Community Empowerment

There will be a lot of discussion of funding for education over the coming weeks and possibly through to the election. Federal funding isn’t coming in at the amount Governor Rendell had planned, so he now has to adjust for a $282 Million shortfall. Leaders in Harrisburg will be debating which departments get cut, and how much. Education advocates are calling for an increased expenditure for education, while many are just hoping for a flat budget. Given the state of the national and local economies, I think maintaining last year’s education budget would be an accomplishment.

Like many private sector enterprises, local school districts will be expected to do more with less. Underperforming District’s can strengthen their chances of an educational turnaround, by increasing engagement with parents and community leaders. As I wrote back in March, “Education = Family + Community + School”. The Districts’ challenge is getting them to participate in an inclusive process to assess the district’s strengths, challenges and needs, to develop a vision, and a plan to meet those needs. It’s not rocket science to consider getting people together to discuss an issue, but a few general rules for effectively engaging stakeholders should be considered:
• Establish ownership among participants,
• Build on the strengths of local individuals and organizations,
• Promote participation by community-wide stakeholders,
• Get everyone working together and focused on the same issues,
• Develop specific actions with measurable results.

By engaging diverse stakeholders, including residents, non-profits, businesses and others to develop sustained collaborative efforts to strengthen education, the District could be in a better position to link unique community resources together with its educational resources to provide a more effective, nurturing learning environment. As I said, it isn’t rocket science, but getting a community’s assets all working together to support education, or safety, or any community-wide issues could be a very empowering tool.

A tool that is needed now!