Why is School Board Governance Important

1
(No Transcript)
2
Why is School Board Governance Important?

• Student achievement BEGINS with the school board.
• School Boards are the Local, Legal, and Logical
  focal points for governance excellence
• Local school boards play critical roles in
  schools direction. Their responsibilities
  include
• - appointing the school superintendent
• - setting vision
• - establishing policy
• - approving multi-million dollar budgets
• Effective school boards are a key enabler for
  good schools that ultimately produce a talented
  workforce.

3
Examples of Issues Leading to Problems with
School Board Leadership

• AdvancED (through NCA and SACS) conducts over
  4,000 school and system evaluations each year.
  These evaluations have revealed the following
  issues related to Board governance
• Board members not understanding their roles and
  responsibilities.
• Members micro-managing school systems.
• Board members showing favoritism to certain
  vendors/constituencies.
• Board members failing to represent the entire
  school system.
• Boards neglecting to participate in training.
• Board members and the superintendent failing to
  work as a team to improve student achievement.

4
April Resolution to form Commission
5
Commission for School Board Excellence
Initiative Organization and Structure
The Partners
Appoint the Commission and Advisory members as
well as fund the initiative
The Working Group
The Commission for School Board Excellence
Composed of business, legislative and education
leaders from across Georgia, develops
recommendations and presents to the partners
The Advisory Committee
Education experts from across Georgia, provides
input to and vets the recommendations for the
Commission
Facilitates and assists both the Commission and
Advisory Committee in communication and best
practice/ knowledge management
6
Commission for School Board Excellence Timeline
Wk Begin
9/3(Tentative) Final Report
8/7 Commission Session 3 TBD 200 400
7/8 Commission Session 2 Macon, GA 200 400
6/10 Commission Session 1 Atlanta, GA 200
400
8/14 Advisory Session 3 1000 1200
7/31 Advisory Session 2 1000 1200
6/26 Advisory Session 1 230 430
Commission
Commission Session 3 OpportunitiesSpeakers
address final report subject areas and success
factors, Commission discusses draft findings
Commission Session 1Kick-Off Kickoff and
background for commissioners
Commission Session 2 Best Practices Speakers
address the final report subject areas and
success factors identified by the Advisory
Committee
Advisory Committee
Advisory Session 2 Draft Recommendations
Identify preliminary recommendations regarding
success factors for board effectiveness
Advisory Session 3 Final Recommendations Refine
recommendations for the final report
Advisory Session 1 Success Factors Facilitated
session to review each subject area and identify
the key success factors for board effectiveness
in driving student achievement
Revised 6-24-2008
7
An Education Ecosystem

• On the next slide is a graphic representation of
  the education ecosystem. Consider the
  stakeholders
• School System
• The School Board and the System Superintendent
• Teachers and Staff in schools and the school
  system
• Students
• The Community
• Family and community groups
• Taxpayers
• Employers
• The State and Global economy
• The world expects higher caliber students.
  Georgia has committed to provide them

8
Georgia Education Ecosystem
STATE
ECONOMY
SCHOOL
SCHOOL SYSTEM
MACRO VIEW
MICRO VIEW
TEACHER
CLASSROOM
CHILD
STUDENT
FAMILY
COMMUNITY
TAXPAYERS
9
School Board Excellence Life Cycle Subject Areas
(Working Document)
Training
Roles Responsibilities
Board Structures and Processes
Measures of System Effectiveness
Managing Problems / Interventions
School System Structures/ Models
Candidacy Election Process
Revised 7-15-2008
10
Changing Georgia Legislation
11
Questions?

• Thank you for your attention.