arts learning is an essential part of a comprehensive education for all students,” said 2015-2017 California State PTA President Justine Fischer. “And California State PTA will continue our work to make sure the vital voice of parents is heard — loud and clear — in support of the arts.”
Convention Group Photo
Title 1 and The Arts
ESSA Stakeholder Toolkit
National PTA has a new toolkit to assist state, local PTAs and their PTA members to ensure state leaders include how they have engaged and meaningfully consulted different stakeholders in the implementation of the new state education plans. The toolkit includes:
- Sample social media messages
- Graphics
- Letters
School Smarts: ‘Everyone Belongs’ in Alameda USD
“I learned so much from the School Smarts program: I learned how the Alameda Unified School District school system works, how to get information when needed, how to invest in my child and school and how to prepare my child for college — I have all the answers I needed to know.”
Thang Do’s wonderful words are wonderfully typical of the family-engagement efforts in Alameda USD. As a recent graduate of an all-Vietnamese School Smarts Family Engagement Program, Do and other participants represent the diverse face of family engagement in the school district, and the entire state: While all may have different backgrounds, cultures and languages, all share the same passionate commitment to the success of their child, school and community.
That passion is shared by Alameda USD itself. Instead of a one-and-done, check-off-the-box effort at engaging diverse family members, the district has made diversity and inclusion hallmarks of its overall mission. The district was one of the very first to participate in – and understand the value of — the School Smarts Parent Engagement Program, and now the program, like the district’s commitment to diversity, is woven into the educational community’s overall culture of “Everyone Belongs Here.”
Alameda County has long been a diverse region, and today is no different: 44 percent of resident speak a language other than English at home, and 34 percent of residents are foreign-born. Instead of viewing such demographics as challenges, Alameda USD works to build bridges for all families to become involved in their children’s success.
“Our work is purposely built around stages of immigrant involvement,” said Claudia Medina, Alameda USD School Smarts coordinator. “We have made an intentional effort to reach out and include our immigrant and English-learner communities in ways that can empower their educational journey.”
Medina and Superintendent Sean McPhetridge helped spearhead School Smarts’ establishment in the district five years ago.
“I said, ‘I won’t be happy until I see School Smarts in all our elementary schools!’” said McPhetridge, who first saw the program when he was Alameda USD assistant superintendent. He noted that, five years in and now in 10 elementary schools, School Smarts has developed a new generation of diverse parents who, among other accomplishments, have helped the district realize its goal of greater parent input in Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) committees.
“School Smarts and other efforts have all helped support our work to protect and uplift all the students and families we serve in a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environments that are committed to the Alameda belief that ‘Everyone Belongs Here,’” he said.
“Our work has helped families to feel safe and included in our schools; knowledgeable and confident to show up in school; strong and informed to join leadership committees; and now, more recently, School Smarts graduates have joined our newly formed ALCANCE Latino Achievement Roundtable to improve the academic outcomes of our Latino students,” added Medina. “We are positioning ourselves to not only enrich, but also to impact the academic and social/emotional outcomes of our community.”
Noor Hezam is one of the Alameda USD School Smarts facilitators who helps make all parents and families feel welcome, not just in the School Smarts classes, but in the larger community. As a longtime educator originally from Yemen as well as a Ruby Bridges Elementary School English Language Development instructor and a community/faith volunteer, she helps Arabic-speaking families engage fully in their new country. From making School Smarts classes available in easy-to-access community centers for parents who can’t drive to creating a chatting app to connect her School Smarts parent-graduates, Hezam reflects the district’s above-and-beyond commitment to inclusion.
“Most of my School Smarts parents from two to three years ago were from Yemen, but now they are from Egypt, Tunisia and more!” she said. “Our parents thank me for telling them about our school system, especially about how we should already start preparing children for college. Our classes are joyful and exciting and we all cheer at the graduations. We are seeing more parents coming into the school and getting engaged – they now feel comfortable getting involved in field trips, greeting others on campus and more.
“All our work is about building relationships!” she summed up.
Another recent graduate – this time, of an all-Chinese class — summed up Alameda USD’s School Smarts inclusion efforts.
“Most of us are newcomers and non-English speakers,” said a participant named Wentao. “We understand that education is very important for every family and how it will help our dreams come true. As newcomers we need help to understand the educational plan from kindergarten to college in the United States. We have a duty to support our school and our communities to become better, safer and healthier. School Smarts gave us confidence in joining the residents of Alameda.”
Indeed, everyone belongs in Alameda USD – and School Smarts!
Santiago Hills PTA is building awareness and excitement for membership
Membership is growing for Santiago Hills PTA in Irvine (Fourth District PTA) thanks to strengthened visibility.
Membership Chair Karen Chao emphasized that communication is critical when increasing membership. The PTA started using social media this year, creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and also learned to be visible and have a physical presence on campus.
Chao shared that they tried several new visibility and engagement strategies this year as they asked people to “be a piece of the PTA puzzle.”
One strategy that they introduced was “Popcorn Friday,” where any child whose parent had either joined the PTA or donated to the pledge drive received free popcorn at lunch. Santiago Hills started a campaign at a couple of back-to-school night events in the days before school started and immediately got the info out to everyone once school began. They also created packages that combined
membership, pledge drive donations and yearbook purchases.
Chao noted that having a stronger PTA through increased visibility allowed them to introduce new programs and bring back ones they had not been able to have for some time, including a primary-art program, a writing program and after-school enrichment classes.
“With a strong PTA, we also helped make some major facilities improvements on campus in the last few years,” she said. “If the PTA had not worked so hard at publicizing these bigger needs, we would not be able to help the school improve or build membership.”
More about this PTA
- K-6 School
- 619 Students
- 10% Free and reduced school lunch
- 18% English Language Learners
- +100 PTA members over same time last year*
- After Class Enrichment, Meet the Masters AA Program,
- Around the World Cultural Fair, Book Fair, Tiger Trotters Running Club, Reflections Parent Speaker Series
*as of October 2016 reporting.
Creating Community at Annie Pennycook Elementary
PTA membership at Vallejo’s Annie Pennycook Elementary (Eighteenth District PTA) is not just about the school, but the whole community.
President Amid Brock said the PTA saw a community in need, and is trying to fulfill it.
“We want to bring our community together,” he said. “We strive for community service and the PTA is there to support every child.”
Social media plays a huge part in their community engagement and increased membership. The PTA’s Facebook page and website are frequently updated with the many great new things that they have come up with, getting more families and volunteers active. These activities include family game nights and a recent community-service night, which included free immunizations, haircuts and resources for children and families.
In addition, the PTA donated laptops and tablets as giveaways to increase membership and also help the kids’ educations and parent communication. These engaging events and activities not only help bring in more members, but also build the entire community.
Seeing engagement and progress makes people want to join, said Brock: “Families want to see their name on the bulletin board, and we have succeeded in getting most of the teachers signed
up with our PTA.”
More about this PTA
- K-5 School
- 576 Students
- 67% Free and reduced school lunch
- 17% English Language Learners
- 38% Increase in PTA membership
- Dr. Seuss Night, Red Ribbon Week, Book Fair, Field Day
PTA Success Story Submission Form
We want to know about all the great things taking place in your PTA – share your success stories with us! Please complete the form below and we’ll do our best to share it back out with the entire state.
Please provide a completed California State PTA photo release form for all persons shown in images. The form can be found here: http://downloads.capta.org/toolkit/forms/PhotographyRelease.pdf