Board Member Action Day: ‘Grit’ and ‘great things’
School governance teams around the state call on legislators in their district offices
Published: June 1, 2013
They came equipped with an issue-packed advocacy agenda that stressed the importance of adequate school funding and Governance First, CSBA’s legislative agenda that’s being advanced on multiple fronts. But school governance team members throughout California who participated in CSBA’s Board Member Action Day last month also had a larger mission: They were there to connect directly with key legislators.
CSBA Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Affairs Dennis Meyers said forging lasting relationships with lawmakers is a fundamental part of what Board Member Action Day is all about, and visiting state lawmakers in their local district offices is a crucial—and twofold—tactic.
“We want board members to meet their legislators and key staff face to face, so they feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling lawmakers at any time,” Meyers said. “We also want legislators to get to know their school board members and to think of them first when they want a perspective on education issues.”
In all, 160 CSBA members answered the call in more than 80 of the state’s 120 legislative districts. During a friendly visit with Assembly Member Jim Frazier at his Fairfield office, for example, Region 7 Delegate Pat Shamansky and Judi Honeychurch, one of Shamansky’s colleagues on the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District board, illustrated the need for more base funding by sharing a spreadsheet listing programs, services and positions the district has had to cut since 2007-08 due to state budget cuts.
Frazier, acknowledging that the district had lost more than 100 teaching positions over the past five years, committed to working with the board members to see how funding levels could be raised. “I admire your grit,” he said, to which Shamansky responded: “Working together we can do great things.”
Board Member Action Day is part of CSBA’s larger Governance First agenda. Find the latest resources on the Advocacy page on our website: www.csba.org/Advocacy.aspx.