Delegate Assembly reviews issues
Published: June 1, 2010
CSBA’s Delegate Assembly met in Sacramento May 22-23 to consider proposed changes to the Policy Platform and other association business. The nearly 300-member body also received detailed briefings on the historic lawsuit filed by the association’s Education Legal Alliance over California’s school finance system and other developments affecting the state’s public schools.
Delegates welcomed news of CSBA’s lawsuit, which seeks to have the state’s school finance system declared unconstitutional (see related story on page 1). CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin said the outcome would have a profound effect on public education and California’s schoolchildren.
“The state of California has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to support its public schools in a way that ensures that all students are provided an opportunity to meet the state’s academic goals and acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success in our competitive economy, and to become informed citizens and productive members of society,” Plotkin said, quoting from the complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court May 20.
Plotkin summed up the main thrust of the legal argument:
- California’s unsound, unstable and insufficient school finance system is neither aligned with required educational programs nor with student needs.
- The amount of funding the state provides to education is not enough to deliver the state-required programs to all students so that they meet the state’s own educational goals.
- The funding system causes unequal learning opportunities.
The case will take months, perhaps years, to resolve, CSBA’s leaders noted. State officials have until June 21 to respond to the lawsuit; they’re expected to seek an extension, and speakers warned the Delegate Assembly the state may resort to legal tactics that could drag the litigation out for several years.
Education Legal Alliance Director Richard L. Hamilton expressed his appreciation for school boards that support the Alliance’s work with voluntary dues. “We need to have your continued support,” he told the Delegate Assembly, “because our costs are going to continue. Our filing this case is only the beginning.”
Susan Swigart, CSBA’s principal director for member service and media relations, and Public Information Officer Brittany McKannay also sought to enlist school board members’ assistance in garnering local support for the effort to fix the state’s school funding system.
A press kit, a fact sheet and other authoritative information is available on California School Finance (www.fixschoolfinance.org), a website established by CSBA and its partners in the legal action to distribute official information about the case.
Policy Platform and other issues
Delegates met in lengthy breakout sessions to discuss proposed amendments to CSBA’s Policy Platform concerning cyberbullying, school district and county office of education elections, funding and revenue options at state and local levels, and other issues. The Delegate Assembly amends CSBA’s Policy Platform in even-numbered years through a process that invites input from board members throughout the state; final action on current proposals will occur at the Assembly’s meeting in San Francisco Dec. 1-2.
Delegates also voted to support the Local Control of Local Classrooms Funding Act, an initiative seeking to lower the majority required to pass school parcel taxes from two-thirds to 55 percent. Petitions are now circulating to qualify the measure for the November election ballot.
The delegates heard updates on other CSBA programs and services and its continuing actions in support of local educational agencies during these tough budget times, such as holding registration fees for the Dec. 2-4 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show at 2007 levels for a fourth year (see related story on page 5).
Delegates also learned of CSBA’s growing leadership role in the National School Boards Association. CSBA Executive Director Plotkin recently became the chair-elect of the State Association Executive Directors’ NSBA Liaison Committee, which is composed of 13 executive directors elected from among their peers. The Liaison Committee was established to enhance communications between and among state association members and NSBA. Plotkin was chosen for his new post at NSBA’s annual meeting in Chicago last April.
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