Two public hearings will take place Thursday at the penultimate 2014-15 meeting of Benicia Unified School District trustees: one on the Local Control Accountability Plan, and one on next year’s school budget.
The open hearings will be a last opportunity to comment on both the LCAP, required by all public schools in California to receive funding provided through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCCF), and the budget before the board votes on them at its final meeting of the school year June 18.
Curriculum Director Marie Morgan will present the LCAP, which includes three sections: student outcomes, student and parent engagement, and conditions of learning.
“BUSD staff has consulted with teachers, principals, school personnel, students, parents and local bargaining units to gather input regarding the update of the Local Control Accountability Plan,” Morgan wrote in a report to the board.
Chief Business Official Tim Rahill will present the draft budget for the 2015-16 school year, which uses the information from Gov. Jerry Brown’s May Revise Budget, as well as several budget assumptions.
Some of the assumptions include that in 2015-16, the district will operate at break-even, and provide for the state’s mandatory 3-percent reserve for economic uncertainties as well as the local board policy reserve, which amounts to an additional 4-percent reserve.
BUSD continues to receive the majority of its funds from the state, which is based on the state’s new school funding formula, the LCCF. The LCCF provides about $7,660 per student, based on attendance and not just enrollment.
Also on the agenda in the consent calendar, which is a list of items that can be approved without debate in a single vote, is approval of Board Policy 5141.52, which addresses suicide prevention.
At the board’s May 21 meeting several members of the community — including Barbara Gervase, mother of Kyle Hyland, who took his own life last December — spoke about the district’s policy and urged that more be done.
Gervase wrote on the Kyle Hyland Foundation for Teen Support Facebook page (facebook.com/kylehylandfoundation) that she will be speaking again on the need for a Teen Center and requesting space and funding.
The BUSD governing board will meet Thursday at 6 p.m. in a closed session, then at 7 p.m. in open session in the BUSD board room, 350 East K St. For the complete agenda visit benicia.agendaonline.net/.
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