School Board Members Also Go To Class

Posted on March 4th, 2011 by

School Board Members Also Go To Class

Training time!

When I began thinking about becoming a school board member,  I  met with previous school board members to learn about the job, its  responsibilities, and gain wisdom of those that had served  before me.  What was encouraged by all was to take the training offered by the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA).  The FSBA offers several Board Development Programs. The programs are voluntary and are uniquely designed to serve the leadership developmental needs of both the entire school board and to address the specific needs of individual school board members. It provides a broad range of educational opportunities and activities for both new board members like myself and experienced school board members.  One of these programs is the “Master Board” (MB) .  In the past Citrus County School Board (CCSB) had been designated as a Master Board but with my arrival it requires additional training to again being designated as a Master Board again.  Later this year the CCSB will have that training.  Another program is the “Certified Board Member” (CBM).  This is the training which I began as a new Board member in late November, attended again about a week ago and I will continue to attend until I have received the required courses to achieve to become a CBM.

In February I attended course training in “Personnel and Bargaining Issues” and “School Finance”.  Both of these trainings provided outstanding presenters with years of experience in their fields. The personnel and bargaining course was presented by Dr. Max Schmidt, Executive Director of FSBA’s Florida School Labor Relations Service and Martin Miller, President of Miller Consulting Group.  This course provided training and background in personnel issues and annual contract bargaining and labor issues. The school finance course was presented by Dr. Michael Bookman, former Hillsborough Schools CBO and current professor at University of South Florida and Judy Preston, Assoc. Superintendent of Financial Service, Brevard Schools and Gretchen Saunders, Chief Business Officer, Hillsborough Schools.

The Personnel and Bargaining Issues course began with the sharing of 1878 Rules for Teachers which set a humorous beginning point of how far we truly have come in hiring educators for our schools.  This course provided a history of teachers’ salaries and benefits, past and current budget challenges, and how to work with teachers and staff bargaining units which many time are unions.  With all the proposed legislation both in and out of Florida, we all had much to share and learn.

The School Finance course was a two day course beginning with how our school systems are funded using the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).  The FEFP is the funding formula adopted by the Legislature in 1973 to allocate funds appropriated to school districts for K-12 public school operations.  The purpose of the funding system (originally stated in law as legislative intent), is “to guarantee to each student in the Florida public educational system the availability of programs and services appropriate to his or her educational needs which are substantially equal to those available to any similar student notwithstanding geographic differences and varying local economic factors.”    On March 8th, 2011, the Florida legislators will begin their session and working on next year’s state budget.  Educational funding is playing another big role in the shaping of the Florida budget and policies and laws.  A great part of the two day course was spent talking and sharing about how some proposed legislation and budget proposals may affect our FEFP funding and student services.  Unfunded mandates were as always a hot topic.

I came away realizing more then ever that education is at one of its most challenging times ever in our history.  Florida Trend Magazine (Florida leading business publication) said, “Without a top-notch school system, Florida cannot hope to sustain its many industries.  Without good public schools, this state cannot hope to prepare its young people to become happy, healthy, law abiding, and productive citizens.  That’s why education is literally everyone’s business and deserves a high priority in public policy.” I posted this video before but I think it is worth seeing again.  (See below or Visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY) It helps demonstrate why public education is critical to our Country.

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