CLEARLAKE— To close out the month of March with a spotlight on education, Konocti Unified School District Director of Curriculum and Instruction Tim Gill, alongside Chief Business Officer Dan Janakes, presented at this Thursday’s Judge’s Breakfast in Clearlake. Gill and Janakes discussed the local control accountability plan (LCAP) as well as the district’s current budget and goals.
According to Gill, “The KUSD LCAP is a comprehensive master plan that sets district goals and allocates resources to implement actions and services to meet those goals and improve student outcomes.” The LCAP provides a budget overview for the public detailing how district resources will be allocated to implement actions and services.
Gill explained how approximately $14,000 is allocated for each student, and that the amount of state funding they receive relies heavily on attendance which Gill stated was at 85 percent this year, an increase of three percent from last year.
Janakes added, “It’s based on if they (students) come to school, that’s why we’re always talking about attendance because the more kids that attend, the more funding we get.” KUSD Superintendent Becky Solato added that prior to COVID attendance rates were upwards of 93 percent. She further shared, “The system is abroken, there are only eight states in the country that fund schools through average daily Attendance.”
KUSD Board Member Bill Diener said that based on 100 students, if only 80 show up, the school district gets paid for only those 80 students. “They still have to run everything. Still have to keep the lights on,” he said.
Janakes illustrated the Fiscal Year 22-23 KUSD budget in two pie charts, the first being projected revenue by source with 59 percent ($45,954,402) total local control funding formula (LCFF) funds, 22 percent ($17,456,834) federal funds, 12 percent ($9,130,352) state funds and 7 percent ($5,233,958) local funds. The second pie chart was a breakdown of total LCFF Funds with 16 percent ($12,376,991) from LCFF Supplemental and Concentration (S&C) grant funds and 43 percent ($33,577,411) from all other LCFF funds.
Gills explained that the LCFF S&C grant funds are generated by the “unduplicated count” of students who are either low income, English learners, foster youth, or homeless and are to be used specifically for those students. Currently the district has 86 percent of students that qualify as one or more of the aforementioned categories. Janakes noted “Middletown is about 53 percent, and KUSD is 86 percent. This does not put us at the highest in the state, but it probably puts us in the top five percent,” Janakes continued “You all know this about our community, we’re not trying to use it as an excuse, we work our tails off to make sure that all of our students receive everything we could possibly give them.”
The LCAP includes four goals: Improving student achievement, attaining college and career readiness, increasing positive school culture, and lastly, increasing opportunities for parents to engage with schools. According to district officials, these goals are being achieved through actions including student activities, social emotional learning, transportation, food services, advanced placement classes and parent engagement and many more.
Noah Collins, a parent who attended the meeting, asked about what the school is doing about the bullying problem it faces, and more directly what can be done about his own daughter’s experience facing daily aggression from other students. Collins stated “When my kids are at school, they are your responsibility and you can’t keep them safe.”
Collins described in detail the trials his daughters face everyday on campus, which includes a recent incident where a student threatened to stab one of the other students. Collins said a knife was found on the bully the next day. He added that after exhausting all options – counseling, tutoring, and placing his children in different schools, Collins has decided this is their last semester in the county.
Solato said, “It’s everywhere unfortunately.” Although there was much discussion regarding this topic and the way the state wants it handled, officials noted that many communities here face hardships, making parents uncooperative, leaving little to be done. Diener said, “How you vote, the people you vote into office at the state level, play a big role on how things are in your school.”
The Judge’s Breakfast is held every Thursday morning at 7 a.m. in the Clearlake Senior Center. Several breakfast options are available with proceeds going to the senior center, though purchase is not necessary to attend. More information and a list of upcoming speakers can be found on their Facebook page.
