L’Anse Creuse Trustee Ventures West for Answers

San Francisco proved the ideal location for the 2011 National School Boards Association’s Annual Conference held April 9-11.

The gathering attracted leaders in education from across the country, including L’Anse Creuse Public Schools Board of Education trustee Jeffrey DiPascale. Other attendees included former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, best-selling author Daniel Pink and international best-selling author and former Harvard Business School faculty member Juan Enriquez.

“This conference offers a wide variety of topics and suggestions, and it did a very good job of evaluating the primary focus for U.S. schools in the upcoming years,” DiPascale said.

The NSBA conference is a vital way for the local district to remain knowledgeable on the latest issues, according to DiPascale, who learned practical solutions for everyday challenges and also engaged in professional development. This year, he came back with the message that education would be undergoing major changes over the next few years.

Top future concerns for L’Anse Creuse Schools will likely include cost management and budget reductions, according to DiPascale. He said that in response to recent school budget cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder, the district is already working to minimize and even prevent any possible negative effects reductions could have on education.

DiPascale remains hopeful that, if budget cuts are imposed, they will be lower than anticipated, as proposals must first pass through the House and Senate.

Another area to be trimmed might be salary and benefits among faculty and staff in the district. This brings up the issue of collective bargaining, which DiPascale said should run smoothly.

“There isn’t some sort of magic bullet when it comes to reducing costs," he said. "It will concern a variety of different things and will take a lot of work on both sides of the table. That’s something we’re working on already.”

NSBA conference attendance was considerably lower than usual this year, due to financial tightening in school districts across the nation, DiPascale said. He added that though every district is managed differently, many representatives from other states at the meeting were astonished at how high proposed budget cuts are in Michigan. According to DiPascale, proposed cuts in Michigan could reduce per pupil spending to approximately $700 per student compared with current expenditures of a few thousand dollars per pupil.

DiPascale also attended the NSBA Council of School Attorneys Annual School Law Seminar held beforehand. The three-day meeting focused on law and legal procedure concerning various education topics of interest to the district like collective bargaining and disabled students.

“The school law conference was also worthwhile. The cuts are going to be a challenge for everyone but I think that if we work together, we can get through anything that they toss at us.”