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| School board meeting April 2023 when the Board proposed cuts to music and sports Photo by Tanner Phillips |
By Maris Abelson
Now that the distrust and acrimony from last spring’s school district budget negotiations have died down, it would be great to make some positive changes going forward:
1) Convene a year-round budget advisory committee.
Many school districts have these financial committees, made up of stakeholders from the district. Budget advisory committees (or financial advisory committees) foster collaboration, mutual respect, trust, and problem-solving.
When such a committee meets regularly, there are more eyes on the district’s finances and fewer surprises when the next year’s budget is created.
The Northshore School District’s Financial Advisory Committee, for example, has open meetings and minutes, and discusses upcoming budget concerns well in advance of budget negotiations.
2) Offer real back-and-forth interactions with the community.
Many members of the current school board ran years ago on offering more communication with the community. Unfortunately, there have been no regular coffees, forums, or town halls with the community during the year.
Last spring, a series of town halls were held regarding the budget cuts. It would be great to continue that practice, with general-topic town halls throughout the year, so board members could engage with community members.
This form of communication, rather than the brief, unanswered comment period provided at Board meetings, and emails to the Board (which often don’t result in a response), would enhance the rapport with constituents, and help to resolve problems as they arise.
Regular, anonymous, multilingual surveys of the student body and their families could really provide insight into the needs of constituents. Having a general comment section on surveys would also bring unexpected concerns to light.
Aggregating the responses and sharing them with the public would help create a feedback loop to keep families engaged. The Edmonds School District offers regular online surveys to students and the community throughout the year, which helps inform Board policymaking.
3) Exit surveys of families who unenroll would help to understand the main causes of attrition.
Demographic data is very useful, but giving families the opportunity to provide reasons for unenrolling their children is valuable because it is direct feedback from constituents. This should be provided as an option for families who leave our district.
In conclusion, a strong community is one where there is space for dialogue and public input. There is so much good will and energy in the Shoreline District. Let’s put it to good use by providing opportunities for more community engagement.
In conclusion, a strong community is one where there is space for dialogue and public input. There is so much good will and energy in the Shoreline District. Let’s put it to good use by providing opportunities for more community engagement.
Such an insightful useful and well balanced article
ReplyDeleteDon’t hold your breath. This has been an issue for many years.
ReplyDeleteIf things are so bad, why are two school board members running unopposed?
ReplyDeleteNot their fault. No one else stepped up.
DeleteThank you for this well-written article.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to community engagement, an ongoing financial advisory committee could also provide a possible bench for future school board directors.
Meaningful communications from the district is important so that families can make the best decisions on behalf of their children, even if it means taking them out of the district to get necessary services.
Just because two directors are running unopposed doesn’t mean times are rosy. Consider these factors among others: the district’s uncertain budget forecast, current administrative leadership turnover, union partnerships, an unbalanced state prototypical funding model, and changing demographics (e.g. lower birth rates, home-buying behaviors) that are affecting student enrollment in our region. And somehow the top priority of our schools - to provide the equitable education that our students need and deserve - needs to be upheld.
ReplyDeleteI believe the point of the article is to increase information and transparency across district budget, policies and decision-making so that solutions can be made with the needs of the greater community in mind and also in collaboration with those community members who desire to contribute towards that work.
Our board and administration breeze through the schools once or twice a year for PR driven meet and greets. They need to be much more active in the schools to get a boots on the ground perspective.
ReplyDelete1) Convene a year-round budget advisory committee. - Although the author presents this as a new idea for our district, our superintendent did develop a budget advisory committee in the past year: the Budget Advisory Team or BAT. The fact that this was not acknowledged in this article, I find dangerous for many reasons. Similarly to Northshore’s Financial Advisory Committee, you can find more information about Shorelines BAT’s work here: https://www.ssd412.org/departments/business-finance/budget/budget-advisory-team. Was last year's BAT perfect? No, but it is a start. And if you have recommendations for how to improve the ongoing work of the BAT, I highly suggest reaching out to Assistant Superintendent Brian Schultz (budget.advteam@ssd412.org) to share your proposed improvements. I believe there will be an update from the superintendent soon on the development of this year's BAT, as Dr. Reyes mentioned in a recent school board meeting this school year.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the district will turn the new BAT into a year-round effort with lots of transparency. I heard during the October 10 school board meeting that it may only run from November through April, but then again, the plans were only in draft form at the time.
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