VantagePoint: CSBA to Washington: Don’t tread on us
By:
CSBA President Frank Pugh
Published: January 25, 2010
“She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. She never wounds ’till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.”
Those words appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal in December 1775, under the pen name “An American Guesser.” Historians today generally agree that the author was Benjamin Franklin, who was suggesting the rattlesnake as the ideal symbol for the new country about to be formed in America.
Building from that notion, Christopher Gadsden—a founder of the Charleston Sons of Liberty, a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress and a commander in the Continental Army—designed what is now known as the “Gadsden Flag.” Easily recognizable, the Gadsden Flag contained the legend “Don’t tread on me” on a yellow background, above which appeared a drawing of a rattlesnake ominously poised to strike. The flag symbolized both patriotism and disagreement with the government.
The “Don’t tread on me” concept will be prominent in my mind this year with respect to CSBA’s relationship with the federal government. By the time you read this column, my fellow officers and I will have returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., for the National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network Conference. This annual event gives school board members from across the country an opportunity to learn about the key education issues before Congress and, more important, to meet with congressional members and staff to ensure they hear the perspective of local governance teams before they make decisions impacting us all. Later this year, a CSBA delegation will travel to D.C. to advocate on behalf of California schools with members of the Obama administration, top officials from the U.S. Department of Education and other key public education entities and organizations.
What we will no doubt struggle with during these meetings, and have struggled with as an association, is identifying an appropriate role for the federal government in education policy. Because I can tell you from experience, having sat in similar meetings for the past two years, that the folks in Washington honestly believe they know more about what is going on in our schools than we do. This is not to say that they are not well-meaning people (they are), and not to say that there isn’t a role for the federal government to play (there is).
But what we’ve got to get away from, as a major national organization puts it in an upcoming report, is an “upside down” federal system that overemphasizes compliance with federal process requirements and underemphasizes improving the academic achievement of all students, especially poor and minority students.
CSBA wants to partner with the federal government in this conversation—after all, we share the same goals for our children. But consistent with what Franklin wrote, I’d like to put our partners on notice that I’m also prepared to coil and strike, as the occasion demands.