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ASBA Partner Organizations Urge Special Session to Provide Stability for Schools
ASBA is urging the governor and Legislature to work together with education stakeholders to convene a special session of the Legislature prior to the beginning of the school year. Arizona schools are funded based on the number of students enrolled in their instructional programs, and a drastic decline in the number of students who show up for school in the fall would severely hurt public schools. Additionally, without any flexibility in attendance and/or instructional time requirements, districts are at risk of funding loss if they are not able to have all of their students on campus full-time in order to comply with reopening guidelines.
ASBA and its partners have presented language to the Legislature and Governor Ducey that would allow flexibility for school districts and charter schools in counting students as attending, as well as allowances for the addition of extra transportation miles driven to comply with CDC guidelines. Finally, we propose limiting enrollment decline to 2 percent for FY2021 to alleviate concerns that districts will not be able to meet their financial commitments if enrollment does not meet expectations in the fall. These measures are key to put in place now. Waiting until school districts are already in potential trouble to address these issues will create more stress than is necessary.
NEW WEBINAR: Roadmap for Reopening: Health Protocols and Considerations for Reopening
Wednesday, June 10, 2-3 p.m.
In the first in a series of webinars, staff from the Department of Health Services and Arizona Department of Education will discuss guidelines and recommendations developed by the ADE Roadmap for Reopening Schools Task Force for school districts to use in determining readiness for opening campuses for the 2020-2021 school year and the health protocols that are recommended when they do. An opportunity for Q&A will be included. Presenters:
- Kate Wright, Chair of Reopening Task Force, Arizona Department of Education
- Nick Staab, Arizona Department of Health Services
- Stephanie Martinez, Arizona Department of Health Services
- Melissa Connor, Chair of Health Subcommittee, Arizona Department of Education
Hosted by ASBA, ASA, AASBO and ADE. Register Now.
Webinars coming later this month:
- Strategic Planning for Reopening (evaluating and planning for essential elements + contingency plannng for future full or partial campus closure)
- School finance + other legislative/policy considerations (testing, legal liability)
ADE’s Roadmap for reopening schools
The Arizona Department of Education just released a resource to support districts with guidelines and recommendations for school re-entry. Developed by a task force of more than 70 education stakeholders from around the state with diverse backgrounds and experience, ADE’s Roadmap for Reopening Schools will include critical areas of this process. ASBA was proud to represent Arizona’s school boards on the task force.
With input from public health experts and education leaders across our state, ADE developed Arizona’s Roadmap for Reopening Schools. It provides a series of recommendations for how schools can approach the 2020-2021 school year and offers adaptable considerations to meet each community’s unique needs.
Please understand that there is nothing mandated or prescriptive in the document. Rather it is a resource to support and inform local decision-making.
Roadmap for Reopening Schools and Critical Considerations:
2020-21 Calendar of ASBA events available
View the ASBA calendar of events for 2020-21. These events and gatherings such as the Law Conference, County Meetings and the Annual Conference are still scheduled to happen but may look differently.
We are working with hotel management on how social distancing may change in-person meetings as well as other safety accommodations as this time. We want to keep our members informed if these events must be turned into virtual events for any reason. We are following the recommendations from our state and national health experts on the next steps and promise to keep you updated with new information as it is received.
Hear from past presenters on why districts should present at Annual Conference! Request for Proposals now open
ASBA encourages your district to think about presenting at our Annual Conference, Dec. 3-4. Submissions are now open and close Friday, Aug. 3. ASBA will conduct the first review and notify semi-finalists no later than Aug. 17, 2020. If selected as a semi-finalist, you will be asked to provide additional details on your presentation which will assist ASBA in making final selections.
Submissions will be considered for either a 50 min or 30 min breakout session.
For questions or additional information, please contact Nikkie Whaley, ASBA Board Support and Field Service Specialist by email, nwhaley@azsba.org.
All the information is located on the website.
ASBA’s Chris Thomas receives ACTEAZ Executive Citation
The Association for Career and Technical Education of Arizona (ACTEAZ) selected Chris Thomas, ASBA General Counsel and Associate Executive Director to receive the ACTEAZ Executive Citation. He was selected to receive this distinction for his accomplishments and dedication to students and to Career and Technical Education in the State of Arizona.
Case study with Cottonwood Oak Creek USD: Mobilizing a COVID-19 committee & communicating using BoardDocs
Click to view the case study! With the effects of the Coronavirus causing schools and organizations around the globe to operate remotely and practice social distancing, school districts are faced with a new challenge of responding to the crisis at hand. Cottonwood Oak Creek School District, long time users of Board Docs, needed a way to mobilize an internal team to manage the district’s response. They had made updating the Emergency Response Plan ERP) part of the superintendent’s goals and were able to track the goal and approve the ERP inside BoardDocs.
New superintendent named for Humboldt USD
Congratulations to John Pothast for being named superintendent for Humboldt USD beginning in July. This search was conducted by ASBA earlier this year with the Humboldt USD school board. John comes from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, located in Soldotna, Alaska where he was the Director of Innovation & Strategic Planning.
June 18, 10-11 a.m., ASBA and ADE Per Pupil Spending Webinar
Beginning in 2020, Arizona district and charter schools must annually report their per-pupil expenditures to be featured on www.azreportcards.org. Join the Arizona Department of Education and the Arizona School Boards Association for an informative webinar on how these per-pupil expenditure numbers can fluctuate based on school characteristics and what you can expect your per-pupil expenditures to look like in the upcoming school report cards.
Presenters include:
Chris Kotterman, Director of Governmental Relations, ASBA
Wendy Davy, Chief Accountability Officer, ADE
Emily O’Neil, Communications Advisor, ADE