Role of the Board of Trustees in the Coherent Governance Model

At our meeting last night, Trustees Pat Cochrane and Lynn Ferguson sat down with members to discuss the new governance model and revised Governance Policies that trustees are hoping to adopt. A hand out was provided for meeting attendees and the text has been copied below:

Role of the Board of Trustees
in one of the world’s best education systems

Citizens of Calgary elect trustees to govern the Calgary Board of Education. The CBE is one of the best education systems in the world.

The CBE is a learning organization. More than 104,000 students learn in our schools and from people who number among the best educators in the world.

Our learning extends to the work of the Board of Trustees as well. In 2007 the Conference Board of Canada recognized the Board of Trustees for its governance excellence. Building on that success, we are committed to continuously learning and improving.

In the spring, the Trustees agreed that we would all work together to review the work that we do and how we work together to oversee, govern and focus the performance of the Calgary Board of Education.

Governance is not management and certainly not micro-management. As Trustees we govern the CBE. That means we set the ultimate objectives for the organization and—of course—our students. Today we call those objectives “Ends.” The new governance model calls these “results.” Doesn’t “results” make more sense than “ends”? Indeed, one reason why we are moving to a new governance model is that it is easier for everyone to understand. Everyone includes trustees, administration, employees, students and parents.

As Trustees, we also set boundaries for how our results can be achieved. In our new governance model, these are called “operational expectations.” Operational expectations are easy to explain.

The Aspen Group created “Coherent Governance.” Aspen is a leader in governance with special expertise in education. The Aspen group defines operational expectations (OE) this way:


“The board wants to remove itself from preoccupation with the day-to-day operation of the organization. But yet, it has concerns about those operational matters that it must express in order to represent and serve the interests of the ‘owners’ of the organization on whose behalf the board does its work.”

In addition to the results and the operational expectations, the governance policies include clear delegation of work to the Chief Superintendent of Schools and governance culture. Governance culture clearly states how Trustees are expected to behave individually and collectively.

Financial Accountability

The new governance policies will improve how the Board of Trustees oversees the financial management and performance of the organization. There are at least four policies directly related to finance. The policies include:


1 financial planning;
2 financial administration;
3 asset protection; and
4 communication with and support for the board.

Together these polices require the Chief Superintendent of Schools to:


1 effectively manage the immediate and long-term financial health of the CBE;
2 ensure the budget balances;
3 protect and maintain assets;
4 provide the Board of Trustees with timely information relevant to the board’s work.


When you read the details of the policies you will see that the board will have effective and thorough oversight of how the CBE manages its taxpayer’s money. Some of the details have changed but the Board of Trustees will have a close eye on the accounts.

Transportation & Other Fees

The same is true for fees. A board could do the job of accountants in Finance by setting the actual fees for things like transportation and noon supervisions. That would not be effective. What is effective—and reflected in the new policies—is that the board will review and oversee how the fees come together as part of the overall budget process. And we will want to know how fees reflect what the community expects of a complex school system.

Community Engagement

CBE Trustees spend a lot of time meeting with parents, students, employees and others who care about public education. Understanding the community is not something else Trustees do, it is integral to everything we do every day.

The governance change will engage the community to gain feedback. When we initiated this work we wanted to improve our governance for students and taxpayers. The School Act says it’s our job to develop our governance policies. We have done that. Soon, when the system starts to work, we will invite feedback to help us understand whether we are achieving our objectives. Based on what we learn, we will move forward.


Collaboration

The governance policies presented at the public board meeting are the result of a lot of work by all seven trustees. It was difficult work. The outcome reflects debate, differences, compromise and, ultimately, agreement about how we want to govern one of the best education systems in the world. We all need to remember that real value of this work is what it means for how we deliver learning as unique as every student.

Update: Please link to the online version of the document and look for the section with further information on Coherent Goverance. Among the items offered, you can read about one board's experience with this model.

For more information about

1 Aspen Group of governance experts http://www.aspengroup.org/home.html

2 Governance policies proposed by the CBE Board of Trustees (page 3 of the PDF) http://www.cbe.ab.ca/Trustees/agendas/a12Jan17.pdf