Board approves draft 2024‑25 LCAP after public calls to bolster secondary supports

The Carlsbad Unified School District board approved the preliminary draft of the district’s 2024‑25 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) on May 15, voting 5‑0 after more than an hour of presentation and public comment.

District staff described the plan and its exhibits, including a 70‑page plan and a distilled Exhibit B. They said the district expects to allocate about $6,826,000 toward the supplemental requirement for unduplicated students within a total general fund of roughly $160 million; staff explained the LCAP mixes ongoing base funds, LCFF supplemental allocations and one‑time federal or grant dollars.

Public commenters urged the board to direct more resources to secondary students. Parent and commenter Jen Belnap cited disparities in math proficiency across sites and urged targets to lift district math proficiency to 70 percent. Scott Davidson and others argued the plan appears to favor elementary intervention staffing and asked that the district deploy comparable supports at middle and high school levels. Tim Morgan, speaking earlier in the meeting, urged better community outreach on site facilities projects.

Trustee Ward proposed adding secondary intervention teachers (suggesting a baseline comparable to the nine elementary specialists) and asked staff to estimate costs for the next meeting. Other trustees said they supported exploring the addition but raised concerns about details, cost and how additions would be funded. Several trustees requested staff return the plan with clearer connections showing which specific actions and services tie to each success indicator metric.

Staff described examples of actions that support unduplicated students, including ELD teacher specialists, additional counselors and intervention classes; they said roughly $4.17 million of identified expenditures come from supplemental accounts and approximately $2.8 million from federal or one‑time grants in one goal area. The board approved the draft LCAP so staff could refine the plan and return it for a formal public hearing and adoption vote at a later meeting.