May 10 Newsletter
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News Link… A newsletter publication of Alaska Association of School Business Officials ALASBO News Link is published for the members of the Alaska President’s Message Association of School Business Officials Laura Hylton, Lake and Peninsula and its affiliate members. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Happy spring everyone! I for one am glad the 2010 ice is receding and fishing can begin. It has President been a year with its ups and downs for LPSD; Laura Hylton, Lake and Peninsula overall it has been a successful year and as the President-Elect frantic close out activities commence I can’t help Luke Fulp, Kodiak Island but be thankful for a good year and the Past-President upcoming calm of summer break. Karen Goodwin, Northwest Arctic Secretary The ALASBO Fly-In on March 31-April 2 was a Jenny Martens, Nome great event. Thanks to Amy for all her planning Treasurer and fun activities. We were able to visit most Robin Mullins, Fairbanks North Star legislators on the education and finance Executive Director committees, along with the legislators from our Amy Lujan respective districts. The meetings went well, although unfortunately all the legislation related Directors to school finance was not passed. Good reason Kim Johnson, Delta/Greely to keep in touch with your legislators over the Mark Vink, Bering Strait break and continue to communicate your Pamela Roope, Wrangell successes and concerns. Jim Farrington, Department of Education Chad Stiteler, Anchorage An item raising concern related to legislative Yodean Armour, Klawock interaction is Ballot Measure 1 on the August www.alasbo.org (Continued page 2) For publishing information, contact: Amy Lujan, Executive Director C O N T E N T S 3145 Pioneer Avenue Juneau, AK 99801 1-2 President’s Message 907-500-9086 2-3 Executive Director’s Message [email protected] 3 Reflections on Legislative Fly-In 3-4 ALASBO Leadership Needs You! Editing and layout by 4-5 Member Spotlight Susan Edwards, Lake and Peninsula [email protected] 5-6 Scholarship and Grant Awards 6 ASBO International Update 7-8 2010 ALASBO Board Liaisons Would you like to receive this newsletter in print, 8 ACSA Names Executive Director rather than e-mail? Send a message to Amy Lujan at 9 EXCEL Zen the above address. 10 Mark Your Calendars! ALASBO News Link 2 May 2010 (Continued from page 1) saw the legislators at least half the time, meeting with staff to review our Talking Points and primary ballot, the so called Anti-Corruption Act answer questions when the legislators were which has also become known as the “Gag swamped with late-in-session business. Several Rule”. This measure potentially prohibits and in of us were also able to testify on HB317, a bill some cases makes it a crime to lobby the state that called for increases to the base student legislature if you or anyone in your extended allocation and the block grant for FY12 and family works for, contracts with or provides FY13. services for pay to government entities or participates in any activity funded by federal or Unfortunately, HB317 did not pass. However, it state dollars. This is a large list of people in was a good year for education overall, with Alaska who could no longer communicate with significant funding for capital projects, though legislators, severely limiting the voice of the these bills are still awaiting approval by the people in the governmental process. Governor and by the voters, in the case of the statewide bond proposals. A summary of the ALASBO’s legislative efforts as well as school session results will be available shortly from the employees’ efforts are among those potentially EED. banned from lobbying. The ALASBO board will review the issue at our June meeting and may Over the summer, you can expect to see issue a resolution against Measure 1. candidates touring your districts. Be sure to ask them their position on education funding. Take Please take a few minutes to review the ballot the opportunity to explain how the multi-year measure and plan to vote in the August election. plan for funding the base student allocation in Some informative websites include: FY09-FY11 added stability to education funding www.akml.org/gaglaw in Alaskan school districts and enabled www.stopthegaglaw.com. administrators to keep the focus on educational programs. Since FY11 was the last year of the Thank you to the professional development 3-year BSA increases and HB317 did not pass, committee for all their work in creating the we will once again be in the unfortunate situation survey related to planning for the December of not knowing the FY12 BSA level until next conference. If you have not already done so, spring. Let’s advocate for action early in the please take a few minutes to complete the next session! survey and encourage your co-workers to do the same. Help ALASBO Serve You Better! If you have not already done so, please take 15-20 I am looking forward to summer leadership in minutes to complete the ALASBO professional Wrangell and hope to see many of you there. If development survey, which is available through a link you plan to attend please register as soon as on our website, www.alasbo.org, on the news tab. possible to help Amy with the final planning. Have a good summer! In February, I attended the ASBO Leadership Conference in Orlando, along with a group of about eight ALASBO members. This conference featured world-class management Executive Director’s training by the Disney Institute. Those of you Message attending the ASBO Annual Conference in Amy Lujan, ALASBO Executive Director September will have an opportunity to access this training. The conference also included a All in Juneau are breathing a sigh of relief; the meeting of the Affiliate Executive Directors legislators have left town! Now, the first cruise Group (AEDG), where I have a chance to pick ships have arrived, a sure sign that summer is up valuable information from my colleagues just around the corner. working in other state ASBO affiliates. ALASBO members were “on the hill” during our Believe it or not, we are already planning for the Legislative Fly-In, March 31-April 2. Our group annual conference in December! As in the past, of six members first met with staff from EED, intensive program planning will take place at our AASB and ACSA to develop Talking Points, Summer Leadership Conference, July 30- which are available on our website, August 1 in Wrangell. Review my separate www.alasbo.org, under news. Over the next two days, we split into teams, visiting 28 offices. We (Continued page 3) ALASBO News Link 3 May 2010 (Continued from page 2) multi-year Base Student Allocation commitment. It has made our budget process much easier. article for additional information about Summer We then talked about the needs of students and Leadership! This year’s focus will be on school maintenance. responding to the member survey of professional development needs that is The people we met were of diverse backgrounds currently in process through June 15. and had their own stories and insights. They asked us some hard questions about dropout In other news, the ALASBO Board has approved rates. Several asked what we were doing to a revised Committee Manual, which is posted lower the dropout rate, and if our on our website, www.alasbo.org, under about superintendents worked together to find a ALASBO-policies and procedures. President solution to lower the rate. We spent a lot of time Laura Hylton and I worked with Committee both talking and listening. What I saw was an Chair’s to update the manual. amazing diversity of human beings. Their care and love for Alaska and Alaskan students was Finally, I wish you all well in closing out another evident. school year and planning summer activities! If you have questions about any ALASBO I love the diversity of human beings. I love program, please do not hesitate to contact me at seeing how we use our talents to achieve [email protected], or 907-500-9086. You’ll also success, whether it is success in business, find useful information at: www.alasbo.org. family, or friendships. Over the course of a few days in preparing for our “visit to the hill”, I saw joy, humor, efficiency, passion; people who “fight for right”, energy, mentoring, steadfast professionals, capable and assured people, a friend with the “live and let live” presence of mind. I witnessed tough, honorable people who inspire me to be the best human being/human doing that I can be. This is what I learned from my visit on the hill: stay joyful in the midst of illness;, stay passionate; fight for what is right; use your energy; be a friend; live and let live; practice REFLECTIONS ON THE being a steadfast professional; efficiency helps smooth the way for everyone; and use humor, LEGISLATIVE FLY-IN because everyone needs a good laugh. We are Pamela Roope, Wrangell Public Schools drawn to laughter and were created for joy. All around us there are people we can learn from; The Legislative Fly-In held a few surprises for we just need to slow down a bit and open our me. For years there have been two people who eyes. Let’s find the good in each other because serve as Wrangell Public Schools district office it is going to take all of us working together to support staff. There is a very capable find the best solutions to funding, dropout rates administrative assistant/board secretary and a and accountability.