At Ascot Avenue Community School, educators and families are showing what Community School power looks like. In the fall, Ascot’s Local School Leadership Council (LSLC) and the School Site Council worked together on a budget for the 2026-2027 school year that would reallocate funds from an assistant principal position to more urgent classroom supports. 

“We took the job of developing the budget seriously and spent hours wrestling with our priorities,” Chapter Chair Maria Yanez said. 

Ascot Avenue educators map out school budget priorities for next year.

Soon after submitting the budget, Yanez was called to meet with the local district director and questioned. It became clear that the local district’s bottom line was for the AP position to be funded. 

Yanez took the budget back to the councils and they met multiple times, making some small tweaks but ultimately committing to the vision they developed. One option that helped save the day: National Board-Certified teachers at Ascot stepped up to take over PDs that an AP might have handled. 

Last month, the district director finally approved the LSLC’s budget. Ascot’s victory is a clear demonstration of LSLC’s power in addressing school-site needs while strengthening their budget autonomy — a right won from the 2019 strike. 

“In the end, we told the district that we listened to their suggestions but after thorough discussion, this is the budget that we want,” Yanez said. “Our team stayed committed—we know what we’re doing, and we know what our students need.”