Good Morning

1
Good Morning!
2
Tennessee School Boards Association
Fill Your Stands with Cheering Fans Tools and
Tips to Build Widespread Public Support for Your
District
Presented at the 2008 TSBA Ambassador Training
Workshop November 15, 2008
3
Why are we here?

• Human history becomes more and more a race
  between education and catastrophe.
• - H.G. Wells

4
Todays Session

• What is our current environment?
• What are our goals?
• Who is involved?
• What is our strategy?
• What tactics do we use?
• Tools you can use
• The next step

5
The Environment

• Media stories will continue to focus on
  headline-making events from public schools
• Economic pressures will create budget problems at
  both the state and local levels
• The General Assembly and Congress may consider
  major changes in public education
• The public will demand more for less
• Great things will happen in our schools

6
Goals

• Increase confidence in and support of
• public education

7
Who is involved?

• The board
• The administration and school district staff
• Students and their families
• The funding agent
• Any community group where two or more gather
• The media
• The general public

8
Key Strategic Concept

• Public Education sells itself when the public
  knows our story

9
Strategies

• Introduce the school district to all stakeholders
• Develop meaningful two-way dialogue
• Make as many people as possible a part of the
  school district team
• Constantly reinforce the notion that the school
  district does not exist to serve itself
• Establish relationships

10
Tactics

• Build your team from the inside out
• Tell your story early, often, and consistently
• Provide context for your story
• Start with the big picture
• End by making the story personal
• Always evaluate your effectiveness
• Adapt to environmental changes

11
PowerPoint Tips

• Simple, dark background
• 60 point headlines
• 30 point body copy white, no paragraphs
• Be consistent
• Be professional, keep it simple
• No dancing bears or sounds
• Branding

12
Lining up the ducks

• Anticipate as many questions as you can when
  planning the session, with input from your fellow
  board members and from administrators

13
Getting started

• Identify and recruit a support team
• Gather the information you need
• Build your master presentation
• Conduct an internal review for accuracy and to
  hear constructive criticism
• Roll out your presentation to the board
• Hit the road!

14
The Presentation
15
Passenger Information for Sumner County Schools
Success Express Presented at New Teacher
Inservice on Aug. 2, 2007
16
Create Context
17
Sumner County

• Covers 530 sq. miles
• Includes 8 cities
• Population of 153,000 based
  on the latest
  Census estimate
• Since 2000, our population has grown more than
  twice as fast (14.5) as the rate seen across the
  state (6.1)

18
What We Do
19
Our Mission

• We will prepare our students for life beyond the
  classroom by helping them become responsible,
  productive, and respectful citizens.

20
Our Shared Vision

• The Prepared Graduate Engaging Minds,
  Developing Character.

21
We Believe ...

• in a safe and supportive environment that holds
  high expectations for students and staff
• in students, parents, educators, school
  employees, and community members working
  collaboratively and respectfully as partners in
  the education of all learners to develop prepared
  graduates
• in an inclusive culture that embraces
  diversity, gives equal access to each child,
  promotes responsibility, and supports positive
  self esteem

22
We Believe ...

• that by engaging minds and developing character
  we will prepare students to become competent,
  employable citizens
• in the use of data to continually assess our
  decision making to ensure each student has the
  opportunity to achieve at proficient and advanced
  levels and
• in implementing policies and procedures that
  focus on achieving the educational goals of our
  district.

23
Why We Do It
24
Why is it important?

• 18.1 of Sumner Countys population sits in our
  classrooms every day
• We employ nearly 4,000 people, or almost three
  percent of our countys population
• Students count on us to prepare them for higher
  education and the workplace
• Local business leaders depend on our product to
  be their skilled workforce
• We all depend on our students to be the next
  generation of leaders in our community

25
Who We Are
26
Sumner County Schools

• 2,040 Teacher-licensed (certified)
  employees
• 1,441 non-licensed
  (classified) employees
• Approx. 400 part-time employees
• Enrollment was 26,528 on opening day of the
  2007-08 School Year

27
Continuous Growth

• Sumner County Schools have added an average of
  585 new students each year since 2001, which is
  more than enough to fill a new school every 12
  months

28
Student Enrollment
29
A Large Operation

• 180 buses travel
  6,000 miles/day,
  1 million miles/year
• 100 acres of floor
  space to maintain
• Buildings from 2 to 50 years old
• 90 portables classrooms in use

30
43 Schools

• 7 Regular High Schools
• 1 Night High School
• 9 Middle Schools
• 23 Elementary Schools
• 1 Year-round Elementary (K-5)
• One Magnet School (K-12)
• One Alternative/Zero-Tolerance School

31
More to Come

• Six-year, 175 million building program
• 3 middle schools
• 6 elementary schools
• 9 school additions
• First opening Aug. 08

32
Dollars and Cents
33
Operating Budget

• 166.7 million
• Up from 153.5 million
• 10.9 million from state
• 2.5 million from county
• Personnel costs make up 86.3 of the budget
• 23.0 million for all other expenditures

34
Funding Sources

• 100.8 million in state funds
• 60.8 million in county funds
• 432,000 in federal funds
• 4.7 million from other sources

35
County Funding

• Property Tax 42.98 million
• Sales Tax 11.2 million
• Wheel Tax 3.95 million
• Other Sources 2.67 million

36
Property Tax

• Current rate is 2.28 per 100 of assessed value
  (1/4 of appraised value)
• The school system receives 1.40 of the tax rate,
  or 61.4, for its operational budget
• Median home valued at 130,000 - property tax
  bill is 741, of which 455 goes to school
  operations
• For a 200,000 home, tax bill is 1,140/year, of
  which 700 is for school operations

37
Cost Per Student

• In its current budget, Sumner County spends about
  2,300 in local funds for each student per year
• About 1,650 of that amount (72) is attributed
  to property tax revenues (vs. 700/year paid on a
  200,000 home)
• Our per-pupil expenditure is 753 below the state
  average

38
Working Smarter

• Since 1991, we have built 16 new schools, added
  numerous new classrooms, and gained 6,000 new
  students, yet we have received only four
  increases to the property tax allocation for our
  operating budget 5 in 1995, 2 in 1999, 26 in
  2003, and 4 in 2006

39
Property Tax Rates
40
How We Operate
41
How Things Work

• Funding Agent
• Board of Directors
• Chief Executive Officer
• Employees

42
County Commission

• Appropriates money for school district needs
• 24 members
• Committees
• Meets the third Monday of each month

43
Board of Education

• 11 members, elected by district
• Four-year terms
• Meets on the third Tuesday of each month
• Work session on the fourth Tues.

44
Board of Education
45
Board Duties

• Lead the school district by
• Creating a strategic plan
• Adopting goals policies to govern district
  operations
• Adopting and submitting a budget to the County
  Commission
• Employing a qualified Director of Schools

46
Director of Schools

• Chief Executive of the school district
• Responsible for compliance with laws, policies
• Conducts day-to-day operations of the district

47
Directors Duties

• Interact with the Board, employees, government
  agencies, civic groups, families, and the general
  public
• Approve all personnel decisions
• Recommend budgets to the Board
• Oversee the expenditure of funds
• Manage all district schools, personnel, and
  activities

48
Organization
49
Our People

• Safe and Drug Free Schools
• Internal Audit
• Facilities
• Operations
• Maintenance
• Transportation

50
Human Resources

• Applications
• Job Postings
• Experience Verification
• Fingerprinting
• I.D. Badges
• Licensure Issues

51
Finance Department

• School Nutrition
• Print shop
• Budgeting
• Purchasing
• Employee Payroll
• Employee Benefits

52
Pupil Services

• Special Education
• Attendance
• Health Services
• Wellness Program
• Adult Education
• Alternative School
• Magnet School
• Social Services

53
Instruction

• Regular Education
• Career/Technical Ed.
• Federal Programs
• System Testing
• Technology Services
• Teacher Center
• Material Center

54
The Road Ahead
55
A Challenging Task

• Meet the needs of a diverse population
• Keep pace overwhelming growth
• Live within the funding provided to us
• Meet the states BEP mandates
• Achieve NCLB performance targets
• Graduate well-educated students

56
Pressing Needs

• New classrooms and teachers to meet growth
• Adequate funding to support new students
• Competitive salaries for all employees to attract
  and keep the best and brightest our community has
  to offer
• An increase in technology to allow all aspects of
  our operation to make better use of time and
  other resources
• Public support

57
What Weve Done So Far
58
Our Results

• For the past four years, our district has met the
  targets of No Child Left Behind
• All of our schools and our district office are
  accredited by the Southern Association of
  Colleges and Schools
• We meet the states BEP requirements for class
  sizes and staffing

59
Our Results

• Student achievement exceeds state/national
  averages in core areas for grades K-8
• Students in grades 9-12 meet or exceed state
  averages in math, language arts, and science

60
Our Results

• K-12 attendance labeled exemplary by the state
  Department of Education
• Our graduates earned more than 5 million in
  scholarships last year

61
Real Results
62
Our Results
63
Stay In Touch
64
SumnerSchools.org
65
Helpful hints

• Allow plenty of time for questions
• There is no way to anticipate every question
• You may not want to provide this much data
• Leave the door open for follow-up conversations
  on specific topics of interest
• Dont be confrontational or defensive
• There is a fine line between PR and BS

66
Your Questions
67
The Next Step
School Board Week in Tennessee January 25-31, 2009
68
The Next Step
Empowering Excellence
69
2009 Ambassador Goals
70
Final Thoughts
Make a Difference "Few will have the greatness to
bend history itself but each of us can work to
change a small portion of events, and in the
total of all those acts will be written the
history of this generation. Sen. Robert F.
Kennedy
71
Contact Information Steve Doremus Communications
Director Tennessee School Boards
Association SDoremus_at_tsba.net 615/815-3907 www.ts
ba.net
72
Thank You!
73
(No Transcript)