County
Message from the CCBE 2022 President
Empowering county board trustees
A headshot photograph of Joe Ross smiling (San Mateo COE - California County Boards of Education President)
Education is power, a pen in hand to write one’s own future.

I learned this from my father who worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a “labor custodian.” That was the title for a janitor. He was always telling me to make sure I went to college. After he was injured in an accident and my mother died, I was adopted at age five and moved into a new household with a new last name.

Probably these changes made me feel somewhat powerless. Not that I knew the word “power” at age 5. But I remember being very aware that the adults in my new family had something that, today, I would call power. Why? They had gone to college. They had degrees and careers.

Degrees. Careers. Power. I wanted these things. (So, I became a nerd.) And as school board trustees, we all want all 6 million California students to have access to these things, too.

The question isn’t whether California offers great educational opportunities. It does. The question is: who gets those opportunities?

Expanding equity and access to opportunity for all students is the prime directive. But who will get it done? With over 900 school districts in California, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has suggested that county offices of education may be best positioned to provide local leadership.

So it’s up to us — county board members and county superintendents working together — to do what we can to expand equity. Times are difficult. We’ve seen storms and fires and plagues. But we must keep our eye on the prize.

That’s why CCBE has adopted the following theme of the year for 2022: “Empowering County Board Members to Serve in Challenging Times.” The pillars of our work are training, activation and presence, or “TAP.”

We intend to double down on providing useful, relevant training (“T”). We will focus on activating and engaging not just school board members but all local leaders to advocate (“A”). And in Sacramento, when issues arise that matter to students, we intend to establish and maintain our presence (“P”).

We have a pen in hand. Working together, let’s empower our communities to put children first.

– Joe Ross, San Mateo COE
California County Boards of Education President