Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2014 V 44 No 1

lic hearing regarding the proposed LCAP, and a public hearing to adopt the LCAP. Raising the bar: • Publicize the timeline: The more people who are informed about the LCAP process, the more who will engage. Sacramento City Unified provided a timeline and an overview of the LCAP development process on its website. • Publish the LCAP in advance: Pasadena Unified published its draft LCAP months before the hearings, so that community members would have time to digest the information and respond. n Accessibility The bar: If 15 percent or more of the district’s students speak a language other than English, the district must translate all written notices, reports, statements or records provided to parents into that language. In particular, the draft LCAP must be translated. Raising the bar: • Provide translation: Professional translation ensures that parents with limited English proficiency can actively engage in meetings. If translation is not simultaneous, then non-English speakers should receive extra time for translation. • Avoid jargon : The LCAP document should use plain, understandable language and make clear how expenditures will impact the community. Berkeley Unified’s LCAP has a glossary of terms. DISTRICT SPOTLIGHT Oakland Unified School District Oakland Unified has taken major steps toward shifting the culture of community engagement. Although the process is still a work in progress, OUSD’s ground-up structures, its partnership with community organizations, and its willingness to adapt to input provide exciting examples of the hope of LCFF. 18 Leadership Even before LCFF, OUSD’s school governance policy gave schools control over budgeting decisions. According to Pecolia Manigo, program director of Parent Leadership Action Network, “When developing its LCAP, OUSD made school site teams the core decision-making bodies and linked them to district committees. This allowed school representatives to bring district-wide strategies to their schools and bubble up school-level concerns to the district.” OUSD opened itself up to community partners as “critical friends.” It invited organizations and district administrators to participate in the same conversations, which then allowed community organizers to better support the district. Katy Nuñez-Adler, the lead education organizer at Oakland Community Organizations, notes, “The passage of LCFF created an opportunity to align internally across district departments, between the organizations and districts, and between organizations. That alignment is critical because we are 49th in the state in per-pupil funding and we don’t use our

Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2014 V 44 No 1 | Page 18