VantagePoint: Walking the walk while talking the talk
By:
CSBA President Martha Fluor
Published: January 1, 2011
Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher, wrote that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. That’s certainly true enough; now imagine 5,000 companions with a common purpose beginning a journey together. Together, their footsteps can shake the world!
That’s the case we have here as I begin my journey as the president of a newly reinvigorated CSBA. I’m in very good company, with governance teams from nearly 1,000 member school districts and county offices of education all embarked on a quest for education excellence for all of California’s public schoolchildren. As a political force, school board members are the largest block of elected officials in California, some 5,000 strong—more than all our state legislators, county supervisors, and mayors and city council members combined!
It is time that we unleash this clout. We are leaders in our communities. Together with our administrators and staffs, we are in a unique position to engage with our constituents and represent their interests at the state and federal level. United, we can journey together. Together, we can speak with one voice. With that voice, we can advocate effectively. When our legislators pay lip service to proper funding for public schools, we can tell them to put their money where their mouths are—and where California’s most vital public interest lies: in the children who hold the key to our collective future. Our legislators simply cannot afford to do anything less, and neither can we.
It’s a daunting task. But there is strength in our numbers, and the genius of our democracy constantly rejuvenates us. Did you know that this last election cycle installed 500-plus new school board members, providing new blood and fresh ideas for our work?
Whether you’re new to your local board or a veteran, there’s a place for you in this organization as we journey together toward visionary destinations: schools that deliver a quality education to every child; government that provides the resources to get there—and then gets out of the way and lets the schools do their work; a society that honors its broader responsibilities to the children who will carry on the journey after our travels are over.
CSBA needs each and every one of you. Our Education Legal Alliance needs you. The 60 children whose families joined with us and our co-plaintiffs in our historic legal challenge to California’s school finance system need you—and so do all the children, all the families who don’t have lawyers or lobbyists, just a hunger for justice and equity and education. We need you to meet with your legislators when they come home to face their constituents. If you’re able, we need you to come with me to Washington, D.C., for the National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network in February, we need you to come to Sacramento for Legislative Action in May.
As members of CSBA, you have access to the tools and services you need to meet your vision, mission and strategic priorities for your students. Please join me in this shared journey.