All good in Colorado?

Heading into a Ridgway community meeting, recently, I passed two of Colorado's ubiquitous bumper stickers on a roof-top carrier:  "I love Colorado" and "It's all good."

Normally, no big deal.  This time I stopped in my tracks.

I love Colorado, too, but is it really all good?

Just from a preschool-12th perspective, "good" for Colorado appears, well, interesting:  

• Unlike nearly every other state, Colorado funds vital special education below 20% of the cost. Most other states fund in the 60% range.  Our local taxes must make up the rest.  We are at the very bottom of the "barrel."
• 36th in pre-school funding
• 40th in student-teacher ratio in elementary schools
• 43rd in nation in per pupil funding adjusted for regional cost differences
• 45th in percent of state wealth dedicated to public education
• 49th in fourth grade reading-poverty gap
• $2,500 below national average in per pupil funding (adjusted for regional differences)

Higher education, roads, bridges, prisons, parks...name a state investment...each has a similar, down-sloping reality.

It's all good!?

We seem to have unintentionally and almost unconsciously "designed" a state financing system around "less  taxes" instead of "wise taxes."  For many, taxes have become "bad" instead of a community essential.  While more folks seem to be awakening to "the state funding system is broken," few are taking action to fix it.  

"It's all good" is a delusion.  The reality, a core leadership challenge for great governing!

- - - - -

Possible next steps:

• Ensure your board is operating with a unified and aligned leadership framework tied to wildly important priorities
• Be a governing team deeply involved in CASB's advocacy network
• Ponder this "Colorado vs. national average" chart
• Read  Financing Colorado's Future, here and here
• Regularly learn from the Colorado School Finance Project
• Reach team clarity with the realities, rankings and status of Colorado's financing system
• Define your team's next-step responsibilities with impacting the situation 
• Develop an ongoing, local engagement/advocacy effort

LearnING community...

Nothing like a learning community to, ah, develop learning and improvements. [Don't miss the list below.] Above, CDE's Chad Auer processes a conversation with board members Robin (Rocky Ford), Jaye Sudar (Huerfano) and Debbie Hansen (La Junta).

Becky Smith, change agent at CDE, leads a discussion about researcher Michael Fullen's characteristics of an effective school district:

• Focus: a clear direction and relentless focus on student achievement through instructional improvement in the classroom. 
• Data: access and use of data on student learning as a strategy for classroom and school improvement to monitor progress.
• Leadership: development of teacher, principal and district leadership to share effective practices from each other and from the larger research base. 
• Resources: allocating resources in accordance with this focus without a reliance on one-time, special funding. 
• Reduce distractors: a concerted effort to reduce the distractors that undermine teachers’ and principals’ capacity to carry out this central strategy. 
• Community: link to parents and the community and related agencies to provide support for students and educators and to intervene early in case of difficulties experienced by students and by schools.
• Communication: a constant and consistent communication that focuses on the core message up and down and across the district. 
• Esprit de Corps: a sense of identity and sense of community among teachers and principals and between schools and the district.

How's YOUR system doing?  

How's your governing team modeling the way?

What do your need from CASB staff/network to improve?

How might your team tap the gold mine that is CDE?

Core focus: All students achieving...

________________________

Designed for both new members and veterans committed to mentoring, YearOne is a series of insights based on crucial needs.  

________________________

Everywhere you go in Colorado, there are good people concerned about Colorado's sustainable investment in increasing student achievement.  

In an era of upward pressure on schools to improve student achievement, boards of education must be laser-focused on the systems, resources and human effort required to show real results in student academic progress. Schools must strive to close gaps, reach high and achieve mightily—even as funding shrinks and scrutiny becomes more intense.

The core mission of school boards is assuring that all students learn and meet achievement standards that will prepare them for success in our ever-changing world. In this era of constrained financing and increasing expectations, it’s clearly not a job for the feint of heart.

The other side of launch...

Boy oh boy.  CASB launched Gavel Guide.  Past tense.  Launched.  The app is here, waiting for you to load it onto your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.  (Anticipated Android launch date is June 25.)

Gavel Guide's main menu (iPhone display)

Just one week after CASB released the app, thirteen percent of our member districts have already installed the program.  Someone from each of those governing teams is learning from protocol explanations and sample announcements, finding answers to questions carried since joining the board. 

Vision and skills at GreatFutures...

Aurora president Mary Lewis shares an insight during small group time at last week's Great Futures cutting-edge learning environment on engagement, leadership and advocacy.  Fellow board member Jeanett Camany listens at left. 

Grassroots St. Vrain's Laura McDonald shares the story of building an effective local effort.  For more information on GSV go here.  [A glimpse from GSV's website:  "State of the District Meeting...May 7th...Will there be more state cuts?  Are District business costs increasing?  Will there be increased class sizes?  Please join us and find out from District leaders what possible changes are in store for next year."] 

Ridgway communications and connections...

Ah, the never-ending challenge of communicatING, engagING, relatING, connectING, advocatING, bondING, trustING...!  Last week, I stopped by Ridgway to support the third in a series of community leader nights.  Conveniently, the above props were left behind after a student play.  In a era filled with the stress of less financing and increased expectations, constantly investing in grrrrreat interpersonal and mass communication is crucial.   How's the challenge going for your governing team? 

Board member Bart Scalla facilitates one of the small groups.

Synergizing strengths...

Caught this core value during a presentation at the recent quarterly meeting of the Colorado BOCES* Association. The focus: Innovative work in the San Juan BOCES around Colorado's new instructional and leadership development opportunities. Every good-to-great governing team lives this value, well.

[Board of COOPERATIVE Education Services...a partnership of school districts...multiple districts maximizing efforts..school boards collaborating for kids...]

Behind the scenes of Gavel Guide's launch...

Tracking Gavel Guide's content development: drafted, reviewed, edited, finalized, and tested on iPad & iPhone platforms

On May 1, CASB will release Gavel Guide, a meeting management app for school boards.  With less than one week until launch, CASB is pushing toward the end of our Gavel Guide to-do list:  we are performing final content reviews, creating new webpages, designing email templates, and frequently exchanging technical notes with VistaWorks, our app developer.  Right now I have fast-paced workout music turned up in my office while I prep the app's backend website for a smooth launch.  Focus, focus.

A lanyard calling out...

Great governing?

Swink president Dianna Milenski's lanyard sums it up nicely.

Haiku Friday!!

This weather has me thinking of graduations. How about you? The trees blooming, perennials coming up, lawns are greening up...it just signals graduations for me. Spring is early this year, but I know graduations are a constant. So in honor of graduates....and the effects YOU'VE had on them for all these years:

What of them? What now?
Graduation. Celebration.
Leadership transferred?

Unstuck with Norm...

Recently received an excellent book review of Unstuck–A Tool for Yourself, Your Team and Your World from Norm Jennings, a first year member of the Adams 12 governing team. Given to me two years ago at the conclusion of a Thompson workshop, Unstuck captures the heart and opportunities of continuous improvement. A few nuggets from Norm:

• Being stuck is a situation we are all faced with at one time or another and the book treats that as a given. 
• [Unstuck] is an easy read and can be completed in a couple hours. Yet one can keep coming back to it and find new meaning, new inspirations, and new insights. Unstuck is not meant to be a one-time read. As a tool, this book is meant to be picked up and used whenever the need arises.
• Unstuck is broken down into three steps: admission, diagnosis, and extraction.
• Like an eating disorder or alcohol addiction, the first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem...Fear often prevents people and organizations from admitting that they’re stuck. 

Haiku Friday!!

Continuing my thoughts on remodeling.....

Deconstructing thoughts
RedesignING for workING
Kitchen of the board.

So, what do you think? Have you tried haiku yet? Give it a whirl and balance your brain. Come up with your own and send them to us. Who knows, you may get published!