A Look Back at FY21; What’s Ahead for IASB

Fiscal year 2021 was unlike any other for the Illinois Association of School Boards, the state of Illinois, and the nation. As the Association forges ahead into the next fiscal year, a look back indicates perseverance by school leadership teams led by Illinois school boards across the state.
Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, IASB staff remained focused on service offerings to 848 member school boards, as guided by its strategic priorities. IASB Executive Director Thomas Bertrand noted the Association’s ability to adapt and evolve quickly throughout the past fiscal year in order to carry out strategic initiatives. Measures of success include:

• Maintaining 95% member satisfaction with IASB programming and events.
• Creating over 150 videos, produced to keep members up-to-date.
• Generating response times of less than five days on PRESS Plus subscriptions.
• Meeting the mandatory minimum cash flow that the board of directors established for the Association.
• Holding a successful Virtual Summit and virtual Delegate Assembly for the first time in the Association’s history.
• Conducting over 94 virtual events for school board members, including webinars and division meetings.
• Welcoming over 800 new school board members with the new online training modules.
• Launching a grassroots advocacy platform, generating over 8,500 actions on IASB Governmental Relations Calls to Action during the spring session.
• Seeing continued interest from members in the in-district workshop Equity: An Educational Imperative and supporting the Association’s ongoing equity, diversity, and inclusion work, including the appointment of staff to lead equity services.
• Rolling out new content, including the Trust Edge: Leadership Training for Board Teams in-district workshop and a Social-Emotional Leadership webinar series for school board members.

“We welcome the return to in-person events, and reconnecting in-person with our members,” said Bertrand. “We will continue to strive for high levels of member satisfaction with our programs and our services, as well as our events, delivering timely learning opportunities.”

Looking forward to the year, IASB staff will continue to remain focused on the Association’s six Es: Envision, Empower, Engage, Educate, Evolve, and Equity.

Bertrand will discuss strategic actions for FY22 with the IASB Board of Directors at the quarterly meeting in August. The IASB Annual Report offering a snapshot of the important work of the Association during the 2021 fiscal year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) will be published and distributed this fall in conjunction with the annual Delegate Assembly.