WASB Strategic Plan

To ensure that the Wisconsin Association of School Boards remains responsive to the changing needs of its members, the WASB began developing a strategic plan in 2024 to identify key priorities and to adapt to the evolving needs of students, educators and communities. The WASB’s strategic plan articulates its mission and vision. The plan further outlines specific goals and actionable steps to guide the association to better advocate for effective policies, foster collaboration across all levels of education and ensure that the WASB can help member school boards meet future challenges and opportunities.

“I see strategic planning as a process for systematically re-examining how the world around us is changing—and how we are adapting to those changes,” WASB Executive Director Dan Rossmiller says of the process. “This process provides the association with a roadmap for defining and achieving long-term objectives, aligning resources and ensuring everyone is working toward a common vision. I see it not as the end of our self-examination or as a ‘one-off’ exercise, but as the beginning of a continual process of self-examination.”

Before the involvement of the full WASB Board of Directors and the senior staff leadership team, a strategic planning advisory committee reviewed and submitted their recommendations. After thorough discussion, these recommendations were approved by the full board, resulting in a unified direction for the future.

A clear mission and vision

The WASB’s updated mission and vision statements provide a strong foundation for its work and serve as a guiding compass for all initiatives. The association’s reworked mission and vision are:

• Mission—We will support, promote, and advocate for high levels of student achievement by providing public schools, public school boards, and their students and staff with resources, services, and professional development.
• Vision—We envision a future where every student thrives, every voice is heard, and every Wisconsin community is enriched by a world-class public educational system.”

Guiding principles

The WASB’s guiding principles reinforce these ideals and aim to ensure that decisions made by the organization are rooted in values that support the broader educational community. The guiding principles are:

1. We believe in the power of public education as the cornerstone of democracy.
2. We are committed to ensuring that EVERY student has access to a full and fair range of educational opportunities and a high-quality public education.
3. We strive for excellence in board governance.
4. We believe in the power of locally elected public school boards to shape education policies that reflect the values and needs of their communities.
5. We stand firm in our commitment to champion public education.
6. We value collaboration with other stakeholder organizations.

Primary strategic goals

We’ve focused our strategic planning around four goals that are centered around the kids, our members and local control.

1. To empower, engage, and connect members through learning opportunities that foster effective governance.
2. To elevate advocacy for public education students and locally elected school boards.
3. To support and strengthen partnerships that promote policies that positively impact Wisconsin public schools.
4. To optimize organizational effectiveness, responsiveness, and capacity.

For a further explanation of the WASB’s strategic plan, listen to WASB Executive Director Dan Rossmiller discuss the process, goals and mission.