By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Assistant Superintendent Marie Morgan will ask Benicia trustees to approve a plan Thursday to implement Common Core Standards in Benicia’s schools.

The Common Core State Standards Implementation Fund Expenditure plan will have a public hearing during the regular Benicia Unified School District board meeting.

Assembly Bill 86 appropriated $1.25 billion statewide, or about $200 per student based on last year’s enrollment, to support the implementation of Common Core this school year, Morgan wrote in a report to the board. In Benicia, based on the 2012-13 enrollment of 4,890 students, that amounts to approximately $978,800.

Morgan wrote that the funds may be used for the purposes of:

• Training in the standards for teachers, administrators, paraprofessional educators or other classified employees involved in the instruction of students.

• Instructional materials aligned to the standards.

• Integration of the standards through technology-based instruction for the purpose of improving academic performance — including providing high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet connectivity for the purpose of computer-based student assessments.

To receive the funds, the district must develop and adopt a plan showing how the funds will be spent. The plan must be both explained and adopted in a public meeting, and the district must report detailed expenditure information to the California Department of Education by July 1, 2015.

That report must include specific purchases made and the number of teachers, administrators or others who received training.

Morgan enumerated estimates for proposed expenditures:

• $76,000 for the development of Common Core units in “Mathematics and English Language Arts, Literacy in History, Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects”;

• $104,000 for staff training, including instructional strategies aligned to the CCSS and coaching support;

• $318,000 for the purchase of Common Core-aligned instructional materials and resources for K-12;

• $435,000 for student devices — for example, desktop computers for certain high school labs;

• $45,000 for technology to support staff efforts to implement projects and support technical needs.

In other business, Superintendent Janice Adams will review a recent safety audit as it pertains to the facilities needs assessment, which was reviewed by the board Nov. 7.

If You Go
The BUSD Board of Trustees will meet at 6:30 p.m. in closed session, and at 7 p.m. in open session at the District Board Room, 350 East K St.