I had lunch with a colleague yesterday, who is, to put it mildly, a sophisticated political operative. He has amazing insight into matters pertaining to the political process. I thoroughly enjoy speaking with him about democracy, citizen engagement, and the evolving nature of our society.
Both of us commented on how many people feel disenfranchised. They may not vote because they feel they are not able to make a difference. At our lunch, my colleague and I spoke about how many people may not be aware of some of the mechanics for “getting involved.”
A major focus of advocacy in the learning disabilities community is about access to and the quality of education. Throughout Canada, public school boards are governed by elected trustees. Similar structures are used in other jurisdictions around the world. The following is meant to provide some ideas about how to get involved and make a difference in school trustee elections.
School boards are important. While the responsibilities of elected school boards may vary in different jurisdictions, some common major functions of school boards include:
- Planning and setting priorities for the school district in a way that reflects the community’s wishes, available resources and sound educational practice
- Setting goals for the school district to ensure that education provided in the district’s schools is in step with today’s world
- Evaluating the School Board Superintendent
- Adopting an annual budget for the school system
- Making policy to guide the administration and employees toward district goals
- Communicating with the community and staff on behalf of the school district
Sadly, many votes for school trustees are cast without much consideration. Name recognition, rather than views on critical issues like special education, school closure or student transportation, often determines what trustee gets elected.
School trustees work for the public! Trustees do not work for the school district; the school district works for the trustees! Trustees represent the electorate on the school board. An important part of the role of the trustee is to listen to and represent the interest of the people he or she represents. The role of a trustee is also to help constituents get needed support if they are experiencing difficulties with the school system. And, as many families with children with special education will attest, students with exceptional learning needs often encounter problems. A good trustee can help to negotiate the system to help families better address a child’s education needs.
Trustees also make decisions about general district policy that can affect special education. The most notable policy decisions include the school district’s budget (that can either maintain, increase or decrease funds allocated to special education) and transportation – a pivotal service that can impact both the quality of a child’s educational experience and their accessibility to programs and services.
So, what can you do?
1. Find out what the prospective trustee thinks about special education issues.
a. Attend a Trustee election forum. Most school districts organize trustee forums, and post the schedule of forums on their website. Attend and ask questions. If your children are old enough, bring them along and encourage them to ask questions. They clearly have a vested interest.
b. Check out the prospective candidate’s website. Most candidates have a website that outlines their platform. If you do not know who the candidates are for your constituency, a great source is the municipal or county returning office. They can advise you about who is running for different offices.
c. If you are a Facebook or Twitter user, follow candidates on these media. Trustees or trustee candidates who are familiar with these media often provide updates about issues using social media, or solicit input about key issues using these vehicles.
d. Email or phone the prospective candidate to ask questions. This is also a great way to “test” understanding and knowledge. It is also a good way to check out their attitude toward key issues that may not be relevant from a website or campaign brochure.
e. Check out the voting record of incumbent trustees. Ask trustees running for re-election about why they voted the way they did on key issues. Minutes and meeting material from past Board meetings are always available on the School District’s website. If you do not have access to the internet, then it is possible to phone the secretary of the District’s Board of Trustees, and ask for information from past meetings.
2. Attend a public board meeting for your school district to see existing trustees in action. This is particularly valuable for Trustees running for re-election. It is useful to see trustees interact with their colleagues and the public. Some are wonderful and some do not live up to their campaign and website statements.
3. Consider campaigning for a trustee candidate whose values are consistent with yours. There are many benefits to this action. The first is to help your preferred candidate win the election. The second is that you will have an opportunity to communicate, at a much more personal level, some of the issues around special education that are important to you. As a parent of a child with exceptional learning needs, you are likely far more knowledgeable than the trustee candidate. Use this as an opportunity to share knowledge.
4. Use local resources. Websites and discussion boards seem to pop up around election time. They are easily found using search engines like Google. Check them out.
5. Get out and vote. Make your preferences known with an informed vote.
Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.
© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows: Kathryn Burke, “School Boards and Special Education: Making the Connection” www.LDExperience.ca, July 27, 2010.
7 Comments
Kathyrn, I appreciate your encouragement to parents to get involved and find out about their trustee candidates. Yes, trustees work for the public and their constituents and also, for the good of public education, and yes, they direct the administration through policies etc. Thus when a recommendation comes from the Superintendent, it is usually arising out of the administration’s research and response to a direction the Board has already set. It does not usually come out of thin air. Ideally boards must work collaboratively WITH the experts in the administration as well as with their public to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Together we are stronger! It is not a question of my way or your way….OUR way ultimately (or hopefully) will use the best of all the ideas that come forward when a decision is being made. Catherine
Thank you for explaining what School Boards do and encouraging people to inform themselves and get out to vote. I’d go further and urge people to run. The system need good people: committed, informed, passionate folks who are prepared to work collaboratively with their colleagues, administration, parents and community for the good of the children.
Hi Kathryn
Great post, it is important for families of children with special needs to get to know their candidates and what they will do for matters that are important to our families. I like what Catherine Ripley has posted in reply, and my question to that would be, that how or what do we need to do to ensure that the Superintendent is lobbying for the true needs of the children and not lobbying for what works best for the system and meeting some requirements for special needs? In our district, ATL [assistive technology for learning] is not something that is strongly implemented to date for our children with only two ATL consultants in our district is a strong indication that perhaps the trustees are not fully aware of the true needs. It is why a group of parents of children with exceptional learning needs continue to advocate for a special needs task force. It will help administrate that the Superintendent communicates the true needs to the trustees so they can lobby for their constituents.
Catherine, I agree with your comments that policy directions do not come out of thin air. It is important that actions of any district be attuned and responsive to the willed direction for that district. Ideally, that “willed direction” is set out by the elected officials as a reflection, in a public system, of what the public wants. One point I do want to raise however is that Trustees cannot be seen nor act as puppets of administration. I am not speaking about any one district specifically, but the concerns I have heard expressed that many boards are just that – puppets to place a rubber stamp on administrative decisions. When that happens, the board of trustees become effectively an ornament. I believe that the situation you describe about collaboration and actions in accordance with agreed upon policy is the ideal and the way it should be….I do not believe that this is the universal standard for all boards. However, I would love to be proven wrong!
Esme, I agree with you about running as Trustees! We need to make educational governance via Boards of Trustees meaningful. This means getting the highest quality candidates for the job. It takes effort.
One example of effort that I think is working very well is in my home community. It is called ARTES – standing for the Association for Responsive Trusteeship in Edmonton Schools. http://www.responsivetrustee.com/ ARTES was created by some thought leaders in our community who passionately believed that trusteeship was important, and that it was critical to get as many highly qualified candidates as possible running in the next election (this fall). ARTES has sponsored a few events (including the special ed forum that I wrote about in another post). It has an active email list, blog, etc. I think the efforts are paying off. I have not, in my days paying attention to such things, ever seen such a build up to trustee elections. As a person who passionately believes in the democratic process, this makes me very happy and optimistic.
Kathryn, you said it concisely and very well: “School trustees work for the public! Trustees do not work for the school district; the school district works for the trustees!” School boards, as with any board, exist to exercise their authority, control and direction over an organization on behalf of the membership. For public school boards, the membership consists of the Trustee’s constituents.
School boards are very important to the future of our children. Consequently it is essential to hold trustees to high standards. One generally accepted indicator of public trust is a board’s record of responsible analysis of options, thoughtful discussion and written policies. You gave some great ideas on how to review the track record of trustees and find out what trustee candidates think.
May we all take the time to learn how trustees will represent us. May we make informed decisions on selecting the leadership of our public school districts!
Agreed – the way things have been done in the past isn’t necessarily the way the should be done in the future. The new board will have an opportunity to make some immediate decisions about how they will work and what will be their priorities. Special education should be one of them. I hope the public interest at this stage will continue post-election; it’s part of the trustees’ job to promote such engagement.
Note from LDExperience. For the benefit of readers outside the province of Alberta, municipal elections, including elections for Public Trustees, are set for Oct 18. These elections will result in new school boards.