Governor issues order delaying deadline until Dec. 15 for 2020-21 Local Control and Accountability Plans

Gov. Gavin Newsom, as expected, released an executive order Thursday giving school districts more time to complete the annual accountability document in which they set academic and spending priorities.

Districts will now have until Dec. 15 to pass their Local Control and Accountability Plan for the fiscal year 2020-21 that will start July 1. It made sense to push back the deadline, since the Legislature won’t set a final state budget, determining funding for K-12, until after July 15, the new deadline for Californians to file their income and capital gains taxes for 2019.

Although they won’t have to complete their LCAP by June 30, districts will have to report by then how they have spent money on the three areas that Newsom made conditional for receiving state funding while schools are closed because of the coronavirus. They are “high-quality” distance learning, meals for students who qualified for subsidized breakfast and lunch, and child care for the children of first responders and essential employees. The report should account for how districts met the needs of English learners and low-income, foster and homeless students — the groups that get additional state funding under the Local Control Funding Formula.

Because children are confined to their homes under shelter-in place requirements, the executive order also waives the annual instructional minutes for physical education that schools must provide. It also indefinitely suspends physical education tests for grades 5, 7, and 9.

Go here to read EdSource’s article earlier this week with background information on the order.