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SDLA Compliance Resource

County Superintendent Deadline to Request Written LCAP Clarification

An operational guide to the county review step in the 2026–27 LCAP accountability cycle.

  • LCAP
  • County review
  • 2026–27
Date(s)August 15, 2026
Applies toCalifornia school districts and the reviewing authorities or partners responsible for this step; confirm charter and COE pathways separately

State county-review duties and local intake procedures

A county superintendent performs these statewide statutory duties for school-district LCAPs. A county-specific portal or earlier intake target is a separate local procedure.

  • EC 52070(a): the district files its adopted LCAP/annual update with the county superintendent no later than five days after adoption. The county may request written clarification by August 15; the district board responds in writing within fifteen days of the request.
  • The county may send written amendment recommendations within fifteen days after receiving the district response. The district board considers those recommendations in a public meeting within fifteen days of receipt. Retain actual delivery/receipt dates; these are triggered clocks, not identical fixed dates for every district.
  • The county superintendent approves by October 8 if the statutory template, budget, expenditure and applicable carryover/service conditions are met. Keep local board adoption distinct from reviewer approval and retain the approval/revision record.
  • Where the county superintendent has jurisdiction over a single district, the State Superintendent performs the EC 52070 duties. COE-own LCAP review and charter submission follow their own authorities; this district approval chain must not be generalized to them.
  • If a county requests an earlier upload, checklist or local format, record the county, notice, receiving system and local target separately from EC 52070. No statewide earlier intake date is established by a county worksheet.

Authority: EC 52070: district/county clocks and single-district exception. Reviewed October 21, 2026.

In Plain Language: During statutory review, the county superintendent may send written clarification requests to the district by August 15; both sides need a controlled issue log and complete record.

Why this matters

A clarification request is not merely correspondence. It starts the next 15-calendar-day response clock and can expose alignment, calculation, or evidentiary gaps that affect approval.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: county LCAP review lead; district response owner is the superintendent/LCAP lead. Partners: county fiscal/program reviewers, district business services, board office, program owners, and counsel.

From submitted LCAP review to a written clarification request: the SDLA ITO workflow

Both sides need a controlled issue log and a complete record from this point. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the submitted LCAP package and the county's program and fiscal review become the reviewer workpapers, the written request, and the issue log with deadline calculation.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the submitted LCAP package and the county's program and fiscal review, through framing each issue, sending the request, and recording receipt and the response deadline, to the reviewer workpapers, the written request, and the issue log with deadline calculation.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers framing each issue, sending the request, and recording receipt and the response deadline; Output covers the reviewer workpapers, the written request, and the issue log with deadline calculation. Send by August 15, 2026 through a documented channel.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Complete coordinated program/fiscal review of the submitted plan.
  2. Frame each unresolved issue as a specific written clarification request.
  3. Send by August 15 through a documented channel.
  4. Record district receipt and calculate the 15-calendar-day response deadline.
  5. Maintain an issue matrix through response, recommendation, and approval.

Implementation pathway

Calendar
Reconcile
Review
Act
Retain

Evidence to retain

  • Submitted LCAP package
  • Reviewer workpapers
  • Written clarification request
  • Delivery and receipt evidence
  • Issue log and deadline calculation

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify the current CDE template, instructions, statutory dates, reviewing-authority procedures, and local meeting calendar before acting.