Page 4 - AASBO Winter 2019.indd

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

BY JILL BARRAGAN
Another New Year, Another New

Legislative Session

Around the world, civilizations have been celebrating the start of
each New Year for at least four millennia. e earliest recorded New
Year’s celebrations date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon.
Current New Year’s customs range across the globe. In the U.S.,
we watch reworks, sing “Auld Lang Syne” and drop the
giant ball in New York City’s Times Square to ring in the
New Year. Various towns across America have developed
their own versions of the Times Square ritual, organizing
public drops of items ranging from pickles (Dillsburg,
Pennsylvania) to possums (Tallapoosa, Georgia.)
en there is the practice of making resolutions for
the New Year, thought to have rst caught on with the
ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to
earn the favor of the gods. ey would vow to pay o
debts and return borrowed farm equipment.
As I re ect on 2018 and plan my resolutions for 2019, I
have come to realize that advocating for public education
is a serious commitment. You can’t be “in” one day and
“out” the next. Education is too close to our hearts to be
that cavalier about it. is year, one of my professional
resolutions is to continue to work with our elected o cials
to ensure we achieve incredible things for education. Each
year, as the legislative session rolls around, frustration
creeps in over red tape, constant repeating of the same data
and dealing with all of the misconceptions about public
education. I’ve come to learn that my frustration provides
little productivity. So my resolutions for 2019 include the
following.
Understand that red tape is part of the process, and do my
part to work through it. Maybe along the way, I can take steps to
eliminate some red tape for the future, too.
Be patient with those who need to hear and learn about our data
multiple times for it to register. I didn’t understand school nance
instantly, so how can I expect anyone else to?
Do my part to correct the misinformation. Whenever I hear a
misconception, as uncomfortable or challenging as it may be, I will
do what I can to help clear up that misconception. Whether that be a
clarifying conversation, pulling and sharing of data or passing along
the misconception to someone who can do something about it.
I’ve never been more proud of the work that so many did in 2018
for public education, and was honored to be a very small part of that.
So whether you spent your New Year’s watching the Times Square
ball drop, dropping a possum or returning some farm equipment,
I challenge each of us to one more New Year’s feat. Come up
with at least one thing you can do this legislative session
to achieve incredible things for public education.

4 THE EDGE | WINTER 2019