Woodland District 50 Officials Attend Statewide Training Event
Woodland District 50 school officials joined school representatives from across Illinois to learn from state and national education experts and to receive board and leadership training at the recent Joint Annual Conference of the Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and Illinois Association of School Business Officials. The conference took place November 16-18.
"The annual event is where school leaders can share common concerns and solutions with other school leaders and it is the only available training in the state where board members, superintendents, school business officials and other district officials can share common concerns and solutions with other like-minded school leaders," said Superintendent Dr. Joy A. Swoboda.
More than 100 panel sessions took place over the three-day event. The presentations covered a variety of important topics, including the Evidence-Based Funding Model, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), collective bargaining, fiscal accountability, school safety, student assessments, local governance, and student discipline.
Also, in conjunction with the conference is the IASB's Delegate Assembly, which gives member school districts the opportunity to establish IASB's positions on legislation and related matters of public policy. Delegates for the association reaffirmed a position on charter school funding brought by Woodland District 50. The position calls for a new method of funding charter schools that does not hurt local school district finances.
Woodland Board President Dr. Carla Little said because of the way charter schools are funded, the state has diverted $44 million from Woodland since a charter school affecting the district opened in 1999.
"The Joint Annual Conference gives voice to that funding challenge and helps school districts keep up-to-date with the passage of some very big changes to the educational landscape," Little said. "On the state side, the overhaul of the funding formula means school board members must develop a basic understanding of how funding is divided and distributed among districts and how to capture and maximize those funds."
"Federally, ESSA contains a number of accountability measures and requirements that must be monitored to meet the guidelines specified in law. As school board members, we are expected to learn a lot about very complicated issues in a short amount of time. This Conference provided targeted training opportunities that cover laws like ESSA and the state funding formula from and for the perspective of Illinois school board members. The insight we gained will be extremely helpful for our district," she said.
Superintendent Swoboda said the district sent eight people to the training and professional development event. "District 50 is responsible for the management of a $93 million budget. The investment of 0.0087 percent of the budget in proper training for our school leaders that are responsible for the stewardship of these dollars is sound financial management. The cost is recaptured through the efficiencies brought back to the district and new ideas to create a better learning environment for our students," she said.
Woodland District 50 asked Dr. Little to be a representative to a vote on important public policy and leadership positions for the state school board association. The resolutions adopted by the Delegate Assembly help form a statewide position on state and federal legislative proposals that impact public education. This year's resolutions focused on student and school safety proposals, specifically whether local school districts should be afforded the option to arm faculty and staff who have completed the requisite training.
The Woodland District 50 Board voted in opposition to the proposal to arm faculty and staff.
This was the 86th year that the three school management groups held their joint conference in Chicago. It is the largest state education conference in the nation.