July 12, 2024—Richmondside reporter spoke with Law Fellow Karissa Provenza and community partners about West Contra Costa Unified School District’s (WCCUSD) most recent extension to pass the legally required Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), a parent-led plan that sets the course for about $64.8 million in district spending, particularly for the district’s most vulnerable students. The community is advocating for a longer lead time to collect community engagement for the LCAP and more transparency into specific budget numbers which were excluded from the current LCAP, amongst other specific requests. The school board cannot pass their proposed $509 million operating budget, without a legal LCAP and now have until early August.
“Some board members and parents, including Menanix, criticized how the plan was drafted and shared and questioned its rigor and readability.
‘They didn’t present an LCAP to either of those committees for feedback,’ Provenza said, referring to the multilingual group and the parent committee. ‘Normally, they get feedback and recommendations from the committees, and then they’re legally required to provide a written response to the parent advisory committees.’
The parent committee in its letter told the district they are ‘ready to work together to get a corrected LCAP and budget passed this month, with full community and parent advisory committee engagement requirements met.'”
