Katy Citizen Watchdog$

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How The TASB Deceives The School Board

Back To “Mary’s Corner”

 

One of my least favorite nongovernmental organizations is the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).  This group exists to 1) make money off the state’s tax payers, 2) provide work for aging retired school administrators, 3) manipulate duly elected school boards so they don‘t get in the superintendent‘s way, 4) lobby on behalf of the interests of public school administrators, and 5) distribute its version of the Texas Education Code as interpreted by TASB written board policies.

 

Local school boards are charged with creating policy, but I’m guessing I’m the only Texas school board member alive who ever tried to get my own interpretations of legal matters passed in policy. When I did that in 1995-1996, one would have thought I had committed a Cardinal Sin. It was amazing to watch the machinations of the superintendent as he thwarted my effort.

 

I wanted very much to create policy that would allow parents to see and keep copies of tests that are given to students.  Seems like a reasonable plan, yes?  Apparently it wasn‘t, and so my proposed policy was summarily dismissed.  My other issue was to try to put a majority of actual parents on the Campus Advisory Team at each school. We can all see why that proposal wouldn’t sit too well with principals, and that didn’t get anywhere either.

 

My practice with Board Policy matters, while I was a school board member, was to visit with the administrator in charge of that collection of policies (Mrs. Bonnie Holland) twice a year when the TASB sent them out for review.  I went over every policy change with her, which took hours to do, and then I went over the important changes with the Board at the Work Study meeting prior to the vote the following week. (One can see why I was so popular with the rest of the Board!)  But I thought that it was my job (as well as all the other Board members’) to oversee this matter especially because rules do matter (as we have seen this past summer), and Boards shouldn’t be voting for rules and rule changes without paying some attention to them.

 

As it is now, NO ONE looks at the proposed changes, and if one attends a work study session where they are supposed to be “studied,” one will see that such is the case.

 

One of the most interesting things I discovered (because I had the good sense to ask), was how does the TASB decide what “Local” policy will be?  I knew that our Board wasn’t generating any “Local” policy, so I was curious about how we got them.

 

The answer from Mrs. Holland was that the TASB creates many forms of the same policy, and then the administration at the school district selects the one they think will fly with their particular Board!

 

I have to tell you I was stunned by that answer.

 

What she said was, depending on the politics, intelligence, and purposes of a particular Board, the Administration decided what level of rules they could get by their Board in the form of a policy.

 

I asked for an example, and here is what I received:

 

These are sample board polices (in 1996) (BDB LOCAL) regarding the Board Internal Organization:  Internal Committees.  (Recall that I am not too fond of the use of Board Committees which usurp the power of the elected Board to make policy decisions, so I thought it was fitting that these were the ones that were chosen for me to peruse.)

 

Example I says:  The Board shall establish standing committees for budget, building, finance, instruction/curriculum, personnel, and policy review.  All standing committees of the Board shall consist of  three Board members.

 

The President may appoint special committees as necessary to fulfill specific assignments.  The function of the committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative, and advisory, but not administrative.  Special committees shall report their findings to the Board and shall be dissolved upon completion of the assigned task or vote of the Board.  No action or decision of a special committee shall be legally binding or official unless authorized or approved by the Board in an official Board meeting.

 

All special committees of the Board shall consist of three or less board members.

 

The President of the Board shall be an ex officio member of all Board committees.

 

Committees may transact business only within specific authority granted by the Board.  To be continuously binding, all such business must be reported to the Board at the regular or special meeting for approval and entry into the minutes as a public record.

 

Example II says:  The Board shall have committees as approved by the membership.  Each Board committee shall consist of at least one Board member.  When so created, such committees shall be appointed by the President and shall terminate upon completion of their assignments, or upon a vote of the Board at any time.  All members of the Board are invited to attend and participate in any committee meeting.

 

Committees shall have no power to take official action or to commit the Board or District to any course of action.  Functions of committees shall include, but not be limited to, recommending the identification and assessment of needs, recommending priorities and allocation of funds, and evaluating outcomes of performance of the District. 

 

The President of the Board and the Superintendent shall be ex officio members of all Board committees.  The Superintendent may appoint one or more staff members to serve with him or her and assist with studies and reports.

 

No individual, or group composed of less than a quorum of the Board meeting in regular or special session shall perform any of the Board’s function.

 

Example III says:  The Board shall perform its work, as far as it is practicable, as a Committee of the Whole.

 

Special committees of the Board may be appointed by the President or chosen by vote of the Board.  The Superintendent and the President of the Board may be ex-officio members of special committees.  The majority of the members of a committee shall constitute a quorum.

 

Committees shall perform specific duties that may be assigned to them by the Board, and when they work of such committees has been completed, the committees shall be automatically discharged.  Administrative officers are eligible as additional members of such committees.

 

The function of all committees shall be fact-finding and advisory, but never legislative or administrative.  No committee, whether special or of a temporary nature, shall have power to act unless especially so empowered by the Board.  In case power to act is conferred, the committee shall report its action to the Board at its next regular meeting.

 

The President of the Board may assign Board members to administratively developed committees and/or areas needing study.  The Board member(s) will serve in an ex-official capacity as a Board liaison to the committee or study area.

 

Example IV says:  The Board shall have no standing committees.  Insofar as possible, all committee work for matters pertaining to business and educational policy shall be done as a Committee of the Whole.  Representatives from the Board shall also be appointed to serve as liaison between the Board and other community organizations.

 

The President may appoint special committees as necessary to fulfill specific assignments.  The function of committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative, and advisory, but not administrative.  Special committees shall report their findings to the Board and shall be dissolved upon completion of the assigned task or vote of the Board.

 

The President of the Board and the Superintendent shall be ex officio members of all Board committees.

 

Committees may transact business only within specific authority granted by the Board.  To be continuously binding, all such business must be reported to the Board at the next regular or special meeting for approval and entry into the minutes as a public record.

 

Example V says:  The Board shall have no standing committees.  Insofar as possible, all committee work for matters pertaining to business and educational policies shall be done as a Committee of the Whole. 

Special committees may be appointed by the President of the Board or may be chosen by a vote of the Board, and shall consist of not fewer than three members of the board.  The function of committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative, and advisory, but not administrative.  Special committees shall report their findings to the Board and shall be dissolved upon completion of the assigned task.

 

The President of the Board and the Superintendent shall be ex officio members of all Board committees.  Other administrative officers and staff members may be assigned to committees.

 

No individual, or group composed of less than a quorum of the Board meeting in regular or special session, shall perform any of the Board’s functions.

 

Example VI says:  The Board shall have no standing committees.  Insofar as possible, all committee work for matters pertaining to business and educational policy shall be done as a Committee of the Whole.

 

Special committees may be created by the Board for the special assignments.  The President may appoint special committees as necessary to fulfill specific assignments.  The function of committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative, and advisory, but not administrative.  Special committees shall be terminated upon completing the assignments or may be terminated by a vote of the Board at any time.  Special committees may transact business binding on the District only within authority specifically granted to them, and to be continuously binding, all such business transacted by committees must be reported at the next meeting of the Board for approval and entry into the minutes of the Board as a public record.

 

The President of the Board and the Superintendent shall be ex officio members of all Board committees.

 

Committees may transact business only within specific authority granted by the Board.  To be continuously binding, all such business must be reported to the Board at the next regular or special meeting for approval and entry into the minutes as a public record.

 

Example VII says:  The President may appoint special committees as necessary to fulfill specific assignments.  The function of committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative, and advisory, but not administrative. Special committees shall report their findings to the Board and shall be dissolved upon completion of the assigned task.

 

Special committees shall be established in finance, curriculum, long range planning, and facilities.  These committees shall be recognized and/or appointed every year.

 

The Board President and the Superintendent shall be ex official members of all Board committees.

 

Committees may transact business only within specific authority granted by the Board.  To be continuously binding all such business must be reported to the Board at the next regular or special meeting for approval and entry into the minutes as public record.

 

Got that? Pick one.

 

These polices, while supposedly addressing the same subject, are all over the map with regard to the function of the committee, who is on it, what the purposes of the committee might be, what legality their decisions have, et cetera.

 

But without question, the BOARD, and not an administrator, should be deciding which policy to use as well as designing it in the first place.

 

Katy ISD board members don’t get that opportunity.  Mrs. Holland told me so.

 

Unfortunately, I can say for certain that the current KISD Board doesn’t really want that opportunity.

 

To see current Local Policy for Board committees go to:  http://www.tasb.org/policy/pol/private/101914/pol.cfm?DisplayPage=BDB(LOCAL).pdf&QueryText=BOARD%20COMMITTEES

 

 

Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$

Date: 08/29/2007