Page 5 - The Edge - Spring 2018

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
BY RICKY D. HERNANDEZ
Support for Public Education Is NOT a Wedge Issue
In January, your AASBO Board
of Directors made the decision to
withdraw as a plainti in the capital
funding lawsuit against the state. Certainly,
our decision was not made lightly and was
debated at great length. Our Board of
Directors knew that this decision was not
going to be popular with our other plainti
partners and our education supporters
across Arizona. e merits as to our decision
have been widely discussed and hotly debated.
What I discovered, was that soon after, the
debate became the proverbial line in the sand to
determine who stood where in supporting our
public schools.
Supporting public education is not a wedge
issue for those of us who have done so for
many years. Public schools in each of our
communities demand support from every
Arizonan. AASBO strongly believes and is
committed toward the fact that our state
leaders must nd solutions to support our
public schools. eir responsibilities are
to provide for a public education for each of
our kids throughout Arizona.
Wedge issues come from whether the right
organization has made the right choices
from someone else’s perspective. It should
be understood that no one person or
organization has ownership or defines
how we support our public schools. Each
of us plays a di erent and equally vital role
in the success of our schools, our students
and their teachers. We all need to move away
from conversations that lead to divisiveness,
criticism and undermining the work we do together.
We cannot create fractures in our long-
standing relationships. ese cracks create
opportunity to further undermine support
for our public schools. Now, more than
ever, we need to continue to work together
in each of our schools, our communities,
and with our state’s leaders.
This year, AASBO enters its 64th
year supporting our schools by promoting
the highest standards of school business
administration. Each of our members plays
a pivotal part in the sound management
of our schools from nance to technology
to procurement to transportation. Our
communities, our Governing Boards and our
district leadership need each of our members
to administer the resources our students need
to be academically successful. AASBO
supports our members through high
quality professional development,
developing best practices, advocacy and
being the primary source of accurate
business and operations information
for Arizona’s educational community.
The history of AASBO, the work
we’ve done and the causes we’ve championed
will outlive this controversy. We will be
de ned instead by how we moved past
controversy to continue building
success for our schools. Again, p ublic
education is not a wedge issue. ose
who choose to diminish the greatness
of public education will be on the wrong
side of history. ose, like AASBO and our
education partners across Arizona, will
continue to promote the greatness that
comes from public education not just for
our communities, but for every single
student who graces our schools every day.
¡Adelante!
ILLUSTRATION/portarefortuna
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