Conference ran the gamut—DAIT, NCLB and beyond
Published: January 1, 2010
Imaginary giants and “cold, hard, brutal facts” vied with 52 pounds of state Education Code and other memorable images coming out of CSBA’s Annual Education Conference and Trade Show at the San Diego Convention Center last month.
Those “brutal facts” include the limited powers school boards wield in the face of fiscal and regulatory conditions outside their control, panelists discussing “Striking a Balance Between Local Authority and State Control” told their well-attended workshop.
Governance teams are too often “seen as compliance officers rather than creators and initiators,” said panelist Gary Smuts, superintendent of ABC Unified School District. He traced the problem back to the 1990s, when money “was taken away from your general fund” and eventually “put back prescriptively,” in categorical grants.
Fiscal problems in the early 1990s led to the adoption of Assembly Bill 1200, which called for the creation of a Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to help local educational agencies fulfill their financial and management responsibilities.
Since then, FCMAT has assisted hundreds of LEAs, including 20 or so that went into receivership, said panelist Brett McFadden, 2010 president of the Roseville City School District Board. McFadden stressed that early assistance is far preferable and can help avoid FCMAT “having to come in and recommend cuts.”
Worse times may lie ahead, the panelists warned, especially with the bulk of stimulus funding under the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act already disbursed.
Still, there are effective actions governance teams can take—especially in building coalitions to make schools a priority.
“We have to get our arms around the cold, hard, brutal facts” and educate parents and employees about the impact of the state budget crisis on schools, McFadden said, because a well-informed community will rally behind the schools that serve its children and secure its future.
“I don’t think you’re going to have a better opportunity to push for what you want,” agreed panelist Vernon Billy, president of the Governmental Solutions consulting firm, speaking specifically of negotiations with labor unions. “You might find an opportunity to get something you were not able to just a few years ago.”
DAIT
At another workshop, Keppel Union School District Superintendent Steve Doyle voiced a similar message pairing crisis with opportunity through communication. Speaking of Keppel’s stressful but so-far successful experience working with an assigned District Assistance and Intervention Team due to the district’s DAIT status, Doyle said the challenge helped persuade teachers to agree to a long-sought calendar change that facilitated student learning.
Keppel was one of seven districts in the third year of Program Improvement that were judged in need of an intensive level of “corrective action” in 2008, prompting the DAIT arrangement with the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s District Intervention and Assistance Team.
It’s been intense, panelists at the “DAIT Success Begins with the Governance Team” workshop agreed. Board member R. Michael Dutton found possible parallels to the State Board of Education-ordered intervention in mass marketing and an ominous undertone of Jack and the Beanstalk: “Is this the Jolly Green Giant or is this fee-fi-fo-fum?” Dutton said he initially wondered.
He credited CSBA Governance Consultant Leslie DeMersseman with a key role in building trust in the DAIT process, both in the district and the larger community—again underscoring the importance of transparency and communication.
“It forced our board to be a better board and better communicators,” Dutton said, citing a crucial element of the success the district is beginning to experience. As DAIT co-leader Rebecca Wetzel said, “The more you communicate, the more trust there is.”
NCLB
Leveraging positive change from controversial aspects of higher governments’ policies was also a theme of a workshop on “Updates to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.” Congressional reauthorization of the federal education law, currently known as No Child Left Behind, is expected this year.
Regardless of people’s feelings about NCLB, “what we learned in that era was the importance of measuring progress,” Dennis Bega, a senior staff member of the U.S. Department of Education, told the capacity crowd in his workshop. Other constructive elements of NCLB, he said, include a focus on the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, the wise use of data and concerted efforts to turn around chronically underperforming schools.
“These are the foundations for where the administration will go” as ESEA reauthorization proceeds, Bega said.
Reauthorization will provide an opportunity to revisit NCLB’s more contentious aspects, agreed fellow panelist and CSBA Principal Legislative Advocate Erika Hoffman. Revisions to established policies—from the White House and Congress to the statehouse and local schools— are crucial to the continuous improvement that’s needed, Hoffman suggested, citing the 11-volume state Education Code as an example.
“I think it’s up to 52 pounds now,” Hoffman deadpanned.
Other workshops
Virtually every other aspect of running schools and promoting student success in the 21st century, from school facilities and environmental issues to partnerships and collaboration and school and student wellness, was also addressed during the three-day conference.
Student learning was among the most-covered topics. In “Using Students’ Cultural Funds of Knowledge to Improve Academic Achievement,” for example, professor Christine Sleeter of the College of Professional Studies at California State University, Monterey Bay, explored the use of cultural traditions to engage students in learning.
Five related breakout sessions applied that theme to student needs represented by CSBA’s Student Issues Conference Groups—American Indians, Asian Pacific Islanders, blacks, Hispanics and those in county community and court schools.
Easy link:
Materials provided by presenters are being posted on CSBA’s Annual Conference Web page.