Slow Improvement For $65 Million

During the June 24th HUSD Board of Trustees meeting, the Board received a presentation about local success indicators. This presentation is part of the annual process which allows the school district to receive an additional $65,000,000 from the state. The indicators cover 11 different categories, ranging from student performance metrics to baseline performance standards for the school district.

Trustee Sara Prada pressed the district administration on the slow progress for the substantial investments, outlined in the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). For at least the second year in a row, Trustee Prada asked for detailed assessments of the interventions outlined in the LCAP to better understand what made the biggest impact on student success. She even went so far as to motion to delay approving the LCAP, putting 20% of the related funding at risk, to force the issue.

Local Indicators Met While Students Still Struggle

During the presentation, district staff explained that there are 11 different indicators that the district is required to measure: 6 State Indicators and 5 Local Indicators. State Indicators are an assessment of student success, while the Local Indicators are an assessment of the District itself.

State Indicators (ranging from Red (bad) to Blue (good)): College & Career readiness, Graduation Rate, Academics (English/Language Arts and Math), English Learner Progress, Chronic Absenteeism, and Suspension Rate

Local Indicators (Met/Not Met/Not Met for 2+ Years): Basic Conditions, Parent Engagement, Implementation of Academic Standards, School Climate, and Access to a Broad Course of Study

The Local Indicators were fully met, though the State Indicators—highlighted in the presentation and available on the State Dashboard—were more troubling. The full dashboard has more details than the presentation, including information about how HUSD compares to the State Average.

For Chronic Absenteeism, HUSD still has a 24.5% rate for 2025, which is 7% points above the State Average, though it is dropping at a faster rate at HUSD. Meanwhile, Mathematics proficiency is at 88 points below standard in HUSD and merely maintained 2.5 points. Meanwhile, State Average is 42.4 points below average and growing by 5.2 points. This is likely due, at least in part, to the district students being 78.3% socioeconomically disadvantaged and 31% English learners.

When it came to the Local Indicators, 17 facilities don't meet the "Good" repair standard—it is unclear which facilities, the Math curriculum is being updated to meet the 2023 standards, and High School Ethnic Studies and History/Social Studies curriculums need to be updated, as well as Elementary level Science curriculum.

For Parent and Family Engagement, things appear to be improving from last year. The presentation said that parents feeling that schools seek their input on important decisions rose by 6% points to 82%, however last year that number was reported to be 44%. It's possible that the previous presentation did not count "Agree" and "Strongly Agree", but the presenter did not address this issue during the presentation.

The largest improvements were in school climate. The survey was taken by 6% points more students and scores improved dramatically in high schools from the previous year. Students feeling safe and connected at schools jumped 10% points or more for 9th and 11th graders over the previous year. In many areas, these numbers met or exceeded the State Average.

Expense And Assessment

Trustee Sara Prada asked about the $65,000,000 investment in student success from the previous year and what strategies worked the best. District staff couldn't say for certain, merely saying that things appear to be moving in the right direction. Trustee Prada pressed again for better assessments and metrics on LCAP programs. "We should be getting higher results with the mount of investment we're putting in," she said.

District staff said that different divisions are being asked to review their data and do assessments, but pointed out some structural problems. "Multiple directors are in charge of multiple areas," she said. She also pointed out that the LCAP is being finished and is based on an old Strategic Plan. She said that things may be better in the next cycle, especially since a new strategic plan is also in the works.

Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo asked why some specific groups of students, like English Learners and Homeless/Foster Youth were backsliding in some assessment areas. District staff again reached for the new strategic plan as a solution, but Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo rejected that. "The strategic plan can't be the answer for everything when it comes to the local indicators," he said.

Chair Peter Bufete agreed with Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo and called for the student population data to be pulled and for them to be specifically addressed in the next LCAP. "For the Board as well as the public to see that something is being done for each subdivision of each category of our students," he said.

Prada Forces LCAP Discussion

During a routine approval of the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), Trustee Sara Prada moved to table approving the plan. "It doesn't align with our budget moves that we've done in the past two years," she said. "There's no real plan of implementation for progress and support. It's like a dreamy idea without any type of backbone of implementation."

District staff said that LCAP was required to be approved by July 1 at a regularly scheduled Board Meeting. They also said that, if the LCAP is not approved, the District stands to lose 20% of the $63,000,000 supplemental allocation from the state.

But Trustee Prada insisted something needed to be done. "We never have the correct information, we never have the full deep dives," she said. "We're stuck with our back against a wall with a deadline and there's no room to actually do this right." District staff said that the desired changes can be made in the new LCAP, which will be developed over the coming year.

Chair Peter Bufete supported having more "backbone" in the next LCAP, but called to approve the current LCAP in order to secure the much-needed funding. Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo recognized that Trustee Prada had only moved to table the LCAP as a strategy. "Thank you for forcing the conversation," he said.

Cesar Chavez Soon To Be La Vista

Following the allegations of sexual assault earlier this year against civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, Cesar Chavez Middle School will receive a new name. After outreach to students, staff, and parents, the new name will be La Vista Middle School. Nothing else will change—the mascot will remain the Cheetahs—though the mural will be replaced following a standard call for muralists and bidding process.