MHUSD board delays vote on professional development policy

Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education delayed a vote on a new policy regarding trustee reimbursement for professional development at the Feb. 10 meeting.
Trustee Gino Borgioli said he needed more time to go over the draft of a document drawn up by a three-member subcommittee that provided recommendations for instituting a new board policy. The recommendations included a $3,000 per trustee per year limit (or $21,000 cap) on reimbursements for professional development.
The rest of the board members obliged Borgioli’s request and the new board expense policy will appear on a future school board agenda to be determined for an expected vote.
Under the current provisions, previous boards established a $13,000 total cap per year for professional development such as attending the California School Boards Association’s Annual Education Conference, which was held in San Francisco this past December and attended by all seven trustees. The total cost was approximately $9,900 and, along with other past board expenses, pushed the professional development tab over the $13,000 mark.
However, the expenses are totaled over the fiscal year from July 1 to June 30 and the November general election changed three spots on the board with Borgioli and trustees David Gerard and Donna Foster-Ruebusch being voted in. (Incumbent Ron Woolf reclaimed his seat as well.) Expenses accrued by the former members from the beginning of the current fiscal year were already put on the district’s tab.
Trustees use professional development—such as the annual CSBA convention—to stay informed about key educational issues, policies and procedures as well as learn from experts in particular fields and from more experienced board members.
At the Jan. 27 meeting, the board voted 4-1 in favor of allowing Gerard and Borgioli to begin enrolling in the CSBA’s Masters in Governance coursework, something that was completed most recently by Trustee Rick Badillo and years before by Woolf.
Board President Bob Benevento voted against the move, requesting the two new board members wait until the beginning of the new fiscal year (July 1) to begin that professional development path.
“I thought it could wait until next fiscal year, and I thought it could wait until the expense policy was clarified or amended,” said Benevento, further explaining that the Masters in Governance would also be offered closer to home instead of having to expense a trip to San Diego, where the first of five 2015 courses will take place in March.
Borgioli and Gerard amended their request to only include reimbursement for course registration fees and not travel expenses if they chose to go to San Diego, instead of waiting until spots are available for future courses closer to Morgan Hill. In the fall of 2015, Masters in Governance courses will be held in San Jose.
“The more education that we can get as board members the better able we are to make what I call the most effective decisions sitting on this board,” said Borgioli, who intends to get up to speed as quickly as possible to be on par with some of the more veteran board members. “I was a little disappointed in the last board meeting discussion surrounding (board expenses for professional development).”
At the Feb. 10 meeting, the board did not take action on the new policy and instead had a prolonged discussion on the benefits of professional development along with the fiscal responsibilities of using taxpayer money to be reimbursed for their expenses.
Chamber of Commerce Director John Horner stuck around for three hours at the board meeting until the agenda item was called so that he could stress the importance of professional development for trustees.
“There is no objection to (professional development) training and additional opportunities….But budgets are important,” Foster-Ruebusch said. “I think that this whole discussion began because there was a lot of spending going on without it coming to the board first.”
Back in November 2014, at the last meeting of the former board, that seven-member caucus denied Badillo’s request for reimbursement for expenses he accrued to participate in a pair of professional development conferences, including one with the California Latino School Boards Association, without getting prior board approval.
In one past meeting in May 2014, the previous board ignited the debate over board expenses when they provided a detailed list of reimbursement expenses and total amounts for each trustee. Benevento explained to the new trustees that this is what forced the formation of the subcommittee to come up with a new policy.
“What prompted this conversation was that one board member spent close to $4,700 and another spent zero,” Benevento said. “The one who spent $4,700 was chastised and the one that spent zero was lauded.”
When the subcommittee returned with its recommendations in October 2014, the former board, knowing that three of four were not seeking re-election, wanted to leave it to the new board to decide the expense policy parameters.
While MHUSD currently reimburses all expenses—including registration, travel, hotel and meal costs—for board members who first get prior board approval for professional development, other school districts have their own policies. Palo Alto and Milipitas school districts do the same as MHUSD.
But the Santa Clara Unified School District only reimburses trustees for conference registration fees and not travel costs, while Gilroy Unified School District only pays for board members’ attendance at the CSBA conference.