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FUHSD considering $35.5 million budget

LCAP report shows gains and needs in district

Rick Monroe

Special to the Village News

There were no public comments at the June 13 board meeting of the Fallbrook Union High School District for either the 2022-23 budget or the district's Local Control Accountability Plan.

The same items will be back on the agenda at the June 27 board meeting for approval and adoption.

The 100-page budget shows income of $35.5 million and expenses of $36.8 million. Teacher salaries were identified as $13.2 million. The next highest expenses were benefits at $8.5 million and classified employees at $6.3 million.

The LCAP document was also presented to the board as an informational item. It was another 105 pages and neither report drew questions or responses from the board. LCAP is a three-year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities.

The report noted that the Fallbrook Union High School District has experienced success according to the 2019 dashboard in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, college and career readiness, Fallbrook High School and Oasis High School's graduation rate, and the low suspension rate at both Ivy and Oasis.

Fallbrook High School's college and career readiness indicates that 40.5% of students are prepared for college and/or career, which was an increase of 6.5% from the 2018 dashboard. Internal data indicates that the percentage of students who are prepared for college/career has remained stable.

Fallbrook High School's graduation rate on the 2019 dashboard increased by 1.1% to 88.7%, and the rate of graduation for English learners increased by 3.9% to 80.6% of students graduating. At Ivy High School, the dropout rate has decreased by 16.3%. Ivy High School has demonstrated recent success with a 71% graduation rate in 2021, which is an 11% increase from 2020.

In addition to an increase in the graduation rate and the percentage of students graduating college and career ready, internal data indicates an increase of parent engagement specifically in events, surveys, and parent meetings. Over 1,101 parent services were provided out of the Parent Welcome Center alone, and 1,304 parent contacts were made from the counseling office.

Over 754 parents have provided feedback on the schools and district over the last two years via Thought Exchange, and 13 parents attended meetings to provide feedback in person or in a google meet. Thirty-one English learner parents provided feedback on the annual English Learner Needs Assessment; 101 parents attended the Mano a Mano parent workshop meeting, and 12 workshops were offered by the college and career center.

An additional success that the district has experienced is the high participation rate in CAASPP testing in 2021 despite the pandemic and an increased percentage of students demonstrating proficiency in English language arts and math. English language arts proficiency increased by 13% and math proficiency increased by 12%.

The increased CAASPP scores also resulted in an increased percentage of students who scored conditionally ready or ready on the Early Assessment program in ELA and math. This Early Assessment Program determines readiness for college and scores are used by colleges to determine student placement their freshman year.

Internal data on common assessments has also demonstrated great success for the AVID and dual immersion program. Students participating in these programs are demonstrating higher success on average on internal assessments than students who are not participating in the program.

Plans are for the district to continue to fund an additional academic counselor to support outreach and student and parent engagement.

While Fallbrook Union High School District has experienced success over the past two years in an increased number of students graduating college and career ready and an increased graduation rate at Fallbrook High School, the pandemic has had its effects and impacts.

The 2021 graduation rate for Fallbrook High School decreased by 3% and is an area of concern and focus for the school and district. Additional areas of identified need are rooted in the academic indicator and the suspension rate and various demographics of the school. While Fallbrook High School experienced an increased proficiency of students in ELA and math, the report states the district is aware the percentage of students who are proficient has room for growth.

In 2019, FUHSD's score in English language arts was 15.6 points below standard and had declined 17 points from 2018. The mathematics score for the district was 97.5 points below standard and had declined 19.3 points from 2018. While scores increased by a significant amount in 2021, there is still great room for growth. English learners and students with disabilities are performing below the state and Fallbrook High School is in differentiated assistance to support these two demographics.

In 2019-20, the administrative team received training for implementing data informed instructional collaboration systems, and when COVID-19 began, this work continued despite the additional challenges presented by the pandemic. The English language arts, math, science, and social science departments are now all implementing the data informed instructional collaboration system. This system allows teachers to focus their efforts by identifying the most important, high impact, and essential standards to focus on at every grade level

Additionally, growth in the district's A-G (college prep) was initially a strength but a decrease this year has put this into an area of need. In 2019-20, the percentage of students in grade 12 who graduated A-G ready was 38% and in 2020-2021 44% of 12th grade students graduated A-G ready.

Current predictions for the district wide A-G rates are 38%, which is a decrease of 6%. The counseling team has established a system to track data and markers and initiate interventions to address the A-G rate and students' academic success, and this work will continue during the 2022-2023 school year.

In addition to the academic indicator, English learners and students with disabilities are identified as an area of need under the College and Career Readiness Indicator on the dashboard.

Another area of identified need is the suspension rate for the district, which had increased in 2019 by 1%. Both Ivy and Oasis High School have very low rates of suspension, and the bulk of the suspendable offenses come from Fallbrook High School with a suspension rate of 6.3% of students being suspended at least once. Restorative justice and positive based intervention systems are an area of priority for the district. During the pandemic. suspension rates decreased significantly but were also impacted by hybrid and remote learning.

During the 2020-2021 school year, the district staff were offered trauma informed practices training. Additionally, the leadership team underwent unconscious bias training through Leader in Me. During the 2021- 2022 school year, a pilot team of teacher leaders participated in Culture of Belonging training and served as part of a group established to support the work across the district during the 2022-2023 school year.

Among the key items identified from public input was the importance of outreach and community engagement, chronic absenteeism, multi-tier system of support and student interventions, extracurricular support for unduplicated pupils, and bussing for 2022-23.

The report also identified three primary goals:

• Improve engagement of all students and families.

• Prepare all students for college and career including 21st century skills.

• All students will demonstrate proficiency of state content standards.

These goals were developed based on internal data, California dashboard data, and California Department of Education data along with stakeholder feedback from students, staff, and parents.

The report also identified programs and changes that would improve the school and the LCAP goals.

There are approximately 31,701 residents in Fallbrook occupying nearly 10,354 households. Of these, 18% are 65 years old or older while 24% are younger than 18. The median household income is $63,244 with 78% of the population reporting having graduated from high school, and 22% have earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Further, 40% of community members are White, 50% Latino, 8% mixed race and another 2% are Black (American Community Survey).

A significant number of students/families are faced with the challenge of moving from community to community due to a variety of factors including but not limited to active duty military service and work based migratory families. The Fallbrook district consists of 2,143 students of whom 69% are Hispanic/Latino, 24% White, 2% Black, 2% Native American and 3% other.

Also, 18% of district students are English Language Learners. Of significance, 1,536 (72%) of the student population qualifies for free/reduced lunch; 94 (4%) qualify under McKinney Vento, and four live with foster families. Finally, 13% (288) of the district students have an Individualized Education Plan to address their learning needs.

The proposed budget and LCAP report can be found at https://www.fuhsd.net/district/board-meetings below the June 13 meeting agenda.

 

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