By Amy Peabody
KSBA staff attorney, legal services training
I field many questions, especially lately, about what authority a local school board has and what the state may require boards and districts to do. I am often able to give reassuring answers, because the Kentucky General Assembly has given local boards and district leaders the power to create and shape the education of your students in many respects.
Let’s start with an example: property acquisition and facility construction. While the state has approval authority over district property transactions, that authority is limited to making sure the transaction meets the requirements of law. The state does not delve into whether it’s the best available property for the proposed school and does not opine on whether the district could get a better deal with another piece of property. It is a “Just the law, ma’am” situation.
The same balance of power exists for facility construction. The state reviews to ensure construction safety, compliance with the local planning process to ensure community input (again, local decision making), adherence to the state’s specifications for classroom size and capacity for optimal learning environments and the legal use of funds based on the source. There may be suggestions from the state agency on options available to the district for that project, but the state agency’s role is to ensure safety and legal adherence to the facility requirements.
Your local board has the power to envision, and help deliver, public education opportunities for your community. That’s your vision and mission statement. What do your students need and what can you do to help provide it? These days the needs are more than just instruction. Schools today are filling many gaps to ensure the whole child is cared for. From food (thank you, nutrition staff!) to clothing and health services (thank you, Family Resource and Youth Service Center staff!) to well-being support from teachers and guidance counselors and every adult in the building, your schools are teaching and caring for all of Kentucky’s children.
Your board has the power to decide how it will build the school buildings for your community, and how it will staff them. Your board has the power to identify the improvement goals for your students. Your board selects your superintendent and empowers that person to manage the district each day.
Your board has the power to impose taxes on your local community, and you make the tough financial choices, with the state and local funding available, to ensure the programs that benefit your students most are the ones that get the most staff and money. Your board understands, and can therefore prioritize, staffing not just for the instructional value, but for the opportunity to connect with kids, to hear kids and to listen when kids tell us “something is wrong.” These opportunities, once missed, are lost forever.
These days insights into school life and “what works” come at us all from many directions. Experts, advocates and pundits remind us what we all already know: ask teachers, ask students, ask parents and ask local district leaders what they need and what will work for them. So, let’s keep doing that.
If you are someone who works with education but not in it, ask these dedicated, front-line individuals what they want and need and how you can support them. If you are one of those on the front line of education, tell everyone what your students and your schools need. Tell them again. And then, if necessary, tell them once more. Because this opportunity, once missed, is lost forever.