VantagePoint: Full circle: Twists and turns of a challenging year

I have come full circle. As my term as president began last December, the governor flew into San Diego to inform the public school leaders gathered at CSBA’s Annual Education Conference and Trade Show that there would be midyear cuts to K–12 education to offset a shortfall in the state budget. Last month, the governor summoned the Education Coalition to his office to inform us—just weeks after he’d signed the most overdue budget in the state’s history—that there is another shortfall, and to tell us to prepare for midyear cuts to education.

It’s been a very challenging year in between, with more twists and turns than anyone could imagine. I started this journey last December with a theme of “putting together the pieces of the education puzzle.” The best puzzle-solvers use the corners as anchors and work toward the middle, so I’ll do the same, identifying key pieces as I go.

Funding has to be a corner piece of my puzzle—not just funding for funding’s sake, but funding that’s adequate to achieve the goal of preparing our children for the 21st century. Solving the education puzzle has to begin with putting this strategic piece in place.

Parent and community partnerships are another strategic—and valued—part of my puzzle. As providers of a public service, we should be consistently reaching out to create ways to get parents, communities and businesses actively involved in constructing and supporting our education system.

Building a strong academic system that’s focused on the learning needs of each individual child is a corner piece that I can’t do without, a system focused on the new definition of the 3 Rs: rigor, relevance and relationships. We must have new guiding principles to use in developing a system that truly looks at individualized education to increase each child’s chances of success.

Facilities play an indispensable role in developing an educational learning environment for both teachers and children. I think most of us can agree that current state regulations overly restrict classroom design. We need to work together with the Department of Education and the state on regulations that make sense and allow for local innovation.

Those are my corners, the building blocks for piecing together my picture of a 21st century education system. I have one more strategic piece to add, and I consider it the most important one of all. It’s you. I thank all of you for your commitment to the children of California. Without you, it would have been impossible to accomplish as much as we have. I can’t thank you enough, and I look forward to your continued dedication.

At the end of our 2008 Annual Conference, we will usher in new leadership for the association. Our new president, Paula S. Campbell, is strong and very capable of representing CSBA on the many fronts that we will face. President-elect Frank Pugh is an educator himself, so he has firsthand experience with what’s needed in the classroom and the boardroom. Immediate Past President Kathy Kinley will not only be leaving CSBA’s Executive Committee; she’s also decided not to seek re-election to her local board. We will surely miss her commitment to the children she has advocated for and her education professionalism. I am proud to call her my friend.

There is one valuable group of dedicated individuals that not only I, but all of us, owe a great deal of thanks to, and that is CSBA’s staff. I could not have represented this wonderful organization without the benefit of their knowledge and support. Thank you, thank you!