2007 will bring new opportunities for CSBA

Happy New Year! It is customary to make resolutions in January. CSBA’s Board of Directors will be spending time at its January meeting establishing a new strategic plan to guide the next five years of our organization. We will build on the strengths of our past and be responsive to the trends of the future. The plan will provide for the needs of our members, whether you are just beginning your board service or continuing to serve the children of your community.

2006 ended with an outstanding Annual Education Conference celebrating CSBA’s 75th anniversary. Congratulations to the planning committee, dedicated staff and all who attended. Now the work begins on the issues at hand.

CSBA has launched phase 2 of its Fix NCLB campaign. I urge you to become aware of our proposals and contact your members of Congress to let them know that we do want every child to succeed. We are willing to be held accountable, but we need a law that recognizes growth in achievement, provides for flexibility (particularly in meeting the needs of English language learners and special education students) and bestows adequate funding before it imposes sanctions. Indeed, at the federal level, education has been singled out as the only social or governmental program required to have a 100 percent success rate. Anything short of perfection will be met with interventions and sanctions.

CSBA’s Executive Committee has presented our Fix NCLB kits to the executive committees of the Pacific Region state school board associations. We are building momentum for the National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network in Washington, D.C.,
Jan. 28-30. We are expecting a record-setting delegation from California. CSBA will be the first organization from California’s Education Coalition to lobby the new Congress on behalf of our students in 2007.

In February we will kick off a new task force on instructional time. If all students are to master state standards in this age of accountability, then they must have time to ensure they can meet the goals. The task force will review research and best practices, explore options and make policy recommendations regarding the school day, the school year and the extended day. After-school programs, summer school, full-day kindergarten and fifth-year high school will be examined as means to give the gift of time to students.
We will also be addressing the narrowing of the curriculum under the pressure to teach what is tested. Science, social science, career and technical education and the arts should be available to our students.

Closing the achievement gap is vital to the future of California. Keep informed of the recommendations that will be coming from our Student Issues Conference Groups. We must assure that more students graduate from high school and more are prepared to enter higher education or the work force.

CSBA will be continuing the public engagement aspects of the campaign for adequate school funding. I am proud of the investment my parents’ generation made in California’s education. Our public needs to be willing to make a similar commitment if we are to have the education system our children deserve, our businesses need and our democracy requires.