‘Internally strong … externally stronger’
CSBA Delegate Assembly recaps 2013’s governance issues and looks ahead
Published: January 1, 2014
Governance issues framed CSBA’s Delegate Assembly in San Diego last month, from the influential role that school boards play in history and public affairs to the imprint they leave on the future through their stewardship of public education.
The theme played out in Governance First, CSBA’s legislative agenda and broader advocacy efforts; and in Governance U, the new organizing principle for the association’s comprehensive board member training programs and resources.
It was also evident in the Delegate Assembly’s action agenda, with the selection of officers and directors and seating of new delegates and a unanimous vote of confidence in the revamped Policy Platform that guides all of CSBA’s work (see related story).
CSBA President Cindy Marks highlighted a related topic—the crucial role of governance teams and their schools in promoting civic education—in comments about her service on the California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning. Marks engaged task force co-chair Judith McConnell, administrative presiding justice of the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal, in a dialogue on the panel’s work during the Delegate Assembly meeting.
Governance ‘the core’ of CSBA
Executive Director & CEO Vernon M. Billy set the tone early on when he told the roughly 300 delegates—elected by local school boards from around the state—that his report to them would “discuss our continued political march towards solidifying our claim on governance—the core of our existence.”
“As I stated to this body almost three years ago, we must be ‘internally strong, so we can be externally stronger.’ And we are. Because of our improved finances we’re going to be able to invest back into the membership in a number of important ways, including providing more free, in-person LCFF briefings across the state as we go into the second half of the Legislative year,” said Billy.
“I want to thank all of you who responded to my request last year to choose CSBA—your association—when considering new products or services” that CSBA or its partners provide, he continued. “Unlike private-sector companies, we invest back in you and the membership. And we will continue to invest back into you in significant ways in 2014.”
‘A newer, bolder CSBA’
The new year will also bring new challenges and opportunities for public education in California and nationally. CSBA helped persuade Gov. Jerry Brown to veto Assembly Bill 375, which Billy called “one of the most egregious teacher dismissal bills in recent memory,” and he said the association will play a leading role in developing a more responsible solution to the longstanding issue in 2014.
“It’s a newer, bolder CSBA,” Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Dennis Meyers said of the AB 375 battle in his report on CSBA’s Governance First agenda. Like Billy and other speakers, he attributed the victory in part to a solid response from CSBA’s membership to Action Alerts that equip local governance team members with details and talking points so that they can write or call their legislators in support of advocacy campaigns.
“Our lobbyists are only as strong as the army of school board members walking with them, hand in hand,” Meyers said. He and Billy vowed to expand the association’s advocacy efforts even more in the coming year, on issues ranging from school construction bonds and local funding for implementation of the Common Core State Standards and assessments to college and career readiness and LCFF.
Billy tied LCFF’s goal of greater equity for all students to the 60th anniversary next May of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.
“When the governor introduced his proposal for the LCFF, he effectively put the issues of race, poverty and equity at the forefront of the public’s conscience once again,” Billy said. “We are at a seminal moment in education in California. … We are being asked to simultaneously implement the most significant changes in California education policy in two generations, with the goal of ensuring student success and raising the bar for all students and simultaneously closing the achievement gap.”
The Brown decision’s anniversary will occur May 17, during the Delegate Assembly’s next meeting in Sacramento.