Delegate Assembly hears updates

CSBA’s Delegate Assembly elected new officers and several new members of the association’s Board of Directors, updated its policy platform and heard updates on policies, politics and association services when it met in San Francisco Nov. 29-30.
Reflecting on her year as president of CSBA in 2006, Luan B. Rivera expressed gratitude for the grassroots pressure that helped protect Proposition 98 state education funding guarantees and persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to settle a lawsuit over funding from prior years, but she warned that sustained action is needed.

“We might be getting more money, but we’re still 44th in the nation” in per-pupil spending, Rivera noted. She warned that a political focus on narrow measures of academic achievement comes at the expense of science, arts and physical education, libraries, counselors and other elements of a comprehensive learning experience.
Rivera called for continued vigilance as Congress takes up reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act this year.

“Collectively, we speak with a very loud voice, and we have a lot of power,” Rivera said. “That is the pressure that will make that law change.” She urged local educators to call on their federal representatives to sign the National School Boards Association’s Pledge to America’s Schoolchildren (available at www.pledgetoamericasschoolchildren.org) and to participate in NSBA’s Federal Relations Network conference in Washington, D.C., Jan. 28-30.

The delegates also got an in-depth look at CSBA’s own activities promoting education in Sacramento and Washington (See related stories on pages 6-7.)
Association services

Senior staff members briefed the delegates on the range of programs that CSBA offers to help individual school districts and county offices of education increase student achievement and manage their operations effectively. David Pollock, CSBA’s president in 2004 who joined the staff last February as senior director of program development, told the delegates that he visited more than 100 district and county offices in 2006 to learn firsthand about local challenges and explain how the association can help.
Dan Walden, another former president who now directs CSBA’s Single District Governance Training programs, reported that more than 400 local education agencies have now adopted CSBA’s Professional Governance Standards, which help districts and schools focus their efforts to promote learning and achievement as measured in Academic Performance Index and adequate yearly progress scores.

Martin Gonzalez, assistant executive director for Governance and Policy Services, updated delegates on the association’s new Policy Audit Program as well as its Policy Update Service, GAMUT Online computerized policy information program and Agenda Online, the paperless program that helps streamline board meetings, save money and time, and make information about meetings automatically available to the public.
Gonzalez also said CSBA is working with the state’s Department of Education and Department of Health Services to stage a conference on student wellness in Anaheim Oct. 1-2.

“This is the first of its kind across the nation,” Gonzalez said. “Districts will have an opportunity to present and share best practices.”

Executive Search Services Director Molly McGee Hewitt said her program continues to expand its operations that help fill key administrative vacancies in local education agencies. She said ESS’s nationwide recruiting yields a diverse pool of candidates vetted by revised and expanded background searches.

CSU and K-12: Partners
Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the 23-campus California State University system, delivered a luncheon address to the delegates, pointing out the strong ties between the K-12 school system and CSU. Ninety-five percent of all CSU students come from California public schools, Reed said; in turn, the vast majority of the state’s public school teachers—and 10 percent of all those in the United States—are CSU graduates.

“A high-quality public education is important to all segments of our education system,” Reed said. “The challenge will be to reach students who are from traditionally underserved populations.”

Reed detailed CSU’s efforts to encourage students to complete their “a-g” college prep studies. He displayed a poster, “How to Get to College,” which explains—in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, and in customized versions adapted to middle school and grades 9-12—how students can prepare to meet CSU entrance requirements.