Governance During a Pandemic

I want to take a moment and thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and support over the last [roughly] year and a half. It has been comforting, particularly as news stories lately have shown a general public that is growing weary of the restrictions and policies that have been put in place. Further exacerbating our collective weariness is conflicting guidance during the waning days of the 2020-2021 school year. But at the same time, I want to admit that some of your kindness, while very much appreciated is misplaced.

First, the best news of all is that with only a handful of days remaining in our school year, I can safely say that we are going to make it a full 180 days without needing to change our learning plan. I suppose that is why this spring, as I have been able to resume my evening walks around town and through the neighborhood, someone's mom or dad will stop me to say thanks for keeping the school open this year. They are grateful that we never had to implement our remote learning program or move to hybrid learning. Believe this: I am pretty happy about that as well! It has been a long year and it couldn't have been accomplished without the help from a great team. 

Today, though; the team I am talking about is the governance team: The Hudson Board of Directors. Here's a little secret: we were able to stay open this year in spite of me, not because of me. On two separate occasions I made recommendations to the board that we alter our learning plan. First, at the very beginning of the school year I recommended we implement what I referred to at the time as a 'soft start'. Under this plan, we would have started under our hybrid model, slowly ramping up to full in person learning after Labor Day. The Board gave my recommendation strong consideration, asking clarifying questions and really diving deep into the policy proposal and implications of this action. At the end of the debate, thankfully they rejected my recommendation and voted unanimously to fully open our schools on August 24.

The second time came in November, right around Thanksgiving. During the late fall, this was the time we were experiencing our worst outbreak of the school year. In discussions with superintendents in Black Hawk County and with the local health department, we had determined it was appropriate to take recommendations to our respective board's to implement our remote learning plans the week of Thanksgiving, while brining our K-4 students back onsite November 30 and the remainder of the student body on December 7. Once again, the board carefully considered the recommendation, asking all the right questions before ultimately determining that we would stay in session.

In both cases the board was right to reject my recommendation. Granted, no superintendent likes it when the board doesn't take their advice. Heck one of the reasons they hire us is to give them advice on issues of importance in the governance of the district. Now, the most noble thing about all of this was the genuine and sincere way they approached this debate and reassured me that my work as superintendent was valued and respected. They didn't need to do that, but in doing so not only reaffirmed my role as Chief Executive Officer, but showed tremendous honor, integrity, and character from members of the Board of Directors. They showed they were committed to doing the right thing for the right reasons: for our community, families, and most important our students.

I read a recent blog from a colleague in Illinois who captured the challenges of this school year best with this quote:

"I never fully believed in any recommendation I provided because in this situation I felt there was no certainty. No matter what I did, it felt OKAY at best" PJ Caposey

PJ is correct in this quote. Most of the time, school leaders have strong recommendations based on reams of research and data to back up their point. This year though, we have had to navigate a multitude of unknowns, sift through misinformation, consider the political angle of a position, and try to figure out what to do when those we count on for guidance are in conflict with one another. It is maddening to feel good about the decisions and recommendations we make!

The belief and reassurance comes from the dialogue and discussion at the board table. A 'hashing out' of the issue and debate on the merits of the recommendation. When done through a paradigm that is borne out of a sincere desire to make the right decision, and clearly when the entire team is driving toward the same goal: the end result is just. In those instances, we can leave the board table not feeling OKAY at best, but with comfort that we gave it our best shot and truly considered the issue from multiple angles.

This board has my trust, respect, and admiration. They are goal oriented and forward thinking, always taking the work they do with seriousness and giving issues the deliberation that they deserve. During this School Board Appreciation Month, please join me in thanking them for their service. And please, give them the credit they rightfully have earned for making the tough calls while governing during a pandemic. 

(L-R) Kala Featherstone, Brenda Klenk, Dave Ball, 
Traci Trunck, Matt Sallee

Managing Our Expenditures

It was sure great to take a few weeks off from writing this weekly column! I believe it a wise practice every once in a while to pause for a brief respite. Here's a fun fact: This post will mark the 481st article that has been written since this blog began in 2011, the first of which was posted on June 9, 2011 (it was a very lame first attempt). That comes out to over 40 posts per year. Frankly, I don't think anyone will argue with the fact this been a long year (that started in March of 2020) where a lot of my posts singularly focused on COVID. Truth be told, Ann and I decided that once we had both been vaccinated we would take a vacation. You might be surprised to know that while things are returning to normal there continues to be a great deal of caution around the country with regard to mitigation protocols that are still in place. However, I would anticipate a relaxing of much of these protocols in the coming weeks. Thankfully it appears that we are going to make it. I just realized that at the time of the publication of this article we will only have eleven days of school remaining!

In these waning days of the school year, a hefty agenda remains to be tackled. Of primary concern is to fill a number of vacancies that we have remaining in our teaching force. As a start, I have to give a ton of credit to the building administrators and their teams for the the work they have done so far during this hiring season. In most cases we have been blessed with some deep pools with rich talent. We have been able to hire some outstanding educators to join our ranks next year. Unfortunately though, with some positions, we are beginning to experience significant challenges with regard to teacher shortages in some content areas. My team continues to work the problem and in a coming post, I'll give you a peak behind the curtain and share how our hiring process works, what we value, and the road from candidate to employee. 

We are also putting the finishing touches on our plans for a comprehensive summer school. Comprehensive because of the fact we are not limiting our summer school program to students who have been identified as qualifying for services due to an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). Instead, this summer school program is for students participating in the general education program who could benefit from some extended learning due to the COVID shutdown last March. So far we have had a great response from families and I believe this will be an outstanding opportunity where we will be able to close the learning gap. 

The two other big pieces remaining for the school year include requisitions and curriculum adoptions. Requisitions include rather mundane items such as pens, pencils, paper, and other material that will be used in the classroom next school year. Curriculum adoptions are exactly that: each year a content area is typically up for renewal so teachers of that content, along with the teacher leadership team and building administrator who is tasked with supervision review materials and make a recommendation for adoption. This year we are in the final stages of adoption of a 7-12 English/Language Arts curriculum. I hope to have that in front of the board yet this month, but it may need to be delayed to June. 

All of those items need to be managed within the confines of the budget that has been adopted by the board and subsequently managed through my office. This brings me, (finally) to my point for today! You may recall a conversation a few weeks back where we talked about how school revenue is generated and went into great detail about the differences in state aid, property tax collection, and the federal infusion of money. 

On the expenditure side of the ledger, it is important to understand with great clarity where the majority of the money goes. It may surprise you to hear this, but running a school is a very labor intensive process. You can see this by looking no further than where our resources are allocated. Over 80% of operating budget goes to employee costs. This is precisely the reason why, when faced with budget cuts, school districts often have little choice but to make those reductions by reducing the number of employees on staff. There is very little 'low hanging fruit' when it comes to budget reductions. Perhaps, if one is lucky they may be able to reduce energy consumption a bit, but when looking at the metrics that are outlined in the table above, it is readily apparent where the money is spent in a school budget. 

Unfortunately when it comes to the budget development cycle in public schools, most of the time we don't have answers to many of the big budget questions that need to be answered by the time our certification process is required to be completed. Variables are missing and employee costs are largely unknown. Because of this (and my past experience), I have adopted a somewhat conservative approach to budgeting. Quite simply stated this is based on the premise that we underestimate our revenue and overestimate our expenditures. What you end up seeing in the newspaper then, is an illustration of that work at the macro level. Call it a 'worst case scenario' if you will. In this case, the published budget algorithm is quite simple: I take the current 'function' category, increase it by 4% and round to the nearest $1,000. Then, over the course of the next several months as those same variables become known, a more refined budget picture begins to emerge. 

At this point in the school year, and as the variables are becoming more refined, I can now anticipate the budget for the next fiscal year to actually increase more in the neighborhood of 3.11%, while at the same time adding an additional FTE to our employee count. As those big agenda items described above become more defined and ultimately resolved, a much clearer budget picture will continue to emerge over the course of the next several months.

The final takeaway is that due to our budgeting practices and philosophy, coupled with an infusion of federal stimulus and a few lucky breaks along they way, we are poised to emerge from the pandemic on very solid financial footing.