Published by the Kansas Association of School Boards■1420 SW Arrowhead Rd, Topeka, KS 66604-4024■800-432-2471■www.kasb.org

Vol. 19, No. 23June 27, 2014Review

KASB

KASB and four regional service centers - Greenbush, Smoky Hill, Clearwater, and Southwest Plains - are beginning a program designed to help building principals ensure activities in their schools support district goals and outcomes. Building Leader Mentoring and Support is designed as a two-year program offered at the regional service centers and through an online community of educational leaders from across the state.

The program is based on the power of an aligned school system using a common leadership vocabulary with agreed upon outcomes and processes at the building level through the school board, as discussed in a recent KASB Leadership Services article/blog at kasbleadershipservices.blogspot.com. The foundational knowledge that is inspired and developed from this program will assist leaders as they work to align their building to the district level processes and outcomes.

In the fi rst year of the program, onsite trainings at the service centers will focus on both the art and science of leadership, including instructional leadership practices, and practices that will help leaders to better utilize human resources. These strategies are designed to ensure high quality teaching is occurring in each classroom. The agendas of the fi ve sessions are designed to assist principals with the duties and responsibilities they are performing during that time period of the year. The online support community will provide real time feedback for the day to day challenges all building level leaders face.

KASB, Service Centers launch partnership to support principals

KASB June Policy Updates availablePolicy recommendations have been edited and revised by the KASB Legal Department. Once again, we are including a copy of each policy which noticeably shows the edits to each existing policy. Note that no edits will be noticeable on the new policies and forms, as there was nothing existing to change.

The contents of this policy package should be reviewed by the superintendent, the clerk, and the board, and it may not hurt to run it by your other district administrators and student body representatives if your policy on adoption or revision of policy requires student input. If any of the new policy recommendations meet district needs, they are ready to add to the policy book.

Go to www.kasb.org/policy and choose your download. The options are located on the right side of the page under the 2014 Policy Updates graphic.

Another benefi t will be an enhanced understanding of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards, traditionally used in graduate programs at the university level. The program will be a “hands on” application based learning environment. The key outcomes for year one will be:

1. A better understanding of the art and science of leadership;

2. clear understanding of the (ISLLC) Standards and their relationship to student learning and leadership and;

3. stronger, structured leadership support system.

In year two, participants are encouraged to participate in the McREL Balanced Leadership program to further develop the foundational skills emphasized in year one. The McREL Balanced Leadership framework is taught through a series of trainings that focus on research driven solutions to improve student achievement. The Balanced Leadership program is designed around leadership

responsibilities, developing a Purposeful Community, Managing Change, and Focusing Leadership. The Balanced Leadership framework brings those ISLLC standards to life for educational leaders as they learn strategies and techniques to create the right school culture.

Developing the aligned system starts with utilizing a common framework to provide professional development for the educational leaders of the system. The Building Leader Mentoring and Support program aligns to the McREL, “What Matters Most” framework which allows districts to align around common outcomes and processes. The “What Matters Most” framework is also at the foundation of many of the services and supports that KASB provides to district level leaders and boards of education.

If you have questions about the Building Leader Mentoring and Support program, contact KASB. To fi nd out the dates the program is being offered, and to get building principals enrolled, contact Clearwater, Greenbush, Southwest Plains, and Smoky Hill service centers.

Page 2 Serving Education Leaders

Over the past decade or more, capital outlay and LOB budgets have fallen signifi cantly behind the constant repair burden on our schools’ aging infrastructure. Most districts use a pay-as-you-go approach, and LOB and/or capital outlay budgets only afford the ability to grease the squeakiest wheel. As a result, districts’ deferred maintenance back-logs have risen to unsustainable levels, contributing in some cases to classroom health and safety concerns.

KSDE’s Dale Dennis and others have conducted workshops on how to leverage the additional state aid resulting from the recently signed HB 2506 to address districts’ deferred maintenance back-logs. HB 2506 positions many districts to take action by increasing LOB and/or capital outlay budgets without a tax levy increase to patrons. In many cases this will make the case for utilizing those additional funds for an Energy Performance Contract to realize the largest reduction to a district’s deferred maintenance challenges.

In 2008, Tonganoxie USD 464 took advantage of Trane’s no-fee business analysis which quantifi ed the district’s pay-as-you-go plan and compared it to fi nancing and implementing projects all at once using Energy Performance Contracting statute K.S.A. 75-37.125. Both options were compared against the timeline to address deferred maintenance, amount of back-log afforded, and classroom learning environment impact utilizing the same budget amounts for utilities, LOB and capital outlay.

Like many Kansas districts, USD 464’s pay-as-you-go plan was limited to the remaining capital outlay available annually after fulfi lling other obligations. In USD 464’s case this amounted to $75,000 annually. The fi nancial analysis completed by Trane concluded that spending $75,000 a

Addressing deferred maintenance: Benefi ts of leveraging HB 2506 year for 20 years results in $1.5M (future-value) of deferred maintenance projects, but when adjusted for 8 percent construction escalation costs over 20 years the value of the work is actually only $760,000 (present-value).

The Trane analysis continued by quantifying the district impact of using the same funding resources as the pay-as-you-go approach and leveraging additional funding resources produced from Energy Performance Contracting. These include annual utility and repair savings from the district-wide installation of new energy effi cient equipment and technology.

Trane’s analysis concluded that the Energy Performance Contracting option afforded $3.1M of present-value projects implemented in one summer while the pay-as you-go-approach afforded the district only $760,000 of present-value projects over 20 years. The approved Energy Performance Contracting projects guaranteed savings would surpass the annual debt service payment which includes both principal and interest expenses.

KASB welcomes Ted Carter as the new Research Specialist. He replaces Jim Hays, who is retiring this month after 29 years. Jim joined the organization in April 1985 after previously working in the Kansas Division of the Budget for over 10 years.

Ted began at KASB in May. A graduate of Rockhurst University (BA, Psychology and Philosophy) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MA, Educational Psychology), Ted was previously a research and development project manager and coordinator for Computerized Assessments and Learning in Lawrence. He also worked as the reporting and research specialist for the Kansas Board of Regents, and spent over fi ve years at the Kansas State Department of Education, where he worked as an

application development supervisor, a data manager/data control manager

and a data analyst/education program consultant. Ted is also a published writer, having authored or co-authored many academic papers which have been presented at multiple

data conferences.

Ted stated he wanted to work at KASB because he was interested

in getting back into educational data. He likes that he’s helping to provide a benefi t to education in Kansas and make a difference in the lives of school boards, administrators, teachers, students, and parents.

Ted is looking forward to providing services and fi nding new and creative ways to use data and to fi nd and provide more useful ways for members to access the data. He has been learning about the data KASB has collected and

saved over the years and, working with advocacy and research secretary Debbie Dyche in fi nding ways to improve how data is collected for annual surveys.

“I’m looking forward to carrying on Jim’s work [and] learning about our members and how best to respond to their research and data needs.”

Ted has already hit the ground running with regard to carrying on Jim’s work, as he is already currently working on many projects. He is currently producing the 2013-14 version of the annual “K-12 Headcount Enrollment Projection” report and comparing spending and achievement data across the states and over multiple years. He is also looking into the data and reports of developmental/remedial education.

Follow Ted on Twitter at retract_ted. Also check out his research blog at http://kasbresearch.blogspot.com.

KASB welcomes new research specialist

the new Research Specialist. He replaces Jim Hays, who

Ted began at KASB in May.

application development supervisor, a data manager/data control manager

and a data analyst/education program consultant. Ted is

data conferences.

at KASB because he was interested

Page 3Inspiring Student Success

Using the Energy Performance Contract option, the return on the Capital Outlay budget was $2.06 of work for every $1.00 spent over 20 years. The pay-as-you-go scenario return on the Capital Outlay budget was $.50 of work for every $1.00 spent over the same time period.

While both the pay-as-you-go and Energy Performance Contracting approaches spend the same amount of money, the time lines to reduce the deferred maintenance back-log and impact the learning environments are significantly different experiences for the students and teachers.

Other Energy Performance Contracting benefits to the community include demonstrating fiscal leadership, environmental stewardship, healthy and safe classrooms, and protection to assets and technology. Every student and teacher benefits since the improvements are usually implemented in every school and in most cases every classroom.

Energy Performance Contracting benefits the district by: incorporating Trane’s no-cost master planning process; migrating project risk from the district to the contractor with guaranteed results; owner (the district) stays in control of the process and does not require a community vote.

An Energy Performance Contract project can also be financed through a bond issue. This approach not only increases voter support, but also indirectly increases funds available for operations. An Energy Performance Contract can be developed to deliver guaranteed utility and maintenance expense savings in the operating budget while the annual payments

are made from principal and interest funds. This is a proven solution as boards and administrators search for additional operating dollars. This graphic illustrates the positive messaging that can result from using a Performance Contract to fund a portion of the needed improvements prior to a bond campaign vote. This assures the community the district is walking the talk by tightening its belt before asking tax payers for additional resources to support a bond campaign to address the remaining needs of the district.

Article authored by Trane - a KASB preferred partner. For more information contact Keven Ward, public sector consultant, 913.599.4664 or email keven.ward@trane.com.

and energy performance contracting

Nominating Committee seeks candidates for president-elect designee

School board presidents will soon be receiving a packet of information on becoming a candidate for the office of KASB president-elect designee.

The position of president-elect designee is open to all school board members of KASB member districts throughout the state.

President-elect designee is a term of six months, beginning with the election in December. In June 2015, the designee will move into the office of KASB president-elect. The position will be voted upon at the KASB Convention in December in Overland Park.

School board members are asked to review the materials and considering serving as an officer of your association.

If you have any questions regarding the process, please contact KASB Executive Assistant Kathy Tallman, committee coordinator, at 800.432.2471 or email ktallman@kasb.org.

The selection of KASB’s leadership is one of the most important responsibilities of

association membership.

✓July 16: Clerks Workshop, Great Bend/Topeka, 1-4 p.m.

✓July 21-22: McREL Principal Eval, Smoky Hill/Salina

✓July 24-25: McREL Principal Eval, Greenbush

✓July 30-Aug 1: McREL Principal Eval, Smoky Hill/Hays

✓July 30: Student Discipline, Topeka, 9-4 p.m.

✓August 4: What’s the Word on Section 504? a.m./p.m. sessions, Clearwater

✓August 5: Board Leadership Workshop, Hays, 9-4 p.m.

✓August 7: Board Leadership Workshop, Topeka, 9-4 p.m.

Check out KASB.org for more information and to register!

UPCOMING TRAINING

Nonprofi t OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPERMIT NO. 104Topeka, Kansas

Kansas Association of School Boards1420 SW Arrowhead RdTopeka, KS 66604

Return Service RequestedPreparing for July Organizational Board Meeting

The highly anticipated July organizational board meeting is rapidly approaching. KASB gets many calls this time of year about what boards must accomplish during this fi rst meeting of the year. Find highlights at www.kasb.org/wcm/_NB/14/NB0624.aspx

Appointments made to School District Effi ciency Commission

A majority of members have now been appointed to the K-12 Performance and Effi ciency Commission, including the president of the conservative Kansas Policy Institute, former legislative leaders and two school superintendents. The commission is to “study and make recommendations to the Legislature regarding opportunities to make more effi cient use of taxpayer money,” which could lead to consolidation of school districts or programs and new school budget and operating requirements. www.kasb.org/wcm/_AdvocacyServices/_CU/CapUpdate0620a.aspx

Regents receive recommendations for remedial education issues

A Kansas Board of Regents working group has recommended a series of steps to address “developmental education,” commonly called remedial courses, in Kansas colleges and universities that could impact high schools. The report noted that 37 percent of fi rst time degree-seeking students enrolled in remedial education and of those only 18 percent successfully completed the courses. www.kasb.org/wcm/_AdvocacyServices/_CU/CapUpdate0620b.aspx

Declining state revenues require more internal borrowing

State leaders authorized the use of $675 million from other funds to manage cash fl ow in the state general fund in the coming fi scal year - more than double the amount in the year just ending. The action came after state revenues have fallen over $300 million short of estimates in the past two months. www.kasb.org/wcm/_AdvocacyServices/_CU/CapUpdate0620.aspx