In what amounts to his annual state-of-the-association speech, Executive Director David Schuler ran through a lengthy series of existing programs and emerging initiatives that he says are responding to fast-changing and sometimes volatile needs of AASA’s members. 

In his 45-minute address to about 120 members of the AASA Governing Board Wednesday morning, Schuler said he wanted to show the responsiveness of the 160-year-old professional association, energetically pointing to the radically different environment of school system leadership in the lingering aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.    

In the ballroom of Nashville’s Omni Hotel, he pointed to AASA’s rapid facilitation on several sensitive fronts. Federal immigration crackdowns in and around schools, contributing to student absenteeism and staff fears, were high on that list. AASA quickly added a superintendents-only session to the Friday conference schedule on how to effectively respond to the ICE enforcement, noting that AASA moved the session into a much larger conference center space at considerable expense to accommodate the significant number who asked to register as participants. 

Among the other newly fashioned programs and forthcoming supports of association members, Schuler referenced the following: 

• Expansion of the Superintendent Response and Recovery Network, which helps superintendents whose schools have experienced an on-site shooting, to send a crisis recovery consultant, upon request,  to any school district where a fatality has taken place;   
• Launch of the Real Skills for Real Life certification program that, in part, will focus attention on the executive functioning skill needs of elementary and middle school students; 
• Formation later this year of a hybrid executive coaching certification program in collaboration with Arizona State University;  
• Procurement of outside funding to enable wider participation by leaders of small and rural school districts;  and 
• Plans for a week-long volunteer service excursion to the Dominican Republic this October for “sustainable community development” in support of local schools. 

“Our organization is nimbler with additional capacity to support members and respond to their needs,” Schuler said from the podium. 

Schuler conceded to the Governing Board that some of AASA’s work in support of school-age children might be viewed unfavorably at times by some in today’s highly politicized environments. Sensitive to those concerns, he said appropriate messaging related to the association’s newly launched Public Education Promise was developed through pollsters serving Republican and Democratic groups. 

Attending to these sometimes unbudgeted needs, the executive director said, requires AASA to maintain robust financial health. The integration of Battelle for Kids in the past year has begun to pay off on AASA’s investment. The newly named EdLeader Promise Network, run by former Battelle staff,  now offers direct services in 31 school districts, generating welcome revenues. Former Battelle staff also have developed messaging toolkits for use with adoption of Portrait of a Graduate by school districts.  

AASA’s partnerships with foundations and businesses have yielded valuable financial backing during the past year, allowing AASA to expand services directly to the local level. One example: A strategic partnership with ThoughtExchange – a company specializing in public engagement and surveying — whose services will be made available to local leaders at no cost. 

Even AASA’s move into newly renovated office space, about three blocks from its previous site in Alexandria, Va., last spring has yielded financial benefits, Schuler said, as the association now can make use of expanded spaces to hold professional cohort and Learning Network academy meetings. 

The association’s membership of 10,051 as of November, exceeded the FY ‘26 budgetary goal. Schuler said he expected a small fund balance to exist in this year’s $22.9 million association budget.  

(Jay Goldman is editor-in-chief of Conference Daily Online and editor of AASA’s School Administrator magazine.)