Promising Practices in Local Stakeholder Engagement in School Governance

Stakeholder engagement is central to California's vision for how the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), with its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), can improve outcomes for K-12 students. On February 1, 2019, PACE's annual conference, Putting Evidence Into Action to Advance Equity in California, brought together policymakers, educators, researchers, and interested citizens to build on the "Getting Down to Facts II" research released in 2018. With the rigorous and comprehensive research as a shared evidence base, participants discussed the future of PK-12 education policy in California. This brief details promising practices shared in a conference session on local democratic engagement in school governance. The panelists varied in their roles and experiences working to improve stakeholder engagement. They included the county office official leading the state's new Community Engagement Initiative, a school district administrator with a story to tell about his own district's engagement efforts, a leader of the state's largest parent advocacy organization, and a community organizer who works to make sure student voices are part of the LCFF conversation. Overall, panelists shared how their organizations are engaging a broad and diverse set of stakeholders and how they are building stakeholder capacity to engage productively in school governance. Reflections from session attendees are also taken into account in this brief.