Q2 Governance Launch — The Board’s Spring Execution Phase Begins
2028-04-12
The budget is adopted. The vote is recorded. The dollars are allocated.
Now what?
This is the question I hear from boards every April. The budget season — three months of crosswalk methodology, alignment reviews, community hearings, and governance health checks — has structure. The board knows what January looks like. The board knows what February looks like. The board knows what March and early April look like.
April through June does not have that same structure for most boards. The meetings happen. The superintendent reports. The board asks questions. But the board does not have a governance execution calendar that matches the rigor of the budget season.
That changes this week.
Here is what the Q2 governance launch looks like when a board does it right.
The April governance check: Baseline for execution
The April governance check is the board’s first formal progress monitoring review since the budget was adopted. It serves one purpose: establish the baseline for the spring execution phase.
Here is what the board reviews at the April governance check.
Goal one — Progress monitoring baseline. The superintendent presents the first data report since the budget adoption — the actual results from the first three months of the fiscal year, the trajectory toward each mid-year target, and any early signals that an allocation is not producing the expected outcome. The board reviews the data, asks clarifying questions, and records the baseline.
I have watched boards in Lawrence (KS) conduct the April governance check as a stand-alone agenda item — not buried under consent and not squeezed before a personnel decision. The board president opens with: “In January, we adopted three goals. In April, we are adopting the progress monitoring baseline. The superintendent will present the data. We will ask questions. We will record the baseline. We will schedule the May check-in.” The meeting produces one document — the baseline document — that the board uses for every subsequent spring progress monitoring review.
Goal two — Committee work plan confirmation. The board confirms the committee work plans for Q2. Each committee — instruction, finance, policy, governance — submits its work plan aligned with at least one adopted goal. The board reviews the plans, confirms alignment, and adopts the committee calendar through June.
Goal three — Governance health check preview. The board previews the Q2 Governance Health Check format — the same questions from Q1, updated with the Q1 findings as the comparison baseline. The board schedules the Q2 Governance Health Check for the May regular meeting.
The April governance check produces four deliverables: the progress monitoring baseline document, the committee work plan calendar, the Q2 Governance Health Check date, and the superintendent evaluation timeline.
The progress monitoring schedule: What the board reviews and when
The progress monitoring schedule is the board’s execution calendar for April through June. It answers three questions: What data will the board review? When will the board review it? What action will the board take based on the data?
Here is the schedule.
April — Baseline adoption. The board reviews the Q1 data report — the October through December data for the adopted fiscal year budget — and adopts the progress monitoring baseline. The board does not make course corrections in April. The board establishes where each goal stands.
May — Progress check-in. The board reviews the Q2 data report — the January through March data. The board identifies any goals that are off trajectory. The board directs the superintendent to prepare course correction recommendations for the June committee reports. The board conducts the Q2 Governance Health Check.
June — Committee reports and course corrections. The committees present their Q2 findings — the instruction committee on goal one progress, the finance committee on goal two allocation tracking, the policy committee on goal three implementation. The superintendent presents the course correction recommendations for any off-trajectory goals. The board votes on course corrections. The board reviews the preliminary timeline for the superintendent evaluation.
I have watched boards in Round Rock (TX) publish the full progress monitoring schedule at the April governance check. The board agenda for every meeting through June includes the data report for the specific goals assigned to that meeting. The community knows what the board is monitoring and when. The superintendent knows what data to prepare and when. The board knows what decision each meeting is designed to produce.
Committee work plans: What each committee executes in Q2
The committee work plans are the board’s operational layer. The full board sets the governance calendar. The committees execute the detailed work between meetings.
Here is what each committee’s work plan should cover for Q2.
The instruction committee reviews the goal one progress monitoring data between board meetings, interviews the curriculum director on mid-year assessments, and prepares the goal one findings for the June committee reports. The committee meets twice between April and June — once to review the raw data and once to draft the findings.
The finance committee tracks the goal two allocation against the adopted budget, reviews the March expenditure report for alignment with the crosswalk, and prepares the goal two findings for the June committee reports. The committee monitors whether the budget adoption allocation is producing the expected resource distribution.
The policy committee reviews any goal three implementation barriers that surfaced in the Q1 data, interviews the operations director on facility or technology timelines, and prepares the goal three findings for the June committee reports.
The governance committee prepares the Q2 Governance Health Check instrument, reviews the Q1 findings as the comparison baseline, and schedules the superintendent evaluation process — the evaluation timeline, the evaluation instrument, the community and staff survey window, and the executive session calendar.
The committee work plans are the mechanism that turns the board’s governance calendar into actual work. Without the work plans, the calendar is a list of dates. With the work plans, the calendar is a list of deliverables.
The superintendent evaluation countdown: April through June
The superintendent evaluation is the highest-stakes decision the board will make in the spring execution phase. It is also the decision that most boards leave until the last meeting.
Here is the countdown.
April — The board approves the evaluation timeline and instrument. The governance committee presents the proposed timeline — the community survey opens in May, the staff survey opens in May, the superintendent self-evaluation is due in May, the board completes individual evaluations in June, the board meets in executive session in June to discuss the evaluation, and the board votes on the evaluation results at the June regular meeting. The board approves the evaluation instrument — the same goals the board adopted in January, the same progress monitoring data the board will review in April and May, and the governance team performance standards from the board self-evaluation.
May — The board gathers the evidence. The community and staff surveys open. The superintendent submits the self-evaluation. The board receives the progress monitoring data from the May check-in — the data the board will use as the evidence base for the evaluation. The board reviews the Q2 Governance Health Check results.
June — The board evaluates. The board completes individual evaluations using the approved instrument. The board meets in executive session to discuss the evaluation, align on the overall rating, and prepare the written evaluation. The board votes on the evaluation results at the June regular meeting. The board publishes the evaluation summary — the rating, the evidence base, the areas of strength and growth, and the goals for the next evaluation period.
I have watched boards in Albemarle County (VA) run the full evaluation countdown. The board president announces the timeline at the April governance check. The superintendent knows what data to prepare, when to prepare it, and what the evaluation instrument measures. The board knows what evidence it will use, when it will review it, and what decision it will make. The evaluation produces a result that the board and superintendent can both point to as fair — because the process was transparent and the timeline was public from the beginning.
The Q2 governance launch is this week
Last week, your board adopted the budget. This week, your board launches the spring governance execution phase.
The adoption vote is recorded. The Q2 governance calendar is set. The April governance check, the progress monitoring schedule, the committee work plans, and the superintendent evaluation countdown are the board’s execution framework through June.
Here is what changes this week.
The board’s focus shifts from resource allocation to performance monitoring. The board’s relationship with the superintendent shifts from budget direction to progress reporting. The board’s community reporting shifts from gathering input to reporting results.
The vote is recorded. The work continues.
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Your free CTA: Reply to this email with the keyword GovLaunch and I will send you the Q2 Governance Launch Kit — the April governance check agenda template with the baseline adoption format, the progress monitoring schedule template covering April through June, the committee work plan template for each of the four committees, the superintendent evaluation countdown timeline with the approval, evidence, and evaluation deadlines, and the board president’s script for the Q2 governance launch meeting. Use it to open the spring execution phase with the same rigor the board applied to the budget season.
Your paid CTA: I offer a Q2 Governance Launch Coaching Session — a single virtual session with your board president, governance committee chair, and superintendent to finalize the progress monitoring schedule, the committee work plans, and the superintendent evaluation timeline. Reply to this email for pricing and availability.
This piece is the second of four in the Budget Adoption & Q2 Governance Launch arc. It follows last week’s piece on the budget adoption vote and the post-adoption transition (view the April 5 piece). The April governance check and progress monitoring schedule establish the board’s execution framework through June. The superintendent evaluation countdown connects into the June arc on superintendent evaluation and year-end closeout. The April 19 piece continues with the April Governance Check deep dive. Subscribe at effectiveschoolboards.com to continue the series.