CSBA delegates affirm revitalized Policy Platform, celebrate association reform
Published: May 22, 2013
CSBA’s Delegate Assembly worked through an issue-packed weekend at the first of its two meetings of 2013, unanimously approving a streamlined draft of the Policy Platform that’s instrumental to all of CSBA’s work and hearing updates—and often offering counsel—on virtually every aspect of the association’s activities and member services.
In a report that was both personal and pragmatic, CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy thanked delegates for their invaluable assistance in fueling the transformative changes that have revitalized the association since he took over as executive director just over two years ago.
Because of their hard work and the leadership of the Board of Directors, officers and association staff, Billy told delegates, “CSBA is on the move,” introducing new products, services and practices while enhancing association benefits that governance team members have long relied on.
“I’ve pushed our staff to think and do things differently for the greater good of the association,” Billy said in his address on the second day of the May 18-19 meeting in Sacramento. CSBA needed to respond nimbly—and quickly—to changing circumstances, Billy said, because the opponents of public education and local governance “aren’t waiting for us to catch up.”
‘Influential’ and effective advocacy
With robust Governmental Relations and Policy and Programs departments wielding increasingly visible and politically potent advocacy in the corridors of power—and the courts, where CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance has prevailed on unfunded mandates, state benefit charters and other issues—Billy said, the association is poised to make a difference in the lives of children as never before.
Earlier this month, for example, veteran Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters—a man not easily impressed—referred to the association’s “influential” work in an article about educational interests that are urging reforms to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed Local Control Funding Formula, the key to Brown’s overhaul of K-12 fiscal and governance policy.
“From the beginning,” Billy told delegates, CSBA has insisted that any funding formula that’s part of the state budget must “make districts whole” for devastating budget cuts that have decimated staffing, student services and academic programs throughout California in recent years.
As Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Dennis Meyers told the delegates, anyone who’s attended the briefings he and Billy have provided in local and regional meetings with CSBA’s membership knows, “We can’t really talk about [the Local Control Funding Formula] without talking about the future of school finance.”
None of the association’s work to promote the interests of public schools is possible without the support and continuing leadership of CSBA’s members, Billy said. “We can only do this work with you at our side,” he said. “No, scratch that: With you in front, leading the way.”
Billy also reported that CSBA is researching the possibility of establishing a political action committee, to raise money for issues-oriented advocacy in an effort to stretch CSBA’s political and policy clout even further.
Other issues
Billy told the delegates the association will offer future trainings to prepare local governance teams to implement the LCFF if it’s adopted as part of the 2013-14 state budget. In a related vein, delegates heard how the association is revamping its Masters in Governance training and adding to its other training professional development resources for local board members.
With representatives from all of CSBA’s 21 regions, the Delegate Assembly sets policy and direction for the association, and delegates serve as key links between CSBA’s leadership and local governance team members. Their work is informed by their own experience on school boards throughout the state, and by updates from the association’s leadership and senior staff. Billy’s report, for example, was a key part of presentations on everything from CSBA’s new Governance First legislative agenda, the streamlined Policy Platform document, and enhanced channels of communications from the association to the members—and among the members themselves, facilitated by a revamped website and the new members-only Engage online community.
Delegates heard about the brave new world of testing and accountability under the Common Core State Standards, and asked questions and offered their own local governance perspectives as part of a panel discussion moderated by Teri Burns, senior director for policy and programs—as well as a board member in the Natomas Unified School District. The panel featured former California Department of Education testing expert Paul Warren—now with the Public Policy Institute of California—and Kimberly Rodriguez, principal consultant to the Assembly Appropriations Committee in the state Legislature.
Former CDE Deputy Superintendent Rick Miller, who now heads the California Office to Reform Education, described the efforts of nine school districts in CORE’s collaborative to obtain a waiver from some of the more onerous aspects of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Predicting that the waiver would be secured soon, Miller invited all comers to apply to join the waiver process and enjoy the advantages of new flexibility if CORE is successful.
Caucusing in early-morning meetings with their respective regional directors and networking with colleagues during rare moments of down time, delegates remained focused on the main business of the Assembly, moving carefully but efficiently through an ambitious agenda that included these items:
- CSBA’s Policy Platform: After discussing portions of the revamped Platform in breakout sessions, delegates unanimously approved a new draft. The new document is dramatically shorter than the current detailed and voluminous Platform, which critics said was too long and detailed to provide meaningful guidance. Delegates will continue to comment on the draft document online, and the Policy Platform Review Committee will bring a final document to the Assembly’s next meeting in December where, if adopted, will use to guide key policy decisions.
- Governance First: CSBA now organizes its legislative priorities around the theme of Governance First, which emphasizes the importance of local control and decision-making when it comes to public schools and opposes the top-down mandates characteristic of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and certain state directives. CSBA Assistant Executive Director Meyers said his team of Governmental Relations advocates is working to ensure that the governor’s LCFF proposal includes funding increases that will bring all LEA school funding to at least 2007-08 levels. The ultimate goal is to press lawmakers to boost per-pupil public school funding in California from 48th in the country to the national average. Other priorities include reforms in teacher layoff and evaluation rules, workable changes in suspension and expulsion policies.
- Annual Education Conference and Trade Show: AEC Planning Committee Chair Heidi Gallegos announced the selection of General Session speakers for this year’s conference in San Diego Dec. 5-7: Jane McGonigal, director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future, and Yong Zhao, Presidential Chair and Associate Dean for Global Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon.
- CSBA membership: In a sign of improving economic times and recognition of CSBA’s valuable range of services, programs and support, CSBA can count 953 school districts, county offices of education and regional occupational centers/programs as members for 2012-13, said Senior Director for Membership Susan Swigart. That includes 22 LEAs that rejoined the association this year and were “welcomed back with open arms,” Swigart said. CSBA members serve 99.9 percent of all California’s public school students. Additional members are being sought through targeted outreach to 25 of the 62 current non-members.
Click here for more information on our website about the leadership role the Delegate Assembly plays in CSBA’s governance.