NJSBA Opposes Diversion of Sales Tax Revenue

Helping Boards with the Accountability Act: A Letter from Edwina M. Lee

SPECIAL FEATURES

2007 Communications Competition

June 14 Deadline for Board Member of the Year Nominations

NJSBA Seeking Executive Director

In the Mail

Calendar

Click here for a pdf version of this issue of School Board Notes

Dear NJSBA Member:

There have been many questions raised about the travel and training requirements under the School District Accountability Act, A-5 (P.L. 2007, c.53). I hope to clarify these issues for you and to enable your district to prepare for action that it should take in June.

Within the next week, NJSBA will send the Board Member Academy 2007-2008 Course Guide to school board members, business administrators and superintendents. The Academy is offering challenging and informative programs to help you govern public education and advance student achievement.

Travel Regulations All of NJSBA’s seminars and training programs, as well as the Annual Workshop program, comply with the definition of “training” under the Accountability Act. Therefore, they represent permissible uses of travel and training funds by the local board of education.

To ensure compliance, your board must authorize travel expenditures and registration fees by passing a resolution in advance of the program. This week’s School Board Notes includes sample resolutions authorizing board member travel and training, as well as excerpts from a list of Frequently Asked Questions about travel requirements that might arise at your board meeting.

Training Requirements The Accountability Act requires additional training for (1) first-term board members during their second year in office; (2) first-term board members during their third year in office; and (3) re-elected or reappointed board members in the first year of their new terms.

NJSBA has obtained the approval of the New Jersey Department of Education to offer a single course, focused on the state’s new monitoring system—the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum—to all three groups this year.

• We will roll out the course this fall. It will be 1.5 hours in length.
  
  
• Board members completing the course will earn .5 Board Member Academy credits towards the Certificated Board Member or the Master Board Member designation.
  
  
• The course will be provided live at county programs, regionally, and at Workshop. Webinars and computer-based training will also be offered.
  
  
• Registration fees will be minimal and designed only to cover the Association’s direct costs. (The session at Workshop will be free for registrants).

Check School Board Notes or www.njsba.org in August for updates.

Extensive information about the Accountability Act is online.

If you have further questions about travel regulations, please call the NJSBA Legal Department at (888) 886-5722, ext. 5254. For information about the new training requirements, contact Walter Meyer at (888) 886-5722, ext. 5236.

Sincerely,