School Beat: Confessions of an SSC Newbie

by Lisa Schiff, 2009-10-22

As a very involved San Francisco public school parent, it’s almost embarrassing to admit to never having served on a local school governing body. These groups, called School Site Councils or (SSCs) are required by law (specifically Sections 52852 and 52852 of the California Education Code) to be in place at every public school in the state. SSCs are supposed to reflect the school community and must include the principal, teachers, staff and parents, and in upper grades, students. Elections for these positions are held in the fall, and as a result, some of us are now finding ourselves about to embark on a new plane of public school involvement.

In theory, the overarching purpose of SSC’s is to enable school level decision-making and oversight in order to boost the academic performance of all students. SSC’s are thus, in short, charged with defining an academic plan for the school that meets the varied educational and legal requirements of the student body; determining budget allocations to support that plan; and ensuring that those funds are being used appropriately and effectively.

In this fiscal climate, that more often than not boils down to identifying what is absolutely essential at a school and what is not quite so absolutely essential. So much of a school’s budget is tied up in restricted funding that there is very little left over to make decisions about and those decisions can be painful ones.

Fiscal limitations are only one challenge that SSC’s face. Another challenging goal that we really want all schools to achieve is to ensure that legal requirements regarding the use of funds are met. For instance, money coming from Title I of our federal education policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is supposed to be used to benefit educationally disadvantaged students, students who are specifically designated as such within the school system. SSC’s must make sure that the monies those students bring in to the school as defined under the Weighted Student Formula (WSF) (in which the money to educate a student follows that student to whatever school she or he is at, as opposed to being tied to the specific school), are being used for programs that are chosen to specifically address the needs of those students at that school. A positive side effect is that such programs are often beneficial to all students, but the first test an SSC must apply is whether Title I funding is going towards serving the educational needs of the students who bring it in. The presence of parents on the SSC who reflect the entire school community is one obvious way to make this kind of oversight more effective.

Political challenges are yet another issue facing SSCs and these occur at multiple levels as explored in a past School Beat column. A basic hurdle is the fairly common tension between principals and parents, which can carry over to the SSC context. While collaboration between educators and parents is becoming more and more common, there is still much to overcome on all sides.

Principals are familiar with the intricacies of their school, their students, and hopefully pedagogical theory and practice in ways no parent can ever be. That being said, parents are the best advocates for students and bring this perspective and a degree of oversight that is absolutely essential. Having to convincingly demonstrate why one program is preferable to another or why one choice is less draconian than another is good practice in flush times and in scarce times. But these conversations aren’t always easy. Principals are overworked. Parents have gaps in what they need to learn to participate effectively.

One of the ways in which this is being tackled is through trainings. The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has materials online about SSC’s (and other advisory bodies) and holds annual meetings for SSC members. These meetings cover SSC specific and more general topics, some of which are organized by community groups like Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco (PPS-SF), which has also developed a variety of SSC training materials. These are designed to help bring new SSC members up to speed on what they will need to know to effectively participate as advocates and activists, not just as seat warmers.

Another serious question is how genuine the interest is in having SSC act as local governing bodies. Between NCLB determining that high-stakes testing and related teaching materials and strategies are required, and districts purchasing curricula, there is little movement for schools to make. The local choice appear to be very limited indeed. Still, that may be just when parent voices are most essential — when the decision are most difficult and will have the greatest long term impact on the students. I’ll let you know at the end of the year.

Lisa Schiff is the parent of two children who attend Everett Middle School in the San Francisco Unified School District and is a member of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco and the PTA and is a board member at the national level of Parents for Public Schools.