The 2028 Goal Adoption Process — From Data Packet to Public Hearing to Final Vote
January 11, 2028
Your January organizational meeting is complete. The officers are elected. The committees have written charges. The governance calendar names specific outcomes for every meeting through June.
Now the question that decides your entire 2028 governance year: Does your board have a plan for turning the fall 2027 data into measurable 2028 student outcome goals?
I will tell you what I see across the country. The boards that adopt goals by March are the boards that start the process the week their data packet arrives — usually the second week of January. The boards that are still drafting in May are the boards that wait until February to figure out what data they need and March to schedule the public hearing they are required to hold.
The difference between those two outcomes is decided this week.
Let me walk you through the full 2028 goal adoption process — from the data packet on your January agenda to the final vote in March.
Step one: Read the data packet before you walk into the room.
Your superintendent should have delivered a 2028 Goal Data Packet on the January agenda. If your board followed the December superintendent evaluation launch and the organizational meeting framework from last week’s piece, that packet is already in your board packet.
Here is what it should contain — and what your board should do with each piece.
A one-page Goal Data Dashboard for each goal area. Baseline, current, trajectory, and student group breakdown. Every board member reads this page before the work session. If the dashboard shows a flat trajectory in third-grade reading or a fifteen-point gap between student groups, that is the conversation your board should be having — not whether the board packet arrived on time.
The superintendent’s proposed goal language. The superintendent should present draft goals with specific, measurable targets based on the data. “Increase the percentage of third-grade students reading at or above grade level from 62 percent to 70 percent by May 2028” — not “improve student achievement.”
The resource memo. The superintendent should identify what it would take to achieve each target. New staffing? Extended learning time? Curriculum adoption? The resource memo is not a budget proposal. It is the superintendent’s professional judgment about what the goal requires, so the board can have an honest conversation about feasibility before it adopts the goal.
Your board’s job during the data packet review is to ask questions that surface what the board needs to know to make a decision. Questions like these:
“This trajectory shows improvement of four points last year and the superintendent is proposing a six-point target. What is the basis for accelerating the rate of improvement?”
“The disaggregated data shows Hispanic students at 54 percent proficient and white students at 71 percent. Does the proposed goal address this gap directly?”
“The resource memo says we need to add three reading interventionists. Is that a one-time investment or a recurring cost?”
The board that reads the data packet before the meeting and brings prepared questions will have a productive work session. The board that opens the packet for the first time at the dais will spend the session catching up instead of deciding.
Step two: The public hearing that builds trust, not the one that checks a box.
Most states require a public hearing as part of the goal adoption process. But there are two kinds of public hearings. The one that checks a box. And the one that builds trust.
A box-checking public hearing looks like this: the board president opens the floor, three people speak for three minutes each, the board thanks them and moves on. The community feels heard in theory and ignored in practice.
A trust-building public hearing looks different. Here is the format I recommend.
The board opens with a fifteen-minute presentation summarizing the data. Not the full packet. The highlights. “Here is where we were in 2027. Here is where we are now. Here is what the data tells us about where we need to go.” The community should understand the context before it is asked to contribute.
Then the board opens the floor for questions and input — not three-minute speeches limited to a predetermined topic. The board president facilitates. The superintendent answers data questions. The board listens.
Then the board takes fifteen minutes of public deliberation — on the record — showing the community how it is processing what it heard. “I heard concern about the algebra readiness target. Let’s discuss whether we need to revisit that trajectory before the February work session.”
Here is why this format matters. The community that sees the board listening, discussing, and adjusting will trust the board’s final decision even if it disagrees with the target. The community that watched a three-minute public comment period will feel that the goals were adopted behind closed doors — even if the board followed every procedural requirement.
Your board should schedule the public hearing for the January regular meeting or a dedicated work session. Announce it in the January board packet. Publish the data summary on the district website at least one week before. The community cannot respond to an invitation that has not been extended.
Step three: The deliberation protocol — one goal at a time, against the data.
The public hearing is input. The board work session is where the board decides.
Here is the deliberation protocol I use with boards.
One goal at a time. The superintendent presents the proposed goal — the language, the target, the timeline, the resource implications. The board reviews the goal against four questions.
One, is the goal specific? Can the board measure it at the end of the year and know with certainty whether it was achieved?
Two, is the target ambitious enough? Does it require improvement beyond the current trajectory, or is it a continuation of the status quo?
Three, is the target realistic enough? Does the superintendent’s resource analysis support achieving it, or is the board adopting a goal it cannot fund?
Four, does the goal advance equity? Does the target require closing gaps between student groups, or does the aggregate target allow the gaps to persist?
The board discusses the goal. The superintendent provides the data behind each answer. The board revises the goal language as needed. The board votes to advance the goal to the public comment draft.
Then the board moves to the next goal.
The entire work session — four to six goals, including deliberation and revisions — takes two to three hours. It is the most important board conversation of the first quarter.
Here is what I watch for as a facilitator. The board that debates targets without looking at the data will negotiate ambition down to a number everyone is comfortable with — and the goal will not require improvement. The board president’s job in that moment is to say, “Let’s look at the trajectory before we adjust. What does the data say is possible?”
The board that adds goals without removing goals produces a wish list, not a set of priorities. My recommendation: three to five goals, and rank them. The board that knows its top priority will resource it first. The board that treats all six equally will resource none well enough.
Step four: The sixty-day timeline that works.
Here is the calendar that turns data into adopted goals by March.
January: Board receives and reviews the data packet. Board holds the public hearing. Board conducts the goal adoption work session. Board directs the superintendent to publish draft goals based on the work session outcomes.
February: Superintendent publishes draft goals for public review. The 28-day public comment window opens. Board holds a second work session — usually the February regular meeting or a dedicated session — to review public comment and finalize goal language.
March: Board adopts final 2028 goals at a regular board meeting with the community present. The vote is the culmination of two months of data review, public input, and board deliberation.
If your board is on this timeline, the January organizational meeting gave you the foundation. The committee charges you set on January 4 define who is responsible for each phase of this process. The governance calendar you adopted names when each phase happens. The superintendent evaluation evidence you authorized in December is the same data driving this goal-setting process.
That is what a connected governance year looks like. Every decision in December and January feeds into February and March.
What comes next.
Once the board has adopted goals — or even as the board is finalizing the language — the Progress Monitoring cycle begins. The January data packet is not just the starting point for goal adoption. It is the baseline for the first 2028 Progress Monitoring check-in, which I will cover next week.
And in two weeks, the January 25 piece will cover how those adopted goals drive the budget direction conversation and the first-quarter governance calendar execution. The budget conversation your board has in January determines whether the goals the board adopts in March have the resources to succeed.
The board that connects goal adoption, Progress Monitoring, and budget direction into a single January arc is the board that governs on purpose. The board that treats each of those as a separate conversation — scheduled by accident, unprepared, disconnected from the others — will spend the rest of the year trying to catch up.
Your free CTA: Reply to this email with the keyword GoalAdoptToolkit and I will send you the 2028 Goal Adoption Toolkit — a sample data packet template, the public hearing format guide with the opening-presentation and on-record-deliberation protocol, the board deliberation protocol with the four-question framework, and the sixty-day goal adoption timeline calendar. Everything your board needs to move from data packet to final vote.
Your paid CTA: I offer the 2028 Governance Launch Coaching Package for boards ready to execute this with direct support — three virtual sessions: Session one covers the data packet review and goal adoption work session facilitation. Session two covers the public hearing and public comment response. Session three covers the final goal adoption meeting and the transition into the 2028 Progress Monitoring cycle. Reply to this email for pricing and availability.
This is the second piece in the January 2028 Launch Arc — the four-week series that covers everything your board needs for a strong January: the strategic organizational meeting (January 4), the full 2028 goal adoption process (this piece), the first Progress Monitoring check-in of the new cycle (January 18), and the January budget direction conversation plus first-quarter governance calendar execution (January 25). This arc builds from the December superintendent evaluation launch and the December organizational meeting preview, and it connects directly to the committee charges and governance calendar your board set on January 4. Read the first piece: The January Organizational Meeting — Your 2028 Governance Launch Starts Here. Subscribe at effectiveschoolboards.com to continue the series.