By Anne L. Bryant
4/22/03 -- As NSBA has just completed another successful annual conference, this is a good time to review some of our accomplishments over the past year and look at the challenges we will face in the year ahead.
NSBA has been working with the state associations of school boards to bring local board members tools to help them make timely, effective decisions.
One of these tools is the online learning center, which is linked to 38 states and 16 campuses. Six courses are available, and more are on the way.
Another is the series of publications on student achievement. A new report in this series on continuous improvement will be out soon.
Among other resources provided to National Affiliate school districts are Inside School Law, a newsletter offering preventive strategies to keep school boards out of the courts, and Update, a newsletter available by fax and e-mail.
School districts that are part of NSBA's National Affiliate program receive valuable products and services, receive major savings on NSBA events and publications, and help NSBA speak with a united voice on Capitol Hill on key public education issues like vouchers, funding, and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
Over the past year, NSBA provided school board leaders with important guidance on NCLB, translating complicated federal regulations into clear and plain language. I am proud of the fact that we were the only education association to identify the 41 areas of state flexibility in the NCLB legislation. Our state associations are able to use this information to work more effectively with their own departments of education.
Last summer, NSBA began a major nationwide effort to campaign for federal funding for education, which resulted in local school boards sending 10,000 postcards to members of Congress.
At a moment when Congress was focused on national security and the war on terrorism, our campaign seemed far-fetched. Yet we persisted because we knew that people in communities across America remain deeply committed to supporting public education.
Congress got the message, and $3.1 billion was added to this year's federal budget for education.
This year will present some major challenges for funding public education. The United States is spending billions of dollars to free Iraq, and we will have to spend billions more to rebuild it.
Those of us on the home front face our own set of challenges. The economy is struggling. State budgets are in dire straits. State aid to school districts is being slashed. These are hard times, and local board members are working overtime to avoid making cuts which could damage our core mission. So getting the federal government to meet its obligations and to keep its promises has to be at the top of our agenda.
Another of NSBA's top priorities is reform of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and ensuring that Congress provides full funding for this mandate.
During the past year, NSBA worked with the Council of School Attorneys and more than 200 school board members from across the country to craft 40 specific recommendations for reforming IDEA.
NSBA's efforts to focus school board members' attention on this issue resulted in 30,000 letters and e-mails to members of Congress.
The message got through. The most recent House bill on IDEA (H.R.1350), contains many of NSBA's recommendations.
NSBA also will be working this year to block voucher programs. This is no time for the federal government to be wasting public tax dollars to support private schools. Public education in our great democracy can never be based on the idea that you take care of a few students and leave the rest behind.
Another issue NSBA will be working on during the year ahead is full funding for NCLB. The last thing we need is another unfunded mandate foisted upon us.
We all believe in the high goals and the noble purpose of NCLB. Indeed, we need to make sure that every student becomes academically competent. But the real challenge is to make sure that all students gain the skills they need to go beyond competence, to become successful, well-rounded, and contributing citizens of the 21st century.
NSBA will work with the state associations and National Affiliates to make the case for public education in our communities -- with business leaders and the public at large. One of our challenges is to make sure that our effort to raise standards is not simply reduced to raising test scores.
A singular focus on testing will lead people to think that anything that isn't testable isn't worth having in public education. The arts, music, great literature, the humanities, citizenship, and community service also are important.
Good tests are building blocks, a foundation. But to build a cathedral of learning we must do much more. Raising children to become healthy, creative, independent, caring adults is just as important as academics.
School board leaders need to reach out to parents and communities -- to business leaders and community activists, to senior citizens and religious leaders, to real estate agents and chambers of commerce -- and have a serious conversation around what really counts when it comes to public education.
Over the coming weeks and months, schools and districts will be issuing report cards showing how well they are doing under a variety of measures. We must help the media put these report cards into a context of the more important issues -- leadership, building a better America, and creating citizens of the world.
Let's work together to create a broad understanding in our communities about what matters most in public education -- stretching a child's imagination and a young person's ambition every day, improving teaching and learning every school year, and making sure that all of our students grow up to be committed and caring citizens.