Burbio School Tracker 7/22: When California Plans

1. California districts have a unique reporting requirement called Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) which are three-year plans, updated annually, that outline district strategies, and represent some of the most specific and actionable documents in the PreK-12 universe. The 2025-26 documents are being posted in districts state-wide this month, and Burbio includes them in our Signals Tracker and District Profile. The LCAP requires districts to address state priorities, so every plan references areas such as Chronic Absenteeism, English Language Learners, and Family Engagement. This week we highlight some additional discussion points. First, a group of high-frequency terms that appear in over 40% of plans:

Below is a chart of references that appears in a lower percentage of plans: 

Discussions in LCAPs are very specific, and often include budget allocations. Just a handful of examples from the terms above: 

• ABC Unified is expanding CTE Pathways with entrepreneurship, eSports, aviation, and theater, and also using counselors to offer the program to English Learners, foster youth and homeless. The district is budgeting $1.8 million, which also includes AP course expansion.
• Brea Olinda Unified is creating a robotics program in 2025-26.
• Albany City Unified has budgeted $84,000 to implement structured literacy/Science of Reading aligned practices.
• New Haven Unified is spending $3.8 million on a surveillance and security camera systems project. 

LCAPs run over 100 pages per document, and we consider them required reading for any supplier working in the state. Similar to the district budget presentations highlighted in our most recent Tracker, there is a timeliness to the 2025-26 LCAPs as districts are early in their budget year. 

2. Burbio has introduced a State Information dashboard covering all fifty states plus the District of Columbia. This supplements our State Grants Dashboard, and is particularly relevant given the changing role of the Federal Government in education. It includes information such as state board meetings, budgets, Title I funds, enrollment trends, lists of TSI/CSI schools, and state report card information. We continue to iterate with clients on additional features.  
 
For State Board of Education meetings we will be providing summaries by targeted academic areas such as ELA, math, CTE, science, etc. Some recent highlights from state board meetings include:  

• In Montana the state discussed updates to their early childhood curriculum standards, covering English, math, science, technology and the arts.
• In Kansas the state has approved the addition of literacy programs aligned to the science of reading and structured literacy, as accredited through the International Dyslexia Association, to the At-Risk Evidence-Based Programs List, enabling districts to utilize at-risk funds for these initiatives.
• In Georgia the state extended an agreement with Georgia Southern University to develop a supplementary secondary math pilot program, citing the need to allow more time to develop the program.
  

3. One way clients use Burbio's signals tracker is to score the stage of district purchase decision making. Burbio's system creates an AI summary of the discussion points, with links to the documents for further investigation, while also including metadata such as district name, NCES, meeting date, district enrollment, and more. Below are some example summaries of discussions around new construction from Texas school districts over the course of the Spring:

• Tuloso-Midway ISD, "discusses the eminent domain process and landowner discussions related to the proposed junior high school campus site during a closed session . . ."
• Katy ISD: "The text discusses specific actions taken by the Board related to school facilities, including the approval of contracts for connections of portable classroom buildings and reconfiguration of athletic spaces. These actions indicate that the district is actively evaluating its capacity to accommodate student growth and improve facilities . . ."
• Roscoe Collegiate ISD: "The text includes a specific agenda item that mentions a presentation and possible action by Jacob Martin Architect firm concerning RCISD new construction and renovations."
• Eagle Mountain/Saginaw ISD:  A recent meeting "provides updates on various construction projects, including renovations at Saginaw High School and the Dick and Heidi Elkins Agricultural Science Complex, indicating ongoing discussions and considerations related to school construction. The district is 'working to finalize design' and finishes . . ."

4. School start dates vary widely across the country and even within states, with school starting in late July in some districts and not until after Labor Day in others. Burbio provides district-level school calendar data - mapped to the zip code or county level - to help partners better manage forecasting and optimize the timing of marketing campaigns by geography. Below is a chart that shows the percent of K-12 students starting by week across the U.S. Note that over half students will be in the classroom by August 15: