“I’ve Been on a Board Before…”: Why Charter School Board Onboarding Matters

Here’s a scenario you may be familiar with.

You’ve recruited a new Trustee to your charter school Board. They’ve expressed a commitment to your school’s goals, and they bring experience from Board service in nonprofit or corporate fields. What’s more, they are excited, enthusiastic and ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

Early in their Board service, though, they begin to ask questions. Why did the Board do this? Why doesn’t the Board do that? Why can’t the Board be more “hands on”? After all, “I’ve been on a Board before, and we did things differently.”

Experience serving on nonprofit or corporate boards is valuable. Many charter school trustees bring expertise in law, finance, education, business and/or community leadership that can strengthen a school’s governance capacity. But the experience they bring does not always translate directly into effective charter school Board service.

Charter schools operate differently than other nonprofit or corporate organizations, especially when it comes to governance. The legal, accountability and performance oversight responsibilities of charter school Trustees are significantly different from those of board members of other nonprofits or corporations.

The key distinction is that charter school boards govern public schools and, frankly, the rules are different. For instance:

Corporate Board

Private—Governs a for-profit corporation

Only with extreme poor performance

Boards operate confidentially.

Oversees financial metrics, strategy, and risk management.

Charter school governance is different because charter schools are different. Unlike other nonprofits or for-profit corporations, charter schools are public institutions operating under a performance-based contract and subject to many of the laws and requirements that govern public entities. They are evaluated periodically by their authorizers to determine whether they have met their responsibilities under the charter and whether they have earned the right to continue. Simply stated, if a charter school is achieving its charter goals it will be renewed. If it isn’t, then it risks losing its charter and being forced to close.

This means that charter boards must understand not only their fiduciary duties, but also their role in monitoring school performance and ensuring accountability for results. Trustees who come from non-charter school boards may not immediately recognize these differences.

That is why onboarding matters.

How Onboarding Can Help Overcome the “I’ve Been on a Board Before” Trap

When a new trustee joins a charter school board, it is natural for them to rely on prior board experience. But without thoughtful onboarding, several misunderstandings can occur. For example, trustees may assume that charter school boards function like corporate or traditional nonprofit boards and that operational issues should dominate board meetings. They may also believe that academic matters belong entirely to the school leader and that their oversight responsibilities do not extend to issues of academic accountability. Most importantly, they may not understand the crucial role that the Board should play in the charter renewal process.

The fact is that the most effective charter school boards concentrate heavily on performance oversight. While avoiding the temptation to move inappropriately beyond governance into the realm of management, charter school Board members must focus on monitoring academic outcomes, reviewing financial indicators and ensuring that the school remains aligned with the commitments in its charter. Without a thoughtful introduction to these responsibilities, even experienced trustees may struggle to understand where their attention should be focused.

Providing new Board members with a clear and comprehensive onboarding, then, is key to ensuring their meaningful participation in Board affairs. A strong orientation process should focus on at least these four areas:

1. Understanding the Charter—Board members should appreciate the charter’s significance as a binding performance contract with the authorizer. They should be familiar with the school’s mission, educational model and the academic, operational and financial goals to which the school will be held accountable.

2. Governance vs. Management Responsibilities—Each Board member must commit this to memory and vow to live it every day: “Boards govern. School leaders manage.” Board orientation must emphasize how the Board is responsible for oversight, policymaking, evaluation of school leadership and ensuring continuous progress towards achievement of charter goals. Board members must clearly distinguish between these governance responsibilities and the management duties delegated to the school leader. Orientation must instill in them the need to make high-level governance decisions and resist becoming involved in day-to-day operational matters.
3. Board Oversight Systems—The most effective charter school Boards exercise governance by policy. This philosophy of governance is not only a best practice but has also emerged as a clear expectation of charter school authorizers. As advised by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), “Effective charter school boards govern through policy, not through micromanagement of school operations…The governing board’s primary responsibility is to establish policies that define the school’s mission, guide decision-making, and hold school leadership accountable for results.” Board orientation should make clear the value of establishing a Board culture in which policies comprise the roadmap for effective decision-making and oversight.
4. The Board’s Role in Charter Renewal—I believe strongly that a school’s charter renewal process begins on “day one” of its current charter term and that the Board should be the primary driver of any successful charter renewal. When thinking about onboarding, then, it is essential that each Trustee’s Board service begin with the end—i.e., charter renewal—in mind. Board orientation must make each Trustee aware not only of the importance of charter renewal but also of the Board’s responsibility in the process. According to NACSA, “Renewal decisions are based on the school’s performance outcomes and the governing board’s capacity to ensure continued success.” From the outset, then, Board members must understand that the decisions they make and the actions they take will be major factors in the school’s renewal outcomes.

Boards should look at the onboarding process as an investment in good governance. After all, when you consider the tremendous effort and resources charter schools put into recruiting Board members, it is only reasonable to give them an effective launching pad. Serious and focused onboarding builds on your commitment to success by ensuring that new Board members understand their responsibilities, participate more confidently in board discussions and focus on the issues that matter most.

Strong governance rarely happens by accident. It grows from clear expectations, thoughtful onboarding of new trustees and board policies that focus attention on data and progress toward the school’s goals. At JPS Solutions, we work with charter school boards to strengthen governance practices through targeted training and advisory support.

Here’s a resource that can help as you think about onboarding at your school.

If you’d like to explore the topic further, let’s talk.

wjones@jpssolutions.com