BISD is finalist for national award

The Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees is a finalist for a national award recognizing school board governance in large urban districts.

The BISD board is one of three finalists for the Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence given by the National School Boards Association and its Council of Urban Boards of Education, or CUBE.

The two other finalists are the Chula Vista Elementary School District in California and the School District of Omaha in Nebraska. The winner will be announced Sept. 27 at an awards ceremony during the annual CUBE conference in Las Vegas.

BISD board president Dr. Enrique Escobedo said the board feels honored to have been chosen a finalist.

"What resulted in this is that the board maintained focus on education, on putting children first and putting quality education first," he said. "The board works diligently to put personalities aside and put the focus where it belongs, which is education."

Katrina A. Kelley, director of NSBA's CUBE program, said the award is intended to measure good school governance, including the extent to which the board and superintendent work together and share a common vision for the community.

"It's a measure of whether you've got a good functioning school district, whether there's a mission and a vision that's being followed," she said.

A panel of judges selected finalists based on the school districts' submissions and independent research. Applicants must present evidence that exhibits their accomplishments in four core areas: school board governance, community engagement, closing the achievement gap and academic excellence.

For more information on the award, visit www.nsba.org/cube.

Recent winners include Houston Independent School District in Texas and Miami-Dade Public Schools in Florida. The winning district will receive recognition in CUBE programming and NSBA publications, including CUBE's advocacy newsletter, the Urban Advocate.

BISD also is one one of five finalists for 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education, which many in education consider the Nobel Prize of their profession.

The top award is $500,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors from the winning district. The four other finalist districts each receive $125,000 in scholarships. The winner will be announced Oct. 14 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The Broad Prize honors school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. It is given by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropy established by entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad to advance entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science and the arts.