INTRODUCTION
A local school district was recently in the news, as it was reported that the school board was taking responsibility for years of overspending, policy violations and budget mismanagement.
Unsurprisingly, parents and residents expressed their concerns publicly, and some called for the resignation or recall of the board members.
How does a school board regain the public’s trust after an incident like this? With any crisis, we recommend focusing on clear and constant communication, strategic planning and transparency.
Here are ways a school board can regain the public’s trust:
MAKE AN IMMEDIATE ANNOUNCEMENT
The first step would be to address the community immediately, acknowledging the mistake(s) made without shifting blame to any single person/party. In other words, even though it could have been a staff member’s fault for the budget mismanagement, it is the purview of the board to oversee the budget and conduct financial reviews.
Be prepared to explain all the facts you have and a timeline of when things occurred. At this point, you don’t necessarily need to announce the details of a plan. Instead, you can say that you wanted to alert the public as soon as you learned about this incident and that you will announce a course of action shortly.
DEVELOP A RESPONSE PLAN
Next, we recommend the development of a detailed response plan. It would outline the actions the board should take to rectify the budget issues, including a thorough audit of past spending, a timeline, key messages and the implementation of a more structured financial process.
The board also should create talking points derived from the key messages to address the inevitable concerns and accusations that will be hurled at the members.
Here is a proposed timeline:
- Month 1 (Immediate Actions): Focus on immediate actions such as creating key messages/talking points, publicly acknowledging the budget issues, initiating a financial audit and scheduling (a) community meeting(s) to gather feedback.
- Months 2-3 (Analysis and Planning): The board should hire a third-party firm to complete the financial audit and then develop a strategic financial plan based on the findings. This phase should involve analyzing the audit results and creating a roadmap for better financial management and oversight.
- Months 4-6 (Implementation): Start implementing the plan by providing training on financial management for all board members. This training can be provided by your third-party firm, and announce that this training will be required for all future board members. Begin executing cost-saving measures and other financial controls.
- Months 7-9 (Long-Term Solutions and Engagement): Focus on creating long-term solutions, including ongoing community engagement sessions and implementing new financial policies to prevent future issues. [See next section for additional ideas.]
- Months 10-12 (Evaluation and Reporting): Conduct a thorough evaluation of the implemented strategies, hold final community meetings and prepare a comprehensive financial report detailing the steps taken and outcomes achieved within the last year.
ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY FOR LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS
We suggest a series of community engagement sessions to discuss long-term solutions, which should run concurrently with your plan’s execution. The board should include parents, teachers, staff, and other stakeholders in these discussions (both in-person and virtual) to make them feel like they are part of the solution. You may even want to create a task force from these stakeholders.
Unless the school district is in dire financial straits, we advise against issuing a referendum to cover past mistakes and instead focus on finding reasonable financial practices that prevent future errors.
Lastly, it will be likely that members of the community will demand the recall or resignation of some or all of the board members. If the incident is egregious enough, then it makes sense for the board to allow new leadership to take over. However, in most cases, the board members should keep their posts to rectify the situation and hopefully win back the community’s trust.