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With state involvement in schools, sometimes board members may wonder what they can do to fix laws or advocate for changes that will benefit their students.
Kirk Schneidawind MSBA Executive Director
We take advocacy for our boards very seriously, so we give you many opportunities to tell us what you want and what your priorities are.
The answer for “What Can I Do?” came in the mail the first week of September. It’s a ballot for the 2013 delegates to the MSBA Delegate Assembly. By voting for your delegates, you are selecting school board representatives from your area to vote on policy and funding issues that will be included in MSBA’s legislative platform. In short, you are helping to pick local school board members who can support the legislative changes you want to see. And you can also join your board in writing a resolution on an issue that can be voted on at our December Delegate Assembly. You don’t need to be a delegate to submit a resolution. However, having the support from your local school board is extremely helpful in an attempt to garner support from other delegates. MSBA averages more than 30 legislative resolutions in an average year. If a majority of the school board delegates approve the resolution, it will likely become part of your Association’s platform for the 2014 legislative session. It’s all part of how MSBA keeps a grassroots advocacy system in place to push for issues that local school board members care about. Our Governmental Relations team of Grace Keliher and Denise Dittrich will use that grassroots feedback to push for your changes at the state Capitol. We take advocacy for our boards very seriously, so we give you many opportunities to tell us what you want and what your priorities are. Our three-part system kicks off with our Fall Area Legislative Meetings, scheduled across the state so board members can hear about changes that happened in the past session and what we might need to prepare for in 2014. Visit our website to find the nearest meeting for you. In November, we have six Pre-Delegate Assembly meetings where our staff runs through all of the resolutions that will be presented at the Delegate Assembly. We dig for the background on the issue, list pros
and cons and help answer any questions you may have on a resolution. Our final step is the December 6-7 Delegate Assembly, where school board delegates vote on each resolution. Delegates will be charged with voting for or against a resolution. Will this specific resolution help my district? The districts in my region? All of the districts in the state? While we encourage the delegates to think about all of these options, it is the statewide perspective that should be the ultimate filter for all of the delegates. Every district that is a member of MSBA should benefit from a legislative position that either repeals an unfunded mandate or adds value to school district programs in order to improve student achievement. It’s our best way to find out exactly what districts need so that when the 2014 session opens, we can be ready to advocate for those issues. In total, our Delegate Assembly includes 136 school board members, elected from 30 areas across the state – as well as your 15 MSBA Board of Directors. We will have delegates from our smallest school districts voting along with delegates from our largest districts. Each district has their own unique challenges, but when they come together to support a resolution that helps the Minneapolis as well as the Hills-Beaver Creek School District, the MSBA delegates are sending a powerful statement to the Minnesota Legislature. Because of this experience, I can assure you that each school board delegate will return to their local school district a better school board member. At MSBA, we listen to your concerns and want to represent YOU. Some past examples of pushing your resolutions have resulted in the repeal of the January 15 penalty for not settling teacher contracts, increasing equalization rates, full funding for voluntary all-day every-day kindergarten, as well as maximizing revenue from school district state trust lands. It’s all part of how we determine what issues we work on. It’s also one of the best things that you can do to help advocate for your students and district. September/October 2013 5