Do you feel in the dark about what your responsibilities are as a school board or budget committee member? We can help.
The School District Governance Association of New Hampshire (SDGA) is introducing itself to all school board and budget committee members in New Hampshire, to let you know what we can offer you.
SDGA exists to help school board and budget committee members discover powers they often don’t realize they have (via NH RSAs/statutes).
For example, many school board members don’t realize that the superintendent works for the board, rather than the other way around. It is our job to keep them accountable.
This is in contrast to the approach of the School Board Association (SBA), whose mission is to convince board and committee members that they must do whatever their superintendent tells them to do.
SDGA offers seminars throughout the year on topics of interest to school board and budget committee members. They are all held at the Nackey Loeb School of Communications in Manchester. Upcoming seminars and events include:
Sept 21, 2019 (9 am)
What you need to know about being on a school board
Sept 21, 2019 (1 pm)
What you need to know about school budgets
Jan 11, 2020 (9 am)
‘A curriculum by any other name…’
The history of efforts to improve instruction and assessment.
Mar 14, 2020 (9 am)
Policy and Legislation workshop
Participants will discuss and work on needed model policies and legislation for the SDGA to introduce.
On September 28, we’re hosting a ‘Ballistic Fundraiser’ in Croydon, NH. New shooters can get a free gun safety lesson. Admission includes a Bardo Farm pig roast, enough ammunition to participate in several friendly competitions, and a chance to meet people who share your concerns about how to best use your position as a school board or budget committee member to improve education for students in your district. You can register here.
If you would like to receive additional meeting announcements and SDGA newsletters, you can contact us here. If you would like to support our mission, please become a member.
SDGA members are individuals, rather than districts. Membership is $20 per year or $200 for a lifetime membership. Members get reduced admission to all seminars, and new members get the new SDGA Survival Tool.
It’s a nominal fee, because our mission is mainly education, rather than lobbying, and we prefer for members to spend their own money rather than pass the cost along to taxpayers.
We hope you’ll become a member. Even if you don’t, we hope you’ll attend some of our seminars. And we certainly hope to see you at the fundraiser.
It took me years to figure out what my school board responsibilities were, and I’m still learning all the time with the help of the SDGA. I know you will too.
-Jody
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Jody S. Underwood, Ph.D.President, School District Governance Association
SDGAofNH@gmail.com
