Value
ISBA Membership Services Brochure is a detailed PDF that outlines all of ISBA’s services.
Insurance
Property & Liability
Protect your schools and reduce your costs by participating in a program specifically designed for Idaho school districts. 90% of Idaho school districts are now enrolled and over the past 10 years they have received over $6 million in dividends.
Travel
Every ISBA school board member is covered with $50,000 additional life insurance in case of an accident during district-related travel.
Policy Services
Policy Update Service
A primary function of ISBA is to support and improve policy-making by Idaho’s public school boards. The Policy Services staff provide reliable, authoritative policy assistance and information to help school boards draft and maintain policies. ISBA Policy Staff help schools update their policies based upon changes in legislation. Over 85 Idaho school districts and 14 charter schools are currently members of the Policy Update Service. In addition, several districts have contracted our services for a custom re-write of their policy manual.
Publications
SLATE
Published four times a year, it provides an in-depth perspective of issues all board members need to understand and offers a quick summary of current news and upcoming activities.
Capitol Notes
Capitol Notes is a weekly e-newsletter posted on our website and distributed through the ISBA Voice during the legislative session.
Policy Update News
Published in the SLATE to keep members apprised of current policy changes.
Clerk’s Manual
The latest edition of the Clerks Manual is available on the ISBA website. It includes resources for everything from employment to elections to Board meetings. It includes forms, timelines, and supplemental information to help your district comply with State law.
Document is password protected. Contact ISBA if you do not know the password.
If you need help accessing this handy resource, please contact April Hoy at april@idsba.org.
ISBA Job Descriptions Manual
Having a resource for model job descriptions is a great benefit. From principal to custodian, the ISBA Job Descriptions Manual provides qualifications, reporting structures, job goals, scope of responsibilities and more for the many jobs in your school district or charter school. Simply customize each sample description to meet your needs. Learn more.
Legal Services
ISBA provides four (4) hours of legal services per member district or charter school per fiscal year. This block of prepaid legal time allows members to utilize ISBA’s legal services for complicated legal questions or other services such as policy and/or contract drafting or review or negotiations advice. Members are able to allocate their legal time as they see fit and without regard to topic. By getting accurate legal advice upfront, ISBA members can often avoid costly litigations down the road.
Government Affairs & Legislative Advocacy
ISBA Legislative Services staff works with legislators, State Board of Education, State Department of Education, and the Governor’s office, as well as other education stakeholders in developing education legislation as directed by the membership, and opposing bills that restrict local control of schools. To advocate for school districts, the ISBA staff and Governmental Affairs Committee are involved in day-to-day activities at the Legislature.
Superintendent Search
The ISBA understands the choice of a superintendent is one of the most important decisions the board will make. ISBA offers professional services to school boards seeking to fill a superintendent vacancy. This Superintendent Search Service works with the district to customize the process to meet district and community needs. ISBA staff will handle the details and present the board with options to consider in filling the superintendent position.
This service includes any or all of the following: promote the position opening nationwide, provide the board with sample interview questions, assist the board with the interview process, conduct background checks, and/or mentor the new superintendent for the first year to assist in a smooth and effective transition with the district.
Read more about our Superintendent Search Service.
Events
Annual Convention
The ISBA Annual Convention is a valuable professional development opportunity for boards, superintendents, and clerks. In addition, the ISBA Business Session is your school boards’ opportunity to vote on the policy issues that will comprise ISBA’s legislative agenda for the upcoming year.
Region Meetings
Each fall, ISBA’s regions hold meetings to share ideas, report on current developments, discuss legislative advocacy, and more. These meetings provide board members and district leadership an opportunity to learn from their colleagues and share with others in their region.
Day on the Hill
Day on the Hill is an annual event held in February is an important way for trustees and others to visit with their local legislators about education-related issues. Additionally, ISBA leadership presents testimony to the House and Senate Education Committees.
Summer Leadership Institute
The Summer Leadership Institute is offered to all ISBA members. This is a great learning opportunity for new and experienced board members as well as the district leadership team. Workshops include training in roles and responsibilities, board ethics, effective meetings, school finance, board policy, and more.
Board Training
Regular Training Modules
There are over 30 training modules that address the five standards of Boardmanship. These modules are offered as two or four hour workshops. They include topics such as open meeting law, superintendent evaluations, conflict management, patron input and much more.
Custom Modules
We work with districts to present new and innovative trainings, customized on an individual district basis. Some of these modules include: strategic planning, board retreats, setting board goals, and board superintendent teams. Call us to help you plan for specific areas of training to move your board to a highly effective governance team!
New Board Member Packet
The Board Member Packet includes articles, books, handouts, forms, webinars, and regularly scheduled contact with an ISBA trainer during the first six months of service.
Go to the Board Development & Training page for more information.
Other Benefits
Ask ISBA
ISBA staff receives questions from trustees, superintendents, and clerks on a variety of topics. To help others learn from these questions and answers, ISBA offers the Ask ISBA service on its website. Members can send their question through the website to be answered or review a catalog of questions and answers – this service is offered free to members and is available 24 hours a day.
Access to Auto Email Lists
ISBA has created the regional email lists to provide an additional tool for communication with the colleagues in your region. List serves are available to trustees, superintendents, clerks, and business managers in each of ISBA’s eight regions.
Services with ISBA Business Partners & Affiliates
ISBA’s Business Partners and Affiliates have proven their unwavering support of education and Idaho school boards by partnering with ISBA. These companies provide phenomenal services and products to assist Idaho’s schools. Many of these companies offer exclusive prices for ISBA members.