Front Page: September/October 2024
By Theresa Kelly Gegen
While I welcome you to this, the September/October issue of the Illinois School Board Journal, I also invite all readers to join me in looking ahead to the next one, and to consider contributing your thoughts – crowdsource style -- on the topic of school board governance.
The November/December Journal will look at the basics, tenets, and importance of good governance for Illinois public school boards of education. So I’d like to ask everyone reading this to answer to this question:
What’s the secret to good governance?
Share your thoughts on governance with the readers of the Journal. What have you learned? What accepted practices work best in your district, or what accepted practices don’t work for your board at all? What’s your secret to making governance work?
You can send me your answers via email, postal mail, or voicemail (details below). Send your name and district, too, so I can give you proper credit. Answers are welcome from all readers … school board members, of course, but also from superintendents, administrative professionals, educators, other school district staff, former IASB staff, whomever you are. I very much hope to hear from you, and appreciate your valuable time.
One aspect of governance is, of course, school finance, including budgeting, scheduling, and planning for a referendum. You’ll find information on all of that in this issue of the Journal.
Starting on page 13, read excerpts from Essentials of School Finance, by James Fritts with Senior Editor Ann Willaims, on the school district financial calendar. “Each year, the board and superintendent work together to establish the annual agenda calendar for the coming year. The calendar includes actions and reports that must be completed during the year to meet legal requirements, keep the schools in business, and provide the board with information necessary for planning.”
“When a school board has determined the need to place a bond issue or operating question on the ballot, the school district owes the constituents accurate, timely and trustworthy information prior to the vote … as well as after.” Discover best practices on how to share that timely information In “Communicating Referendum Details to Your Community,” guest writer Brent Clark from Maine THSD 207, starting on page 18.
Also in this issue, discover how the school bond process has changed over the past years. What's New with School Bonds?” by Brittany Edwardes Keil starts on page 24 and offers insights into “What was once a humdrum process [that] now has all the markers of fully fledged political intrigue.”
Readers can also discover a new networking tool for school board members, find advocacy in action, set themselves up for success with strong beginnings, and more in this Journal. Thanks for reading!