Thomas Kung

kungtoi@yahoo.com
June 25, 2015
VIA EMAIL & US MAIL
tellez_laura@ausd.us
gilbert_marsha@ausd.us
Supt. Tellez-Gagliano and Asst. Supt. Marsha Gilbert
1515 Mission Road
Alhambra, CA 91803
Re: LCAP budget approval on June 30 school board meeting / UNIFORM COMPLAINT PROCEDURE
(UCP)
Dear Supt. Tellez-Gagliano and Asst. Supt. Marsha Gilbert:
The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) is intended to keep school districts accountable by
involving community members into their decision making process. It is the responsibility of the Alhambra
Unified School District to reach out to the community in order to hold a public hearing discussing the
budget. However, I believe the Alhambra Unified School District has failed to effectively reach out to the
community to inform them about the public hearing on June 23.
The points I want to emphasize are (1) this public hearing lacked supplemental notes to help community
members like myself from fully understanding the topics brought up in the meeting; and (2) the LCAP
presentation is not easily accessible
First and foremost, I personally would like common terms used in the LCAP to be fully noted on the
presentation or have a hand out with the common terms defined. For example, even though I studied
accounting in for my undergraduate degree, I do not have common knowledge of nonprofits or school
budgets in my background. Terms like Calsters, Calpers, restricted vs. unrestricted were unfamiliar terms
for me. As I found it a little difficult to fully understand the presentation, I would imagine it would be more
perplexing for parents, students or community members without an accounting background to understand.
Overall, I believe Nicole A. Lash gave a great presentation on the forecast budget for 2015-2016 aside
from the comments I made above.
Secondly, I believe that the LCAP Powerpoint presentation along with notes to support the estimated
figures should be easily accessible to the community, such as on the Alhambra Unified School District
website. I had asked the question during the meeting of whether the information would be posted on the
Alhambra Unified School District website, but was told "No" and the reason was because "it was never
done before." I feel the reason for denying the public from reviewing the LCAP easily was very weak and
a sign that this was private information on a public budget. Why do I need to jump hoops in order to
obtain a copy of the LCAP presentation in a public school district board meeting about a public budget
funded by public tax dollars? Your board is attempting to pass a $210 million budget that will impact
approximately 1700 students and countless staff and community members for 2015-2016 and you feel
they need to go to the district office to pick up a copy during your office hours?
We live in this day and age, where information is easily accessible online and we talk about reducing
paper waste, and reducing LA commute but what you have set for obtaining a copy of the LCAP
presentation seems preposterous; not aligned to the technology advances that were also mentioned in
the LCAP budget. I understand Section 42127 (d) specifies a "newspaper of general circulation" to simply
announce the budget but I would rather use common sense to reach out to the public than to be literal. If
your intentions is to really involve the community, I hope you try harder and do what you feel is ethically
and logically right rather than what is easy or minimal.

The students at Alhambra Unified School District perform above average and embrace technological
advances. Majority of the population in the community have smartphones to read e-mails at the palm of
their hands. But having to access public information only at a physical site, at a given time frame in paper
---without supplemental notes seems ridiculous. Please take the time to reflect on the possible
weaknesses at effectively communicating to the public.
I demand that you hold another public hearing at a later date, AFTER you have fully given the public a
chance to truly digest the LCAP. The five minute public hearing on June 23 proves that you have done a
deficient job in outreaching to our largely immigrant-based community. I am a stakeholder here, and I
want to give my input.
I can be reached at kungtoi@yahoo.com
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Thomas Kung
SGHS Class of 2008
Accountant