We Are Better Together

President's Corner

This is a pivotal time for education and our association. I am truly humbled and honored to serve as AASA president in 2024-25 as we promote the power of public education and advocate for equitable access for all of our students.

We have witnessed many transformations in education during the past decade. Our schools and communities are becoming ever more diverse. Technological advances have changed how instruction is delivered and how students interact with information.

We’ve weathered a global pandemic and its aftermath and seen our students return to school with greater needs. Public education systems are meeting more than students’ academic needs. Our schools are filling the gap in medical and mental health care and providing other services. Clearly, we must focus on the whole child in our schools and classrooms.

But that’s what public education today is all about, and that’s why it’s so powerful.

I know firsthand the power of public education. My parents immigrated from northern Mexico and worked as migrant farmworkers, following the crop seasons through California, Oregon and Washington. I grew up in a labor camp in Oregon, learning English as a second language in a pullout program in a rural elementary school hallway.

The public school system has served me well. I came up through public schools from kindergarten through my doctorate, and I can now give back to the system that gave me undreamed-of opportunities. I have been a public school teacher, counselor and administrator. I’ve held superintendencies in three states, in rural, urban and suburban school districts, giving me a broad perspective on how issues affect schools and students in each setting.

In my current district, Beaverton School District, near Portland, Ore., we enroll 38,000 students in 54 schools. Our population is diverse, with more than 100 languages spoken at home. I am reminded every day that education is changing these students’ lives, just as it changed mine.

As public educators, we are united around the common goal of always doing what is right for our students and families. As leaders, we speak for those who don’t have a voice. We have the moral imperative to educate every child, and we need a cadre of strong, skilled leaders to fulfill that mission.

We must support and sustain our superintendent leadership ranks and continue to showcase and promote the power of public education across the United States to ensure today’s and tomorrow’s children have the quality teachers and leaders they need.

The pandemic took a mighty toll on education, not only setting students back academically, socially and emotionally, but also driving scores of teachers and administrators from our classrooms — especially in urban districts, high-poverty districts, and districts serving predominantly students of color.

As we develop strategies to recruit and retain quality staff, we must do so as beacons of hope for public education. By creating and sustaining a safe, inclusive and caring educational environment, we show our communities we are committed to meeting the needs of teachers, students and their families every step of the way.

As school boards become more politicized and superintendents’ seats turn over more rapidly, we must unite as leaders to support our colleagues — the tenured leaders and those new to the profession. We must network, collaborate, mentor and support all of our superintendent peers — rural, urban and suburban, coastal and central — as we advocate for public education.

Restoring faith in public schools and supporting superintendents today will guarantee tomorrow’s children have the teachers and leaders they deserve. To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.

We are stronger together.

Gustavo Balderas is AASA president in 2024-25.