Rosemont — District staff delivered a midyear Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) update to the Southern Kern Unified Board of Education, reporting improvements on state assessments, a higher graduation rate and details on budgeted programs and expenditures.

Dan Wixler, who presented the LCAP update, summarized goals and metrics across academic achievement, school climate and family engagement. He said the district’s statewide assessment performance on English language arts improved from 70.6 points below standard (baseline) to 58.7 points below standard on the 2024 California School Dashboard. “That’s an improvement of nearly 12 points,” Wixler said. He also reported a graduation rate of 90.5 percent on the 2024 dashboard, up from 84.1 percent in the prior dashboard year.

Wixler listed program budgets and midyear expenditures for major LCAP actions: professional learning communities ($382,000 budget; $510,000 expenditures), supplemental digital curriculum ($653,000 budget; $165,000 spent), reading intervention ($416,000 budget; $71,000 spent), career and technical education pathways ($1,349,000 budget; $584,000 spent), after-school programs ($991,000 budget; $233,000 spent) and 1:1 device refresh ($796,000 budget; $999,000 spent).

On student supports, Wixler reported chronic absenteeism at 25 percent for the all-students group as of Feb. 11 (an improvement of 3 percentage points) and a suspension rate of 2.9 percent as of Feb. 7, down from higher prior-year figures. He described staffing funded through LCAP actions: five psychologists, one SEL specialist, three therapists, two board-certified behavior analysts, an RN supporting each site and an LVN on every campus.

Chief Business Official (CBO) Irving and other staff answered board questions about capital projects in construction and the pace of state approvals. Irving noted construction milestones for a new NPR at the high school and anticipated schedules for locker rooms and a weight room tied to DSA approvals.

No formal vote was required on the presentation; board members used the report to prompt follow-up on site plans and implementation timelines for instructional and facilities investments.