The Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) is a professional association representing members from provincial school boards associations serving close to four million elementary and secondary school students across Canada. The CSBA advocates educational success for each and every student and promotes the value of locally elected school boards. We collaborate with education partners across the country to support students, schools and communities with a democratically elected voice of community members.
Vision
The vision of the CSBA is excellence in public education achieved through school boards.
Mission
- To support school board associations and their members in their mandates.
- To advocate on national, collective interests of Canadian children on behalf of the provincial/territorial public school boards that serve them.
- To promote the role democratically elected school boards play in ensuring quality and equitable education in Canada.
What We Do
The CSBA strongly supports the public school system and the value of local school boards/districts across Canada. We uphold excellence in school board governance and are committed to providing tools, leadership, professional development and communication opportunities to trustees and commissioners across Canada as well as advocating for them on shared, national issues.
Strong school board leadership plays a meaningful and vital role in our school boards across the country, and has a direct impact on student achievement and school success for all Canadian students. When it comes to improvements in student achievement research shows that how school boards govern really matters. Read “Elected School Boards and High-Quality Public Education: A literature review examining the relationship between high-quality public education systems and governing school boards“.
What School Board Members Do
Canadian trustees and commissioners are responsible for:
- Using democratic principles to govern school boards;
- Providing an important school/community connection;
- Demonstrating a 100% commitment to student success
- Allocating resources and make budgetary decisions, based on local school board culture and accountability to the community;
- Advocating at the grassroots level for their schools and communities;
- Providing leadership and policy implementation that impact student teaching and learning;
- Making evidence-based decisions to support the delivery of public education;
- Setting a vision, high standards and culture for their school boards and schools;
- Promoting the values and beliefs of their school boards and communities;
- Strongly advocating for student achievement;
- Understanding and debating programs and practices that lead to student achievement;
- Understanding current issues in student learning in their boards.
Territorial Acknowledgement
The CSBA acknowledges that its school boards and trustees are located on the ancestral and unceded territory of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada.
We purposefully recognize past and present Aboriginal Peoples. The CSBA is committed to improving relationships among nations and promoting respect for the histories and cultures of Indigenous peoples.
Please reflect on the consequences of past actions and consider how each of us, in the full spirit of reconciliation and collaboration, can learn about our neighbours and the treaties of the territories.
