State Budget, After School Care, and Parcel Tax Renewal Polling Contract, Oh My!

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The Monday, February 6, 2023, LASD Board meeting will start its open session at 7:00pm and contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the LASD Board Room. If you plan to participate in person, follow county guidelines as they relate to masking. We will continue to use the Zoom webinar platform for community members to follow our meetings at home, but public comment will not be allowed on it. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the LASD Board to consider in its decision making, please email all of us at [email protected] by 5pm on Saturday, 2/4//23.  To register to watch the board meeting from the comfort of your home, click here.  The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this week's meeting can be found here.

Before we get started with regular business, Covington School will give the Board a presentation on their student led clubs and activities. 

We start regular business with a 2023-24 State Budget Update from Erik Walukiewicz.  This is a discussion item and his presentation can be found under agenda item I.1 using the link provided above.  The short of his presentation is that the fiscal outlook for the state has softened and LASD is expected to get even less from the state than it normally does.  It is important to remember that LASD is a community funded, basic aid district.  What does that mean?  It means most of its funding comes from local property and parcel taxes.   In recent years, we have gotten some unexpected funding from the state and federal government because of COVID and underfunded state mandates.  Furthermore, every year we get categorial monies for special education.  Our expectations for revenues from the state for the 23/24 school year are limited to a cost of living (COLA) increase for special education and some monies set aside for arts education, but we are uncertain how much as of yet.  We do expect an additional expense to BCS of $250,000 because of a COLA increase required by the state.       

Next, Dr. Carrie Bosco will present Services Agreement with Right at School.  This is an action item and the agreement can be found under agenda item I.2.  We are asked to approve this contract with Right at School who would provide extended day, school break, and summer camp care to our Expanded Learning Opportunity Program (ELOP) eligible and participating students. As explained in my last post, ELOP is a state mandated program that requires all public schools offer and provide access to all unduplicated TK-6th grade pupils (english learner, eligible for free or reduced lunch, or a foster youth) to a nine hour school day (including before school and after school opportunities, school year and summer breaks).  Right at School would be another provider for these services in addition to our other providers we are already working with on all our elementary campuses.  

Then, Sandra McGonagle will present the EMC Research Consulting Agreement.  This is an action item and the agreement can be found under agenda item I.3.  EMC is a polling firm that LASD has used in the past before putting parcel tax and bond measures on the ballot.  In this case we are asked to contract with them to craft and execute a voter survey in anticipation of a possible parcel tax renewal on a November 2023 ballot.     

Sandra will next present a Mentor Tutor Connection Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  This is an action item and the MOU can be found under agenda item I.4.  Mentor Tutor Connection provides volunteer tutoring services to our underperforming and underserved students at all our schools. 

The 2023/24 Board Meeting Calendar will then be presented by Sandra.  This is an action item and the calendar can be found under agenda item I.5.  This is quite literally the calendar of all our regularly scheduled board meetings for the 23/24 school year.  I know,  thrilling.

Last but not least, the Board must consider 2023 CSBA Delegate Assembly Election.  This is an action item and the ballot and applications of those Santa Clara County trustees running for spots can be found under agenda item I.6.  Representatives to the Delegate Assembly are tasked with representing our area's interests with the CSBA to ensure that this statewide organization is advocating with the state and federal government in all of our districts' best interest.  We are asked to agree on six candidates to be our representatives.  

Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 2/6/23 meeting.  You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions.