CSBA has been pursuing the development of a multi-year campaign to increase California’s investment in K-12 public schools. Toward that end, CSBA has joined with several partners in two interrelated endeavors: The School Finance Exploration Project and Learn More California.
The School Finance Exploration Project
In October of 2005, CSBA, in partnership with the League of Women Voters California Education Fund, California State PTA and Children Now was successful in securing a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to advance the dialogue around funding needs for California’s schools.
In 2006 and 2007, the project partners conducted over 100 interviews with key opinion and political leaders in California. The interviews were intended to help the partnership learn more about the thoughts of California’s leaders on school funding and to gauge their receptiveness to joining a coalition to explore policy options in this area. A variety of constituency groups were invited to participate in this outreach process, including education and grassroots organizations, business leaders, child advocates, researchers and policymakers.
To continue the momentum built in 2006, CSBA and its partners have been funded to conduct several activities between 2007 and 2008. Specifically, CSBA and its partners will:
- Work with key constituency groups and policymakers to develop and further refine a balanced set of policy proposals
- Conduct additional outreach activities
- Research and develop tools and resources to educate and mobilize local school leaders, community leaders and other local partners
Learn More California
Learn More California: Give Schools the Tools to Succeed is a joint effort by the Association of California School Administrators and CSBA. The goal is to create communities throughout the state that have greater confidence in school districts and their financial choices, understand the restraints placed on education dollars by the state and feel empowered to participate in education reform discussions because they have a good understanding about how reform and resources can support their local community vision for their schools.
ACSA and CSBA are currently offering trainings throughout California for their members on how to conduct community engagement forums in their communities on a broader understanding of education finance and visioning for their future. Board members and superintendents that have been trained will be able to train other board members, superintendents and community leaders to engage with their own communities around these issues, creating a “trainer of the trainers” model.
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