A Stitch in Time Saves Nine: Consult with TASB Before Your Board Adopts a Policy Change

The next time you realize your current local policy on a topic doesn’t match your practice, you might be tempted to draft a policy change yourself or consult your neighboring districts’ online policy manuals to borrow their language. However, TASB Policy Service recommends that you contact your policy consultant first before presenting revisions to local policy to your board for consideration. 

Policy Consultation Before Policy Changes 

As Amanda Bigbee, Division Director of Policy Service, points out, “Every district’s membership agreement allows for unlimited consultation regarding policy questions, including drafting local policy changes for your board’s consideration. You don’t have to reinvent that wheel.” 

Your policy consultant can save you time, effort, and money by: 

• Addressing a concern without a policy change, such as: 
  • Identifying provisions in the legal framework that already address the concern, so that your district doesn’t need to adopt redundant local policy provisions on the topic 
  • Pointing out local policy provisions at a different policy code that already address the concern 
  • Recommending revisions to administrative procedures when the concern is more about implementation than governance 
• Providing alternate versions of policies that reflect common district choices allowed by law 
• Supplying legally vetted sample language on less common topics 
• Collecting sample language from districts across the state (not just your neighbors) 
• Drafting customized policy revisions that are exactly tailored to your district’s needs 

Legal Consultation Before Policy Changes 

Your consultant may also recommend that you consult with your district’s local counsel or a TASB Legal Services attorney before recommending a policy change to your board.  

Leslie Story, Legal Services director, notes that some policy changes may create a potential legal risk for a district. “TASB Legal Services aims to complement the work of your district’s own attorney, who is more familiar with your district’s local circumstances. We can discuss potential areas of legal risk associated with a policy change before the policy is presented to the board for consideration for adoption so the board can make an informed decision.”  

Legal Services may: 

• Recommend consultation with your district’s own attorney 
• Point you to resources that will help you better understand law on a topic, like the resources found in TASB School Law eSource Library   
• Refer you to Legal Services’ Policy Development Tips, a practical resource that identifies common legal concerns regarding specific sections of policy and offers legal guidance to assist districts with implementing local policy 
• Review draft changes to local policy 

Legal Advisory Letters After Adoption of Policy 

Occasionally, TASB Legal Services identifies potential risks in a policy that has already been adopted by a district’s board. If an attorney identifies a potential concern, the attorney may send the district a legal advisory letter describing the issue that may arise as a result of the district’s local policy choices. 

The content of local policy is the board’s choice, and any concern identified in a letter from TASB Legal Services is purely advisory. When changing local policy language, we suggest that the board consider the recommendations of district administrators, advice of the district’s attorney, and input from TASB Policy Service and Legal Services, including legal advisory letters. 

Story notes, “By consulting with a district about a policy change before it’s presented to the board, we might be able to help a district avoid a potential risk altogether. We can also help ensure that a district is aware of the risk and can consult their local counsel before adoption. We respect your board’s choices about policy. We want to make sure those choices are well informed.”