Taking Up the Threads of Governance
By Theresa Kelly Gegen
Everyone talks about governance, but what does it mean? In particular, what does good governance mean for boards of education?
Governance, n. (gov·er·nance): the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization). Govern, verb (gov·ern) 1a: to exercise continuous sovereign authority over especially to control and direct the making and administration of policy in ... 3a: to control, direct, or strongly influence the actions and conduct of 3b: to exert a determining or guiding influence in or over … 5: to serve as a precedent or deciding principle for. Middle English, from Anglo-French governer, from Latin gubernare to steer, govern, from Greek kybernan
Almost every word is perfect for the purposes of a definition of governance as applied to public education: process, organization, direction, policy, authority, guiding, influence, deciding, principles, and steer. The board of education is a unit of local government that establishes direction, goals, and priorities for a school district and determines policy, budget, leadership, and administration.
One of the reasons governance is tricky to define is that it doesn’t necessarily carry the same definition for every organization, every type of organization, or any individual within the organization. But for now, let’s have a simple, best practices, definition of this complicated concept and say school board governance is “the process of overseeing the direction of a school district.”
It’s both as simple as that, and way more than that.
Getting into the way more … what is good governance? You can search the web for “good governance” and see functions, pillars, processes, and more. Because governance isn’t the same for everyone, any of those resources might fit your organization, or yourself. Here are some particularly applicable resources to weave the threads of this amorphous but important idea into something usable.
Good governance ensures you and your school board are acting in the best interests of the district on behalf of the entire community: students, faculty, administration, and staff, plus all residents, be they parents or not. Good governance includes the responsibilities of setting goals and monitoring progress towards meeting those goals. Good governance means teamwork and understanding what is, and what is not, the role of the one performing the governance – in our case, the school board member. Good governance, at the local school board level, ensures that every student has access to a quality public education.
John K. Rutledge, a longtime board member for Wheaton Warrenville CUSD 200, speaks of the importance of the process of governance.
“It’s all about process, Rutledge says. “If the process is good, the decision will be good. Very few (if any) board members are capable of running a school district. If we have to tell the superintendent what to do, we have the wrong superintendent.
“Instead, ask questions about process, Rutledge continues. “What alternatives did you consider in formulating your recommendation? Among them, why did you select this one, pluses and minuses of each? Whose input did you solicit and consider? What are the downsides to your recommendation? What could go wrong and how would you address that? If the answers pass the smell test, I will support the recommendation.”
It’s the responsibility of the board to carry out the process of governing or overseeing the direction of a school district. And it’s the responsibility of each board member to make sure the board does that, with clear leadership and direction.
IASB Director of Outreach & Training Laura Martinez says, “The idea is that the board oversees everything, but is not involved in everything. The board works together as seven individuals ‘up on the balcony’ to discuss and debate and decide. Governance means keeping your eye on the big picture and always pushing the discussion to district ends – What are the values of this community? What are we here to do? Where do we want to go? How will we get there?”
Although the work of the board of education can only happen in a lawfully called meeting, the process of governance – good, effective governance — takes more.
“The Three Pillars that Forward Governance,” an article in Associations Now magazine, states that the pillars of strategy, structure, and culture provide “a framework for board members to understand how governance works and when it doesn’t.”
Strategy involves goal-setting work and the “changing environment to inform strategic organizational objectives. “Structure is the framework within which the board works to accomplish those objectives. For most boards of education, structure starts with policy and procedures.
Culture “involves the organization’s people and history and either enables — or inhibits — setting strategy, allocating resources, and aligning leadership teams to advance the organization.” A culture built on trust is essential to good governance.
The goal-setting work sets the direction, the framework for meeting those goals is found in policy, and the culture influences, and reflects, how the board functions as a team.
IASB Director of Outreach & Training Katie Bulava says “School board governance is the idea that individuals from different walks of life can come together to make the best decisions for their most important constituents — the students. The board’s commitment to the students is unwavering, and they can set aside differences to determine their communities’ educational aspirations and work as a team, based on the recommendations of their superintendent, to achieve those goals.”
Writing for Texas Lone Star magazine in 2010, Bill Nemir of the Texas Association of School Boards said, “The primary obligation of any board member is not with the students or the district or with increasing student achievement or being a good steward of district funds. Those are the primary obligations of the board, and they should be. But the primary obligation of the individual board member is in making sure that the board truly functions in a corporate fashion that both ensures clear leadership and direction and reinforces an operational structure….”
The Carver Policy Governance Model, created by John Carver, Ph.D., is the foundation for IASB’s Foundational Principles of Effective Governance. In the Carver thread, Policy Governance is a comprehensive set of principles that, when integrated and applied, allows boards to realize effective leadership and accountable, well-led organizations.
As we see often in public discourse, and public education in particular, Carver defines Policy Governance through what it’s not: It’s not a specific board structure, nor a set of best practices. It does not dictate group dynamics, needs assessment, problem-solving, fundraising, or managing change, and it “does not limit human interaction or stifle collective or individual thinking.”
What Policy Governance does is “a comprehensive set of integrated principles that, when consistently applied, allows governing boards to realize owner-accountable organizations” that “enables the board to focus on the larger issues, to delegate with clarity, to control management’s job without meddling, to rigorously evaluate the accomplishment of the organization; to truly lead its organization.”
James Russell, retired IASB Associate Executive Director for Communications and Production Services, was a part of many conversations on the IASB Principles of Effective Governance, board training, and supporting governance documents. Russel says, “Superintendents are tasked to focus on the questions of ‘can’ and ‘how.’ The job of school boards is to stay focused on the questions of ‘why’ and ‘should.’ There are implications for both assignments. But this is the starting point of how effective governance can — and should — work.”
The IASB publication “A School Board Member’s Approach to the Job” outlines the responsibilities and duties of a board of education member whose job is to serve in trust for the community. Number 15 on the list states “Continuously ask of yourself and the board, “Is this board work?” The deliberations of the board must add value. The board must deal with fundamental, long-term issues that require the wisdom and decision-making of a group of seven people who look at the whole — not just at pieces or the issue of the day.”
School board members are locally elected public officials entrusted with governing the local school district. Good governance. Successfully carrying out “the process of overseeing the direction of a school district,” happens when a school board engages with its community to ensure that the district is responsive to its educational priorities. It’s when the board employs (and evaluates) the superintendent and otherwise delegates authority to that person, through policy. It’s when the board clarifies the district’s purpose through goal-setting and prioritizing and monitors progress to those goals. And ultimately, it’s about the people, how the board takes responsibility for the work it chooses to do, and how it chooses to do the work.