Board Operations 101 (a.k.a. What the Heck is the Brown Act?)

So, as you probably know by know, I am a professional public servant. I work for the City of San Francisco. If you know a "government employee" joke, I can almost guarantee you I've heard it. And, once people hear I work for government, I have to bear my share of "why is government so..." questions. On the plus side, I've learned a lot about how government agency boards/councils work, and why they do certain things in a certain way. Many of the perceived peculiarities of how government agency boards work has to do with something you may have heard of called the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act for short.) This is the state law that governs how public agency boards must conduct business in California.

Now, many consultants and lawyers (who know way more than I) make a living as Brown Act experts, and I am certainly not in their league. But I feel qualified enough to hit some high points that may answer some basic questions you may have had about why/how our Board conducts its business.

The Board must...

...publish an annual schedule of "regular" meetings. (Any meeting that is not a "regular" meeting is considered either a "special" or "emergency" meeting.) - Our Board publishes this schedule in the summer for the upcoming year, and the meetings are usually on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:00 pm.

...publish an agenda of all items to be discussed at a regular meeting at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting (24 hours for a special meeting, and 1 hour for an emergency meeting). - Our Board publishes the agenda through an email distribution (sent to anyone who has requested to be on the list) and by posting the agenda on the school district website.

...conduct Board business (i.e. deliberate then vote to take action) in "open and public" meetings. Any gathering of more than two members (of a 5-member Board) in considered a meeting and is in violation of the Brown Act if it has not been noticed, agendized, etc. - Considering this requirement along with the agenda requirement above leads to the next item , which can really frustrate people who don't fully understand the rules under which the Board operates, which is that...

...can only take action on items that are on the agenda, given the aforementioned posting and agendizing requirements. - This means that if you show up at a Board meeting and, during public comment, bring up the most insightful, fabulous, award-winning idea, but the idea happens to have nothing to do with an item on the published agenda, the Board by law can't take any action. The lesson here is that if you have a concern/burning issue/great idea that you think requires deliberation and potential action by the Board, simply showing up at one meeting isn't going to get your item heard. You need to work through staff and or individual Board members (by email, phone, etc.) in advance to request that the item be put on the agenda (agendized). Or, at a given regular meeting, you can address the Board members and directly request that the item be agendized for the next regular meeting. By the way, this public participation in the creation of Board agendas is supported by the California Department of Education, which says on its website that...

..."adopt regulations governing the procedures to be followed to...ensure that members of the public may include items on the agenda for consideration..."

...consider only specifically defined items during "Closed" session, to which members of the public are not admitted. - These items are almost always related to either personnel or litigation issues, e.g. taking disciplinary action against an employee or conferring with the Board's attorney regarding a claim or lawsuit to which the district is a party.


I think that's plenty for one post. If you have any questions or comments, or if you have an issue or area you'd like to see addressed in this blog, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send an email.

-Rob (your friendly neighborhood bureaucrat)

Summary of the 9/22/10 Monthly Meeting

It was a long meeting tonight folks, but fear not! I am here to provide an ever-so-timely and oh-so-engaging summary for your reading pleasure. Now, on to the highlights...

Healthy Kids Survey - Nancy Waters, counselor at Hall, gave a nice presentation on the results of this survey, which was completed last year by 5th and 7th graders. Mostly, our kids give the sort of answers we'd like to see on this survey, but a couple items generated interesting discussion.

• Our 5th graders' answers suggest that they don't feel as much empathy as 5th graders at our "comparable" school. Only 36 percent of our 5th graders' answers suggest that they feel empathy some or all of the time (e.g. Do you care if someone else gets their feeling hurt?). Reportedly, the answers of 5th graders at our comparable school suggest 60+% of their 5th graders feel empathy some or all of the time in similar situations. What does this tell us about our group of kids? I have no idea, but I definitely think its worth careful consideration. According to Ms. Waters, she and Ms. Cookie are working on tweaks to the Character Counts program to try to further emphasize empathy as a component of good character.

• 31% of 7th graders reported having been in an car with an adult who had been drinking alcohol and feeling uncomfortable about the situation. The presumption by the Board members during their discussion (and it makes sense to me) is that the kids were likely referring to their own parents. This is - obviously - a very serious issue. We all hopefully realize the import of modeling appropriate behavior to our children, however... Two trustees advocated what (to me at least) were pretty extreme reactions. These were: 1) the school should feel comfortable teaching kids that it is never okay for anyone under 21 to have even a sip of alcohol (not counting religious ceremonies); 2) If going out to dinner as a family, pick a designated driver among the adults. Kids might take a mixed message from Mom drinking a glass of wine with dinner, then driving the car home. Tell me, folks: what do you think about these two ideas? I'd love to see some comments on this topic. One could argue that: 1) Some people think it's okay to offer their own kids an occasional sip of alcohol in the safety of their own home, and that is their own business. Also, as far as I am aware, this is perfectly legal. Moreover, the black and white message proposed has a bit of an "abstinence only" feel to it. 2) 12-13 year-old 7th graders are smart. Can they understand a nuanced message that Mom/Dad know when they're okay to drive and when they're not? It's important enough, that I think I'll ask again...What do you think?

SPARK Report - Scott Key and Alicia Kepler reported that SPARK has committed to a goal of contributing just over $1 million this year. This is up from SPARK's recent history of committing around $700,000 per year. President Mangan thanked SPARK for its efforts and parents for their generous contributions. By the way, he mentioned that when he first joined the Board eight years ago the annual contribution from the foundation was about $250,000. Congrats to our donor community for all the support!

Portables are Coming! - New portables will almost certainly be coming soon to Neil Cummins. The question at this point seems only to be how many. The location chosen is the grass area between the playground and the creek, along the fence that runs along the parking lot. Over the next month (probably to be confirmed at the next monthly Board meeting) the exact number we need/want to add (between 3 and 5, it seems) will be more fully explored.

District Teacher Count - You may have read in my recent preview post that the count of teachers for this school year is down from last year, to 91 from 97. Well, this is true. However, it was correctly pointed out during discussion that the FTE (full-time equivalent) number of teachers is actually up, from 80.6 to 81.95. How? The difference was attributed to the district having quite a few job share situations last year that are not in place for this year.

Ms. Halpern is Awesome! - As engaged school parents, this observation will come as no surprise to you. During tonight's meeting, specifically, Ms. Halpern was awesome because she just had to take a few minutes during the meeting to rearrange a book display and re-shelve a few, too. (She was at the back and I'm sure no one noticed except me. I just happened to be standing at the back for a few minutes to stretch my legs.) She sure is dedicated to her work, and we are so lucky to have her!

-Rob

Previewing the Agenda for the 9/22 Monthly Meeting

It's monthly meeting time again, folks. I've reviewed the agenda and all the supporting packet materials, and this month's meeting will be heavy on performance and survey data. Below I've highlighted what I think are the most noteworthy items.

Superintendent's Performance Evaluation - This is a Closed Session item, which means that the Board will be providing Dr. Pitts with her annual evaluation in the private session that precedes the public meeting. Obviously, we members of the public can not participate in, or hear, the content of the evaluation (as with all personnel discussions regarding individuals.)  However, the listing of this item on the agenda lets us know that the evaluation will be happening. So, if you have any information that you would like to share with members of the Board that you think is pertinent to the evaluation of Valerie's performance over the past year, you could take this opportunity to send an email to trustees@larkspurschools.org.

API (Academic Performance Index) Score for '09/'10 - The annual API scores regarding student performance are now available. The district's total score is 920, up from 915 for '08/'09. Neil Cummins' score is 918, which was no change, and Hall's score is 921, up from 914. Nice performance by our students!

Healthy Kids Survey - The Board will review detailed results of this annual survey of 5th and 7th graders. Our students were asked questions regarding use of drugs and alcohol, safety, TV/video game usage habits, physical activity levels and eating habits. For 20+ pages of detailed results, see the packet materials here. Here are a few results I highlighted:

•  Only 1% of our kids report having personally tried marijuana or cigarettes. But when asked how many of their peers they think have tried these items, they say 10%. Which number do you think is closer to the truth?
• 12% of 5th graders reported seeing someone else carrying a knife or gun at school (vs. only 1% of 7th graders). This number seems quite high; I presume will hear some detailed discussion of this one on Wednesday night.
• 75% of kids (5th and 7th combined) report that "yesterday" they watched TV or played video games for one hour or less. Hmm, I smell something fishy. Could they be telling us what they think we want to hear?

Enrollment and Staffing Report - The Board will discuss the status of enrollment and staffing numbers for '10/'11 vs. '09/10. Total enrollment in the district as of 9/15 is 1,332, which is an increase of 49 from last year. Staffing has moved the other direction, however. Total staffing is 150, which is down from 161 last year. Teaching staff is down to 91 from 97 and admin/support staff total 59, down from 64.

To preview the detailed packet materials regarding these items, click here. To add to the Board's discussion of these or other items on the agenda, come on down to the meeting Wednesday night, or email the Board members at trustees@larkspurschools.org.

Check back later this week for a summary of the meeting. Also, if you have comments, questions, or input of any kind regarding this blog, please leave your comments below.

-Rob

A Little Light Reading

The board meeting the other day was in the morning, so I couldn't attend.  No update there.  And since there is a little lull in the action, here are three articles that might be of interest.

Why School Reform Fails - Newsweek

Forget What You Know about Study Habits - New York Times

New Reed School Superintendent - Marin Independent Journal

Previewing the Agenda for the 9/14 Special Meeting

The Board has scheduled a "special meeting" for Tuesday, 9/14, at 10:00 a.m. We can get into what is so "special" about special meetings another time. Suffice it to say that any meeting convened by the Board that is not a "regular" meeting (i.e. the monthly meetings, for which an annual schedule is published) is a "special" meeting.

Anyway, the need for a special meeting this month was discussed at the 8/25 monthly meeting. I mentioned in the earlier summary of the 8/25 meeting that the Board discussed summary financial information for fiscal year 2009-2010. The unaudited actuals report was a part of this discussion. This report is basically a summary of final revenues and expenses for the district for last year, which has not yet been reviewed by the district's auditor. The original plan was for the Board to discuss the unaudited actuals during the 8/25 meeting and vote to approve them so they can be sent to the county Office of Education.

However, Board members did not receive their copies of the unaudited actuals report (which is about 100 pages, by the way) in advance of the 8/25 meeting. Rather, they were provided their copies at the meeting. Therefore, the Board decided to defer voting to approve the report until members had a chance to review the report in detail. If time had allowed, I presume the Board would have waited until the next regular meeting (set for 9/22) to hold their approval vote. In this case, though, the district is required to submit the unaudited actuals to the county by 9/15. Therefore, a special meeting was required so the Board could grant its approval before the deadline.

While they're together, the Board will also discuss a federal education jobs bill reportedly signed into law on 8/10. District staff are now able to project that the new law will provide $235,000 for hiring or reinstating "school level services jobs." (An interesting aside into the weirdness of government - this funding is included in a law officially titled the "FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act". What does education funding has to do with the FAA? Your guess is as good as mine.)

To view the agenda or packet materials for the 9/14 meeting, click here.

-Rob

Basic Aid vs. Revenue Limit

If you're at all like me, the first time you heard the terms "Basic Aid" and "Revenue Limit" used in a discussion of our school district's budget, you had no idea what they meant. In somewhat classic bureaucratic style, the terms are not at all intuitive.

Each school district's Revenue Limit ($ per student) is re-calculated each year based on a multi-variable model (variables include school type, enrollment size, historical spending patterns, etc.). Most simply, a Basic Aid district generates an amount of money per student in property taxes (not including school-oriented parcel taxes) that is equal to or greater than its calculated Basic Aid amount, while a Revenue Limit district needs supplemental funding from the state to reach this amount. So, that's still sounds a bit complicated, I think. Thankfully, I came across a wonderful graphic that illustrates the concept in an easily digestible way:

"The Bucket Analogy

If the bucket is completely filled by local property tax revenues, the state has no need to "top off" the bucket. If the bucket overflows with local property taxes, the district gets to keep the overage. Districts whose buckets are filled by local property taxes are called "basic aid" or "excess revenue" districts." (Thank you, Edsource.org)

According to a projection made by the state Department of Education in early August, and statements by school district Business Manager Becky White at the 8/25 Board meeting, we will be a Basic Aid district for FY10-11. Although, according to Becky, her projections of our property tax revenues have us just exceeding the Basic Aid amount (i.e. our little bucket above will contain just a few drops.) Even so, according to data also from EdSource.com, that puts us in the company of only about 60 school districts out of over 1,000 in the state.

Also in the 8/25 meeting, Valerie noted to the Board that our (projected) status as a Basic Aid district for FY101-11 will make us significantly less susceptible to last-minute budget shenanigans by the state, because the state is more likely to withhold/adjust supplemental Revenue Limit funding from schools than it is to attempt to withhold Basic Aid money that originated from local property taxes.

Once again, we can all be thankful for southern Marin's (relatively) stable property values. I hope you all enjoyed a nice holiday weekend!

-Rob

*Correction - This is an updated version of this post. The original said that parcel taxes are included in the Basic Aid calculation. Parcel taxes are in fact not included.