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On March 2, I joined Commissioner Hespe and New Jersey Institute of Technology President Joel Bloom in the announcement of the Future Ready Schools – New Jersey project at the State Board of Education meeting. The program will be a partnership among NJSBA, the New Jersey Department of Education and NJIT. Its goal will be to promote digital learning in our schools and help districts secure the necessary technology. 2
We will launch the program at Workshop 2016. Future Ready Schools will recognize district efforts to effectively use technology in teaching and learning. Its structure will be similar to the very successful Sustainable Jersey for Schools program. And by the way, as of this morning, Sustainable Jersey’s membership stands at 428 schools in 161 districts. That’s 28 percent of the state’s school districts. Impressive! 2
In 2013, shortly after the Newtown tragedy, our Association went into high gear to address the concerns of school boards about the safety and security of their students. Major projects included— The Safe and Secure Schools Forum at The College of New • Jersey, which attracted over 600 board members, educators and other citizens, and Our School Security Task Force, which conducted a major • study on issues surrounding school safety…from security 3
personnel, to policies, to training. Our efforts were noticed. President Don, who co-chaired NJSBA’s task force, was appointed to the state’s own security task force, which issued a report that referenced our study and reflected many of our recommendations. Today, NJSBA’s efforts continue to be recognized. On March 1, Commissioner Hespe visited NJSBA to discuss school security concerns. He was accompanied by Assistant Commissioner Bob Bumpus and top officials of the department’s Office of School Preparedness & Emergency Planning Our dialogue focused on the need to expand training in school security to all stakeholders, including board members, parents and school district staff. Another byproduct of this meeting: We will incorporate a module on the local board’s role in school security into our online 3
Governance training. NJSBA information and training efforts in school security continue. This month’s issue of School Leader focuses on school safety. And on June 3, we will conduct our “School Security and Student Safety Conference at Mercer County College. I am happy to report that the Commissioner will be a speaker at the program, along with a couple of key legislators. 3
There’s no greater sign of the effectiveness—and success—of the New Jersey School Boards Association than the revitalization of our county associations. Here too, relationships count, whether they are with the key lawmakers, such as Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto, who attend the meetings to speak with board members, face to face, or the corporate sponsors who enable the Educational Leadership Foundation of New Jersey to fund the programs at no expense to local school boards. Whether it’s the 8 th grade dialogue in Monmouth County, the 4
“Unsung Heroes” recognition program in Middlesex, or the equity dialogue with students and superintendents in Mercer, I’ve enjoyed attending this year’s county programs. I have attended 16 counties, with re-visits to four. During the spring I will attend meetings for the remaining 5 counties. Our county associations are having a very successful year. 4
And so is our state association. One area I would stress is finance. Tonight, you will act on the proposed 2016-2017 Association budget. The proposed budget recognizes the financial challenges facing our members. Therefore, for the seventh consecutive year, there will be no increase in Association dues. While dues remain level, the need for services grows. And the 2016-2017 will maintain all service levels. 5
Last year, we reached a milestone, when non-dues revenue passed the 30 percent mark. For 2016-2017, non-dues revenue will make up an even larger share of the budget, 32.2 percent to be exact. That’s critical as we seek to expand services for our members, but have to remain sensitive to their financial situations. Here too, relationships matter. The healthy stream of non-dues income results from creative efforts, such as Workshop sponsorships, the NJSBA Corporate Partner program, and initiatives such as NJSBA’s TEC (Technology for Education and Careers). It also come from sponsorships at successful programming, like our recent Technology Conference, which brought together technology leaders, such as Travis Allen, vendors and school officials for an educational experience that received excellent evaluations from all participants. 5
Our iSTEAM project—integrative Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics—is a multi-year plan to increase workplace readiness skills and positively impact teacher professional development. The list of potential partners in our STEAM education efforts is impressive. In the past, I’ve pointed to the U.S. Army , which will fully sponsor the iSTEAM Command Center at this year’s Workshop. That’s a $20,000 sponsorship—up from $10,000! To advance our STEAM education efforts by gaining information, 6
Immediate Past President John, who has been instrumental in iSTEAM project, will join John Henry, our STEAM and Sustainability specialist, and Sgt. FC George Johnson, the STEM education specialist who has been assigned to NJSBA by the U.S. Army, in a tour of military training facilities in the Washington area. We held the second of two New Board Member Orientation programs this past weekend which was—for the third consecutive year—fully funded by ETS. Lenora Green, the executive director of the ETS Center for Advocacy and Philanthropy, stopped by conference center and spoke to the new board members. We are very encouraged by ETS continued and support and expect this relationship continue. Stephanie Fisher, the chair of the Educational Leadership Foundation of New Jersey, which receives funding to support our governance training programs, also spoke at the conference. NJSBA has also entered into a productive relationship with the schools insurance group. This year, the insurance group will increase its sponsorship at Workshop from $10,000 to $20,000. 6
That’s good news. And here’s even more good news for you… 6
In addition to increasing its Workshop sponsorship, the Insurance Group’s executive director has made verbal commitment to recommend to his board that they fund one of our weekend New Board Member Orientation programs next year! 7
Strong relationships are critical to winning—and maintaining—a seat at the table where important decisions are made. As you can see, we have lines of communication with key leaders. And I am particularly pleased with the progress we’ve made in building relationships with the Administration and the State Board of Education. On February 23 rd , I met with Mark Biedron, State Board president, at his request to discuss the School District Accountability Regulations, which will sunset in November. 8
On February 11, I addressed the State Board’s Strategic Planning Committee. I presented NJSBA’s perspective on the direction of public education over the next five years. I stressed the need to preserve local authority, character education, STEAM education, the need for flexibility and, above all, the importance of the local governance of public education that is linked to full funding. And we have built bridges to other areas of the administration. Following the Governor’s budget message last month, the Governor’s counsel called me to obtain NJSBA’s viewpoint on the proposed state budget, as well as the pension proposal put forth by his commission. By the way, we have also been in communication with the Pension Study Commission, which recently asked us for data on teacher salaries. 8
At this point in my report, I would like to ask Mike Vrancik to come forward to report on recent developments in the state Legislature, including the Governor’s proposed budget for 2016- 2017. [ Mike will provide an update .] 9
Thank you, Mike. In addition to advocacy, training is a key component of NJSBA’s mission. I would like to commend our staff for some of the recent professional development efforts. Earlier, I mentioned the success of our Technology Conference and the March Weekend Orientation program. Both were 10
overwhelming successes. We also had a very effective Salary Guides program this past weekend. These are tried and true programs. On Thursday, we hosted a program that put us on the cutting edge of an issue that, I understand, is just now being embraced by the corporate sector—that is, Hidden Bias: Gender, Race and Zip Code. We had a small, but committed group of participants. They were genuinely interested in how they could address biases that people might not realize exist, but which negatively affect students and contribute to the achievement gap. 10
Another component of NJSBA’s mission is to provide you with the information that you need to effectively govern your schools. NJSBA has a wealth of information and data. But I’ve heard time and again that it is not easy to access online—that is, our website is not user-friendly. That’s why, as part of our Strategic Plan, we undertook a major project to build a completely new website—one that is easy to navigate, has a logical design, and can get you to the people on 11
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