Glossary

It’s critically important that we understand the terminology that is being used at LAUSD. This glossary seeks to ensure you know the most commonly used terms for your advocacy efforts.

BUDGET BASICS – GLOSSARY

A

  • Academic Funding Per Student: A school or district’s funding for its general educational program, divided by its enrollment.
  • A-G Requirements: Required classes used as the basis for admission into the California State University and University of California systems.
  • Average Daily Attendance (ADA): A measure of actual in-class student attendance used as the basis for providing LCFF revenue to school districts.
  • Audit: A review of documents and records to ensure that school district financial statements provide an accurate picture of its fiscal operations and status.

B

  • Base Grant Funding: These are the largest category of LCFF grants, and are provided to school districts based on their total average daily attendance. They must be reported in a school district’s annual LCAP.
  • Board of Education: Elected officials representing seven different regions of the district who are responsible for budget development, oversee the Superintendent, and set overall policies for student services.
  • Bond: The state as well as districts can borrow money by issuing bonds, which it later must repay. Bond funding is typically used for school construction or renovation.
  • Budget: A plan of financial activity for a specified fiscal year indicating all planned revenues and expenditures for the year.

C

  • Carryover: Unspent financial resources that are carried forward from one fiscal year to the next.
  • Capital Projects: Capital projects are spending on long-term assets, such as new school buildings, major renovations, vehicles, or computer equipment.
  • Central Office: The district-wide administrative office of LAUSD.
  • Charter School: Schools that are run by operators independent of the district, under a charter with LAUSD. They receive public funded, and may be directly-funded by the district, or independently funded and receive their funding from the state.
  • Chronic Absenteeism Rate: The percentage of students who are chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10 percent of the school days they were meant to attend.
  • Certificated Salaries: Salaries paid to school staff who provide services that require a teaching credential. These include teachers, counselors, assistant principals, and principals.
  • Classified Salaries: Salaries paid to school staff who provide services that do not require a teaching credential, such as clerical and custodial staff.

D

  • District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC): For the most part, each California school district with 51 ore more English learners must form a DELAC to advise the school board on the English Learner Master Plan, establish district goals and objectives for programs serving English learners, and review and comment on the Districts Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).
  • Discretionary Funding: Funds that a school receives and which it has control over how to spend. For most schools, the major sources of discretionary revenue are federal Title I dollars and Student Equity Need Index 2.0 dollars. They may be spent on services, equipment, or staff.
  • Discretionary Funding Per Student: A school’s discretionary funding, divided by its enrollment.

E

  • Employee Benefits: Financial contributions to retirement plans, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, health benefits, and other fringe benefits.
  • English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC): The ELAC is a school committee for parents or other community members who want to advocate for English Learners and advise the Principal and school staff on appropriate programs and services for those students.
  • English Learners Reclassified as English Proficient Percentage: The percentage of English learner students who were subsequently reclassified as English proficient (data for schools with fewer than 10 English learner students are excluded).
  • Enrollment: The number of students formally enrolled in a school or district as of the first week of October. This number is higher than average daily attendance, because enrolled students may sometimes be absent.
  • Equity Funds: We use this term to identify the LCFF Supplemental and Concentration funds districts received based on their high-need students.
  • Expenditure: A payment made for salaries, benefits, materials, equipment, or capital improvements.

F

  • Final Budget: The Superintendent’s budget as approved by the Board of Education.
  • Fiscal Year (FY): Budgets plan on spending for a single fiscal year at a time. The fiscal year for California school districts begins July 1st and ends on the following June 30th.
  • Fund: An account used to keep track of financial resources. This includes the General Fund, LAUSD’s main operating fund, and Special Funds that are used for specific purposes, such as school nutrition programs.

G

  • General Fund: The main operating fund of the District. The District’s General Fund includes both discretionary and non-discretionary funding.
  • Gun Injury Hospitalizations Per 10,000 People: The average annual rate of hospitalization for gun injuries, per 10,000 residents, in zip codes surrounding a school.  This measures the rate in the school’s community, not at the school itself.

H

  • High-Need Students: Under LCFF, school districts receive extra money for students who are low-income, English learners, and/or foster youth. Also sometimes referred to as a district or school’s Targeted Student Population (TSP).
  • Homeless Students: The number of students reported as experiencing homelessness.

I

  • Itinerant Staff: These are district employees who do not work full-time at one specific school, but instead split their time between several schools. For example, many nurses spend one day per week at a different school. Often these positions are paid for using discretionary revenues.

L

  • Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP): A district-wide plan identifying specific funding for the strategies it will use to support high-need students. Typically this centers on spending LCFF supplemental and concentration grants. Districts are required to seek input from parents, teachers, community leaders, and students themselves in developing the plan.
  • Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF):  The primary state funding stream for school districts. Under this law, all districts receive same base funding per student, depending on grade level, and some get more in the form of supplemental and concentration grants to educate high-need student groups: Low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. Districts are required to outline how they spend these extra dollars in their annual LCAP and provide opportunities for communities to engage in its development.
  • LCFF High-Need Student Percentage (Duplicated): The percentage of high-need students (low-income students, English learners, and foster youth).  The percentage is duplicated, meaning that students who fall into more than one category are counted twice, which is why it can go above 100%.
  • Latinx: We use this term to be inclusive of Latin-American people of all gender identities.

N

  • Non-discretionary Funding: Funding received by a school that must be spent for specific purposes, such as teachers or the school lunch program. Most of a school’s funding is non-discretionary.

O

  • One-time: Revenue or expenditures that are available for use once.
  • Ongoing: Revenue or expenditures that are expected to continue into multiple years.

P

  • Program Code: The specific codes used by LAUSD to track its budgeting and control expenditures.
  • Property Tax: Tax paid on property, both commercial and residential.

R

  • Reserve: An account used to set aside a portion of financial resources for future purposes, often to protect against recessions. The amounts held in reserve cannot be expended without the Board’s formal approval.
  • Restricted: Funding the District receives that is limited to specific students or expenditures. This includes Title I funding from the federal government and special education funding.
  • Revenues: Resources the district receives during the fiscal year as income. This includes LCFF state revenue and federal and state grants.

S

  • School Site Council (SSC): Compromised of school administrators, teachers, parents and community members, a School Site Council is responsible for the development, annual review, and update of the School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), which sets goals for improving student achievement and addresses how discretionary funds will be used to improve academic performance.
  • School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA): A document prepared annually by the School Site Council, providing details about the school’s planned actions and discretionary expenditures to support student outcomes and overall performance.  SPSAs typically contain plans on how to spend Title I and Student Equity Need Index dollars 
  • Special Education: Programs that provide special services for students with disabilities.
  • Special Education Funding Per Student with Disabilities: A school or district’s total funding for special education, divided by its enrollment of students with disabilities.
  • Special Fund: Financial resources that are separate from the General Fund, for specific uses (including adult education, building funds, and school nutrition programs).
  • Student Equity Need Index (SENI) 2.0: An index to measure the relative need level of schools in the District, that combines  community indicators such as suspension rates and English language arts and math assessments, as well as traditional indicators such as low-income and English learner student populations.  The District uses each school’s SENI rank to allocate some of its discretionary funding.
  • Student Equity Need Index 2.0 Funding Per Student: A school or district’s total funding from the Student Equity Need Index, divided by its enrollment.
  • Students Graduating High School in Four Years Percentage: The percentage of a four-year cohort who graduate from high school in four years (adjusted for students who transfer).
  • Students Meeting or Exceeding English Language Arts Proficiency Standards Percentage: The percentage of students who meet the state Smarter Balanced standards for English instruction (for schools serving multiple grades where there is testing, we average the results).
  • Students Meeting or Exceeding Math Standards Percentage: The percentage of students who meet the state Smarter Balanced standards for math instruction (for schools serving multiple grades where there is testing, we average the results).
  • Students who Feel Safe at School:The percentage of students taking the LAUSD School Experience Survey who either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I feel safe in this school.”
  • Students who Plan on Obtaining a College Degree Percentage: The percentage of students taking the LAUSD School Experience Survey who reported that they planned on attending college or obtaining a graduate education.
  • Students with Disabilities: These are students who have disabilities, which can include physical or learning disabilities.
  • Students per Nurse and Health Worker: The ratio of students to health workers, including nurses.
  • Students per Social Emotional Support Staff: The ratio of students to staff providing social emotional support, such as counselors, psychologists, social workers, and restorative justice counselors.
  • Students per Teacher: The ratio of students to ordinary classroom teachers.  This excludes teachers with specialized roles, such as long-term substitutes, teacher-librarians, and special education teachers.
  • Superintendent: Appointed by the Board of Education, the Superintendent leads the administration of the district. This includes budget implementation, school-site management, staff services, and legislative affairs. 
  • Supplemental and Concentration Grant Funding: These are LCFF grants provided to school districts based on their number of high-need students.  They are meant to be spent to support those high-need students, and must be reported in a school district’s annual LCAP.
  • Suspension Rate: The percentage of students who were suspended at least once, for any reason.

T

  • Targeted Student Population (TSP): Another term for high-need students who receive additional funding under the Local Control Funding Formula. They are defined as students who are English learners, low-income students, and/or foster youth. 
  • Title I: Federal law that provides districts funding for programs that support low income students.
  • Title II: Federal law that provides districts funding for programs that support staff development and retention.
  • Title III: Federal law that provides districts funding for programs that support English learners.
  • Total Funding Per Student: A school or district’s total funding, divided by its enrollment.  To avoid misleading users, WeBudget excludes some spending from this indicator, such as one-time funding from bond revenues.

U

  • Unrestricted: Financial resources that can be spent by the District for any purpose, usually housed in the General Fund.

Y

  • Youth Asthma Hospitalizations per 1,000 Children: The average annual rate of hospitalization for asthma of youth under 18, per 1,000 youth, in zip codes surrounding a school.  This measures the rate in the school’s community, not at the school itself.

SCHOOL PROFILES – GLOSSARY

STATIC HEADER

  • Enrollment: The number of students formally enrolled in a school or district as of the first week of October. This number is higher than average daily attendance, because enrolled students may sometimes be absent.
  • Student Equity Need Index (SENI) 2.0: An index to measure the relative need level of schools in the District, that combines  community indicators such as suspension rates and English language arts and math assessments, as well as traditional indicators such as low-income and English learner student populations.  The District uses each school’s SENI rank to allocate some of its discretionary funding.
  • Total Funding Per Student: A school or district’s total funding, divided by its enrollment.  To avoid misleading users, WeBudget excludes some spending from this indicator, such as one-time funding from bond revenues.

SCHOOL OVERVIEW

  • Enrollment: The number of students formally enrolled in a school or district as of the first week of October. This number is higher than average daily attendance, because enrolled students may sometimes be absent.
  • Homeless Students: The number of students reported as experiencing homelessness.
  • LCFF High-Need Student Percentage (Duplicated): The percentage of high-need students (low-income students, English learners, and foster youth).  The percentage is duplicated, meaning that students who fall into more than one category are counted twice, which is why it can go above 100%.
  • Students with Disabilities: These are students who have disabilities, which can include physical or learning disabilities.
  • Students per Nurse and Health Worker: The ratio of students to health workers, including nurses.
  • Students per Social Emotional Support Staff: The ratio of students to staff providing social emotional support, such as counselors, psychologists, social workers, and restorative justice counselors.
  • Students per Teacher: The ratio of students to ordinary classroom teachers.  This excludes teachers with specialized roles, such as long-term substitutes, teacher-librarians, and special education teachers.

FUNDING

  • Academic Funding Per Student: A school or district’s funding for its general educational program, divided by its enrollment.
  • Discretionary Funding Per Student: A school or district’s discretionary funding, divided by its enrollment.
  • Special Education Funding Per Student with Disabilities: A school or district’s total funding for special education, divided by its enrollment of students with disabilities.
  • Student Equity Need Index 2.0 Funding Per Student: A school or district’s total funding from the Student Equity Need Index, divided by its enrollment.
  • Total Funding Per Student: A school or district’s total funding, divided by its enrollment.  To avoid misleading users, WeBudget excludes some spending from this indicator, such as one-time funding from bond revenues.

ACADEMICS

  • English Learners Reclassified as English Proficient Percentage: The percentage of English learner students who were subsequently reclassified as English proficient (data for schools with fewer than 10 English learner students are excluded).
  • Students Graduating High School in Four Years Percentage: The percentage of a four-year cohort who graduate from high school in four years (adjusted for students who transfer).
  • Students Meeting or Exceeding English Language Arts Proficiency Standards Percentage: The percentage of students who meet the state Smarter Balanced standards for English instruction (for schools serving multiple grades where there is testing, we average the results).
  • Students Meeting or Exceeding Math Standards Percentage: The percentage of students who meet the state Smarter Balanced standards for math instruction (for schools serving multiple grades where there is testing, we average the results).
  • Students who Plan on Obtaining a College Degree Percentage: The percentage of students taking the LAUSD School Experience Survey who reported that they planned on attending college or obtaining a graduate education.

School Climate and Community

  • Chronic Absenteeism Rate: The percentage of students who are chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10 percent of the school days they were meant to attend.
  • Gun Injury Hospitalizations Per 10,000 People: The average annual rate of hospitalization for gun injuries, per 10,000 residents, in zip codes surrounding a school.  This measures the rate in the school’s community, not at the school itself.
  • Students who Feel Safe at School:The percentage of students taking the LAUSD School Experience Survey who either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I feel safe in this school.”
  • Suspension Rate: The percentage of students who were suspended at least once, for any reason.
  • Youth Asthma Hospitalizations per 1,000 Children: The average annual rate of hospitalization for asthma of youth under 18, per 1,000 youth, in zip codes surrounding a school.  This measures the rate in the school’s community, not at the school itself.

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