According to the California Department of Education, the LCAP is a tool for local education agencies to set goals, plan actions, and leverage resources to meet those goals to improve student outcomes. 

As part of the California funding formula for schools, known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), school districts, county offices of education and charter schools are required to develop, adopt, and annually update a three-year Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP is required to identify annual goals, specific actions geared toward implementing those goals, and must measure progress for student subgroups across multiple performance indicators based on eight priorities set by the State. The priorities must be aligned to the district’s spending plan. The LCAP must be approved before the annual district budget can be adopted. Once the budget and LCAP are adopted at the local level, the plan is reviewed by the County superintendent to ensure alignment of projected spending toward goals and services. 

There are eight state priority areas for which school districts, with parent and community input, must establish goals and actions: 

1. Providing all students access to fully credentialed teachers, instructional materials that align with state standards, and safe facilities.
2. Implementation of California’s academic standards, including the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math, Next Generation Science Standards, English language development, history/social science, visual and performing arts, health education and physical education standards.
3. Parent involvement and participation, so the local community is engaged in the decision-making process and the educational programs of students.
4. Improving student achievement and outcomes along multiple measures, including test scores, English proficiency and college and career preparedness.
5. Supporting student engagement, including whether students attend school or are chronically absent.
6. Highlighting school climate and connectedness through a variety of factors, such as suspension and expulsion rates and other locally identified means.
7. Ensuring all students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers, regardless of what school they attend or where they live.
8. Measuring other important student outcomes related to required areas of study, including physical education and the arts.

In addition to these eight areas, a district may also identify and incorporate in its plan goals related to its own local priorities.

A requirement in the development of the LCAP is to solicit input from parents, teachers, students, local bargaining units, staff, and other community members in regard to which goals they think will be most effective for implementation in our schools toward reaching state priorities.

The Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) is a major component of the LCAP development. Please see the information that outlines the PAC composition requirements above in the "LCAP Committees" section on this page. Another major feedback group is the District English Learner Parent Advisory Committee (DELAC). Please see information about this group in the "LCAP Committees" section as well. 

Please see our stakeholder engagement meeting dates on this page to learn how you can become involved in the development process. 

The LCAP is directly related to student performance and is tied to the district budget.

The Strategic Plan covers the full scope of the district and is tied to objectives and actions. 

There is some overlap in the Mill Valley School District LCAP and Strategic Plan as the two goals of the LCAP are the same as the first two goals of the Strategic Plan: Balanced Learners and Supported Staff.