Our advocacy power multiplies when we work together

This space is usually dedicated to the “year in review” and, certainly, any review of this past year in California’s education community would have to speak to the changes that arrived along with our new Governor and the attendant focus on education in the Legislature. Chief among these changes from a board perspective is some emphasis on school funding, including support for infrastructure improvements and significant efforts to address, at least in part, districts’ and county offices’ otherwise-escalating pension obligations. One might also say that the reforms made to charter school law are ultimately as impactful to governing boards, especially in terms of the day-to-day work we do.

For our organizations, the year gone by saw a tremendous amount of teamwork on shared objectives and, I think, respect between district board members and county board members continues to grow, accordingly. A great deal of my own work as California County Boards of Education President was focused on advancing objectives that supported all board members and, particularly, the work that CSBA does for all of us. The day that I, as CCBE President, testified on behalf of CSBA at the Senate Education Committee hearing on Assembly Bill 1505, a charter school reform bill, stands out to me not only as a moment of great pride personally, but also as powerful evidence of what we accomplish when we all share our views respectfully and move forward together armed with a greater shared understanding of our experience and goals.

We have a lot of work ahead, especially when it comes to continuing to advocate for the Full and Fair FundingSM of education in our state, and also in grappling with the changes to charter authorization and oversight, in which we all will soon need to be experts. Though my term as CCBE President is near its end, I look forward to continuing to serve and work with you as we move forward on these and many other important issues. It has been a tremendous honor to work with all of you to serve the greater education community. Thank you.