By Dr. Emma Turner It is one of the great honors of my life to serve as President of the California School Boards Association and advocate for the needs of students — all students — at the highest levels. I reflected on this during the […]
Category: Effective Governance
Effective Governance
‘Silent Recession’: Rising costs and rising challenges confront California school districts
California’s public schools are still struggling to meet basic needs even as the state’s economy has rebounded from the Great Recession, analysis finds. Against the backdrop of a strike in the Los Angeles Unified School District and a looming financial crisis in districts statewide, the […]
Statement on the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Budget Proposal
“We are encouraged by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget, particularly his commitment to the Local Control Funding Formula, school construction, services for young children and families, and recognition of the challenges facing school districts in the form of rising costs for pensions and special education. […]
AG advisory creates new considerations for charter school governance and operations
By Kathryn Meola, CSBA General Counsel California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has issued an advisory opinion (No. 11-201, dated December 26, 2018) concluding that charter schools and their governing bodies are subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the California Public Records Act. The […]
A conversation with … CSBA President Emma Turner
Emma Turner is a trustee of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District in east San Diego, a TK-8 district with about 12,300 students. Turner is particularly proud of the work the district does in its Literacy Academy, Arts Academy and STEAM Academy. She has been […]
January honors important work of school board members
“A free public education is the foundation of our great democracy,” CSBA President Emma Turner said at the 2018 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show in San Francisco in November. And crucial to the success of that public education are school board trustees who provide […]
Federal commission releases school safety report; sparks debate about student discipline
Recommendation to roll back Obama-era guidance largely moot in light of California state law A wide-ranging report has intensified the debate over appropriate methods of discipline in a time of increasing concern about student safety. On Tuesday, Dec. 18, the Federal Commission on School Safety […]
Protecting existing school funding while fighting for Full and Fair Funding
By Mike Ambrose Full and Fair Funding is crucial for student success, and research continues to demonstrate that increasing funding to education makes an important and lasting impact on students, particularly for students in high-need and low-income schools. Nonetheless, despite boasting the fifth-largest economy in […]
Commentary: Education, protests & freedom of speech are the ties that bind our republic
By Vernon Billy Students are the future torchbearers of liberty I hope I got your attention… By the time you read this, the November 2018 election will be history and the outcomes of Election Day will have been debated and analyzed by every political pundit […]
Bolstering your district’s LCAP stakeholder engagement might not involve the term ‘LCAP’
When it comes to promoting meaningful community and student engagement and input, schools and districts might want to consider a jolting principle: Why even use the acronym “LCAP” when initially communicating with the audience? Do they know what it is and will using the term […]