Budget and LCAP

The SCCOE's total projected expenditures for the 25/26 Fiscal Year is $396,145,450. It is important to note that a lion share of the budget (over 76%) is for people (salaries and benefits). Not to mention, another 14.18% is "excess" property tax the SCCOE must return to the state.

The Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE) meeting will start at 5:00pm. Contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the San Jose Room of the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE). Community members can follow SCCBOE meetings at home by clinking on this link and scrolling down to the Watch Live heading. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the SCCBOE to consider in its decision making, please email all of us prior to the board meeting at SCCBOEMembers@sccoe.org. The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this coming week's meeting can be found here.

First up on the agenda, the SCCBOE will recognize Santa Clara County's Classified School Employees of the Year chosen from all of the county's 31 school districts and representing nine (9) categories employees. The SCCBOE will next recognize the SCCOE's Employee of the Month. The SCCBOE recognizes 10 SCCOE employee each year for their outstanding service to the county office of education and greater community. June's recipient is Jeff Olshan, an Environmental Education Specialist in the SCCOE's Environmental Education Department (Walden West). Jeff has worked for the SCCOE for 18 years, all within environmental education. Lastly, the SCCBOE will recognize Excellence in Education by honoring schools and districts that won awards from the California Department of Education, the California School Boards Association, and the Santa Clara County School Boards Association.

Next, the SCCBOE will receive the Student Board Member Report, and then hear Public Comments of Persons Desiring to Address the Board (for non-Agendized items). Participants are given 2 minutes at most to address the Board, and the Board is not permitted to engage on the subject matter because it is not agendized. Next, the Board will hear Reports from SCCOE Bargaining Units (which include its teaching and staff unions, among others).

Then, the Board will consider approving its Consent Action Items. The consent part of an agenda generally includes non-controversial subject matters that can be approved all together if the Board all deems the items non-controversial and chooses not to pull any for discussion. For the SCCBOE, this part of the agenda typically includes minutes from the prior meeting, resolutions recognizing ethnic groups the county serves, specific educational initiatives, and outside donations the county has received. This meeting's agenda includes a resolution recognizing Juneteenth. These are all action items and their supporting documentation can be found using the link above under agenda item 6.

Superintendent Toston and Dr. Deborah Gorgulho, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Progress will next present and help the SCCBOE conduct a Public Hearing for the 2025-26 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). This is a discussion item and their presentation and the LCAP can be found under agenda item 7A using the link provided above. While the LCAP is a discussion item this week, next week the Board will be asked to approve it. In short, the SCCOE LCAP for the next school year and the two years thereafter is:

1. All students will participate in rigorous, relevant, and engaging instruction aligned to 21st century skills to eliminate barriers, promote achievement, and address access and achievement gaps.

2. All students will leave prepared for a successful transition to college and/or career as a result of quality programs, services, and curriculum.

3. Foster relationships with educational partners to promote a positive, inclusive, and collaborative environment focused on student achievement.

4. Support intervention/prevention programs for youth including justice-engaged, foster youth experiencing homelessness, and students with disabilities to improve academic outcomes.

5. By June 2027, Court Schools will increase engagement and improve the graduation rate of socio-economic disadvantaged students.

6. By June 2027, Community Schools will increase engagement and improve the attendance rate of socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Superintendent Toston, Stephanie Gomez, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, and Lauren Nguyen, Director, Internal Business Services will then present and help the SCCBOE conduct a Public Hearing on the 2025-26 County School Service Fund Budget. This is also a discussion item that the Board will be asked to approve at its next meeting. The presentation and the proposed budget can be found under agenda item 7B. Under this draft budget created by the team, the SCCOE is expected to meet its financial obligations for 25/26 and the two outlying school years. There are several things to understand about the county budget, which are distinguishable from local school district budgets:

1. A county's only mandated educational program/school is the Juvenile Detention/Court School which is funded through our property tax allotment

2. The SCCOE also operates several elective (not mandated) student programs that are funded differently based on the program:

   1. Head Start (funded by federal grants)

   2. Migrant Education (funded by federal grants)

   3. Special Education (funded by state and federal dollars sent to the county by local school districts who pay for their students to participate in SCCOE special education programs)

   4. Alternative Education (funded by local school districts who pay for their students to participate in SCCOE's program)

   5. Opportunity Youth Academy (OYA) (funded by state dollars allocated according to ADA and dipping into the SCCOE's general fund)

3. A county office of education is mandated (required) to offer local school districts the following Executive and Administrative Services and those services are either funded through our property tax allotment or by local school districts who pay for our services:

   1. Technology

   2. Library Services

   3. Fingerprinting

   4. Teacher Credentialing

   5. Foster & Homeless Youth Services

   6. Assessment and Accountability

4. The SCCOE also runs the following elective (not required) Executive and Administrative Services and they are paid for exclusively through grants (state and private):

   1. Youth Health and Wellness

   2. Inclusion Collaborative

5. The SCCOE runs several elective (not required) Instructional Services Initiatives (funded exclusively from grants):

   1. Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE)

   2. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

   3. Educator Preparation Programs

   4. Integrated Science, Technology, Environmental Literacy, Arts, and Mathematics (iSTEAM)

   5. School Climate, Leadership, and Instructional Services

6. The SCCOE is a basic aid/community funded county of office of education. What does this mean?

   1. If the SCCOE were are local district, it would mean that the budget almost exclusively would rely on funding from local property taxes, and we would be able to keep all local taxes to expend on our services.

   2. However, it is different for basic aid COEs. State law requires that the SCCOE must disburse 22% of its own property tax revenues to the state to be used by local courts. For the 25/26 budget, that disbursement is expected to be over $56 million.

Next, the Board will go into Closed Session to hear one interdistrict attendance appeal. It is important to note, the SCCBOE is an appellate body for local school district interdistrict transfer requests, charter school applications, and expulsion decisions. The process and criteria the Board must use is outlined in Board Policy 5117 found here.

Please note, these are just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 6/11/25 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions.