Reformers Needed to Run for Local School Boards

John Biver – ChampionNews.net

A few of the headlines on the Drudge Report this morning involve an international discussion over the relative strength of the U.S. and Russia after the events of the past year, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and this one:

“Iran orders Muslims to defend Palestinians.”

While Champion News encourages clear thinking people to stay informed and remain concerned about world events, we’d also like to see more Americans give a damn about things closer to home as well – like our local public/government-run schools.

Forget the propaganda you’re constantly subjected to through the mainstream media or school district newsletters: those schools are still failing to live up to the state constitutional mandate of being efficient and of high quality. Our schools are still more expensive than they need to be and still under-performing academically – yes, even in the suburbs.

Speaking of the media, another headline this morning involves the financial woes of Chicago’s two big newspapers. Maybe if they covered the real news regarding the state’s schools (let alone the state’s finances) people would still look to them for news and information.

School board elections are coming up April 7, 2009, and the filing period is between January 20th and the 26th. Click here for the details.

The good news is that there are already some good people serving on school boards. I use the word “some” on purpose. Those who are genuinely committed to change are greatly out-numbered by those defending the failed status quo. The vast majority of the people who run for school boards fall into the anti-reform camp:

* They’re a retired teacher.
* They’re married to a teacher.
* They’re a teacher in another district.
* They’re affiliated with a teachers union.
* They’re doing business with government schools.
* They’re the type who believes what they read in the newspaper about how wonderful the public schools are.

We’ve commented on the problems of education often on this website (see examples here), but have also provided links to the organizations around the country who are attempting to bring true reform (see here and here). The national school reform movement is alive and well – the only thing missing is enough people running for public office to force the implementation of all the proven reforms.

One school board member who is setting an example of what’s possible is Chris Jenner from Cary District 26. We’ve posted a few pieces by Mr. Jenner:

Thoughts from an independent-minded school board member
Education association conference costs and bang for the buck
Public schools should be about learning: Vote no on SB2288
HB750: Another year older and deeper in malarkey
Illinois schools are NOT poorly funded
Chris Jenner’s Education Bill Digest, March 2007

Earlier this month Chris sent us an update on a couple of new policies adopted by his board:

“Last night our board adopted not one, but two good government policies I’ve been working through the appropriate channels for months.

The first is an addition to our policy 2:250, “Access to District’s Public Records”. We added a section called “Voluntary Transparency.” It was inspired by a publication from Michigan’s Education Action Group called “The Reform Agenda: Four ideas for better Michigan schools” – http://www.educationactiongroup.org/documents/MichiganReformAgenda_000.pdf.

The verbiage of the addition is:

Voluntary Transparency

It is the intent of the Board that District operations will be transparent to the greatest extent possible. The District’s public records shall be made available on the District website for at least one (1) year from their creation date or Board approval, whichever is later. District public records requiring Board approval shall be placed on the website within 7 days of Board approval, subject to applicable privacy laws.

To give future boards flexibility, we included Exhibit 2:250-E, which lists the records to be posted “including, not limited to.” The list was also inspired by the EAG piece. Verbiage in the exhibit is: The records to be made available under the Voluntary Transparency section of Policy 2:250 include, but are not limited to:

– Current District budget, and minimally past 3 years’ budgets;
– Meeting minutes, including all Board actions and votes, and meeting agendas;
– Names of elected officials and contact information, including email addresses;
– Names of administrative officials and contact information, including email addresses;
– Name of the District’s FOIA compliance contact, and FOIA procedures;
– Information about any organizations or associations supported by District funds that perform political lobbying or advocacy, including the organization names, the amount expended on each, and each organization’s or association’s legislative agenda;
– A list of all vendors the District does over $5,000 in business annually with, and the budgeted and actual amounts expended on each vendor;

– Copies of audits (including Audited Financial Reports) and compliance reports;
– The District’s checkbook register.

The other good government policy our board adopted last night was an addition to our policy 4:60 – “Purchases and Contracts.” I shamelessly stole verbiage from Palatine D-15, which passed a very similar policy in August, 2008 – http://www.ccsd15.net/AboutDistrict15/BoardOfEducation/PDF/BOE_Manual_2008-9-25.pdf
– go to policy 4:55.

The revision to 4:60 adopted last night has an added section entitled, “Procurement of Items That May be Exempt from the Formal School Code Bid Process.” And it’s pretty much what it says. It’s mainly to ensure we can’t fall into long term cozy relationships with law firms, accountants, auditors, bond people, etc. that are automatically continued year after year. If you take a gander at our 4:60, also note the section on Vendor Conflict of Interest (i.e. pay-to-play is against policy in D-26), which we adopted in 2006.

Both were approved unanimously. I hope many other districts get similar policies passed.

I expect that the transparency policy will take a few months to be implemented and that the procurement of exempt items policy will take effect as contracts expire. A small win that I hope contributes to freedom, choice, and prosperity.”

Here are the links to the district’s policies on their website:

http://www.cary26.org/documents/Policy2250revNov08-2.pdf
http://www.cary26.org/documents/Policy0460.pdf.

Chris followed up with this note:

“One thing our law firm pointed out is that we still require bids for purchases at the old level, even though I think state law raised the bar from $10,000 to $25,000. It was like them saying why aren’t you being as sleazy as the law allows? The main partner in our law firm is school board secretary (formerly board president) in her district.”

That last note gives an example not only of Chris Jenner’s sense of humor, but also just one small example of how the school system is one big happy family. If it weren’t for elections, reform would never even have a chance.

We’re going to keep saying it on this website: if you want to see “change you can believe in,” forget the Obama Administration. Get involved yourself. Run for office. The time to circulate petitions for school board is now.

John Biver is the Editor of Champion News.