Board training regulations: what public boards need to know
When public board members are fully up to speed on governance, board operations and their own responsibilities, they’re even more effective: ably navigating risks and opportunities, confidently meeting legal and ethical expectations and maintaining community trust.
Especially in today’s environment of heightened expectations, scrutiny and complexity, school boards and city councils across the U.S. are making board training ‘business as usual’ — and with good reason. Regular education and development make board members more effective in their roles and keep them updated on governance best practices, new laws and emerging issues.
State regulators and authorities are recognizing the value — and necessity — of such training as well.
“The learning curve for a newly sworn-in board member is steep,” notes the North Carolina School Board Association. This is especially true in states like New Hampshire, which requires high schools to choose one or more students to serve as non-voting members of the board.
As a result, board training is the law for many publicly elected boards in the U.S., with mandates, contingencies and penalties that vary widely by jurisdiction. In Utah, for example, school board presidents are responsible for ensuring board members receive annual training on open meetings provisions. In Oregon, school board members who don’t comply with board training mandates could face penalties of up to $1,000 per violation.
How can administrators navigate the nuances and keep up in this complicated, continually evolving landscape?
A practical guide follows to board training regulations in the U.S., diving deeper into:
- Rules, requirements and resources by state
- Tips for a compliant, effective training program
- Ways to stay ahead as the regulatory landscape evolves
Board training regulations across the U.S.
States with board training requirements
The following states have training requirements for school board members: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Vermont requires training for board chairs and superintendents.
The following states have training requirements for local government boards: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Washington, and West Virginia.
In many cases, board training rules come with a mandated number of hours and a deadline for meeting these requirements, for new and returning board members alike. Board members in these jurisdictions should mark their calendars and allow time to meet their requirements.
Other board training requirements for ethics, open meetings and beyond
Beyond general orientations on a board member’s role and duties, jurisdictions often require training in specific topical areas.
For example, ethics is a commonly required subject. California and Florida require it for both school board members and those who serve in local government, as do Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oregon for city and county officials.
Many states also require education in transparency areas like open meetings regulations. It’s something for school boards to watch for in Illinois, Maine, Ohio and Washington and for municipal leaders to mind in Illinois, Maine and Texas.
Maryland requires every board and commission to designate a member, officer or employee to receive open meetings training and for someone who’s received this training to be present at all meetings open to the public.
Beginning this year, Vermont requires annual open meetings training for municipal managers, mayors and the local chairs of legislative bodies.
Virginia school board members and local government boards in Massachusetts must undergo COIA (conflict of interest) training. Minnesota requires training in school management and finance, as does Connecticut, along with education on the role and responsibilities of a board member and the duties and obligations of a board of education.
In other areas:
- Nevada’s school board training requirements expand into employee-management relations and identifying and preventing violence
- Texas mandates include cybersecurity, human trafficking and district-specific education topics
- Wyoming, New York and Rhode Island require training for local officials involved in land use and planning
- Tennessee has training requirements for all local government board members that supervise, control, or operate a public natural gas, public water or public sewer system
Mandates for members old and new
Missouri mandates “refresher training,” and in New Jersey, this includes board members in the second and third years of a first term, and in the first year of a re-elected or reappointed term.
West Virginia’s State Board of Education can require any county board member to attend additional training if they believe that the training would be beneficial in assisting the member in successfully fulfilling their duties.
Approved content and providers
Resources abound for board training: guidebooks for local government by state authorities (Arkansas, Michigan and Minnesota), at the local level (the City of Montrose, Colorado) and through academia (Montana State University and the University of Delaware). New Hampshire sponsors the Academy of Good Governance.
In many states, not just any training resource will do. For municipal and county officials seeking land use and zoning orientation in South Carolina, the South Carolina Association of Counties and Municipal Association of SC offer the only approved training program. And Utah’s training requirement related to the Open Meetings Act can only be fulfilled by attending an event sponsored by the Utah Association of Special Districts or the Utah State Auditors Office.
Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Tennessee are among the states stipulating specific providers and/or approval of school board training content by a state authority. And some of these stipulations can be highly prescriptive, like those of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota:
Pending bills and considerations
The legislative landscape for board training is always evolving.
Oklahoma, for example, introduced a bill mandating eight hours of training for first-time municipal officers while the District of Columbia recently proposed legislation requiring mandatory training for public charter school trustees.
Delaware’s House Bill 77 would add education on the state’s Freedom of Information Act and proper board meeting conduct to training requirements that currently cover topics such as special education and school finances. In Iowa, HF 706 would require training for newly elected public officials, including school board members, on open meetings and open records laws.
Not all of these efforts are successful. In Indiana, a bill was introduced in 2020 to require school board member training but it never progressed into official legislation. Michigan faced a similar scenario in 2019.
What to do if your state isn’t listed
Check local and district regulations. Alaska, for example, leaves school board training requirements open to individual bylaws.
Watch the legislative landscape. In Hawaii, a single department of education and a single statewide board has long held oversight over public schools. But HB No. 287 proposes a new system of local school boards — membership which may very well come with board training requirements.
How to keep your board training compliant and effective
Even if state legislation, local policy or organizational bylaws don’t mandate regular board training (yet), school districts and city/county counsels should consider it imperative.
- Take ownership: "Board professional development is not just nice to do; it is not a sideshow; and it cannot be delegated,” in the words of Rick Maloney, long-time state school board trainer and lecturer.
- Check for compliance: Make sure that the training you deliver — to whom, when, where and how — meets all applicable mandates.
- Be comprehensive: Are you covering all topics related to ethics, accessibility and transparency, like ADA requirements and conflict of interest laws? Same with board operational and oversight skills. Consider curricula in finance, community relations, effective governance and strategic planning and decision-making.
- Make it manageable: Augment retreats and workshops with bite-size digital quizzes, videos and modules, available online for board members on the go.
- Track engagement and progress: This is recommended for both auditability and continuous improvement.
- Be consistent: Laws change. Risks and opportunities in a district or community evolve. For these reasons alone, board training and education has to be an evolving journey, not a one-and-done.
Explore more practical guidance in Best practices for school board member training and Understanding municipal laws and compliance.
Stay ahead of regulatory change
Check out our comprehensive — and continually updated — regulatory roundups for livestreaming, AI and more.
How Diligent Community can help with board training
Even as the regulatory landscape evolves, the right board governance software can keep you and your board ahead of the curve. Diligent Community equips you with features that make training efficient, accessible and effective, including:
- A centralized data repository that puts documents and materials in one convenient, secure place, from onboarding basics to timely refreshers
- Annotation tools that help board members use “sticky notes”, highlighting and more while they are reviewing documents attached to agendas
- Built in communications and notifications that board administrators can securely send straight from the portal, to keep board members engaged and on track
- User home pages that put calendars, deadlines, next steps and more front and center — so no one misses a beat
- Trackable workflows and approvals so administrators — and auditors — can easily see who did what, when, to demonstrate compliance and guide progress
Giving you even more peace of mind, Diligent Community is a cloud-based board management software offering secure servers and 256-bit encryption, the strongest level of encryption currently available. These elements ensure privacy and security for your board's most confidential and sensitive data.
Make sure your board training ticks all of the right regulatory boxes, while being a smooth experience for you and your board. Schedule a demo today.
