The CAI Board of Trustees approved a significant update to its board member education public policy. This decision comes after a comprehensive vetting process that included numerous surveys and feedback from CAI members, homeowner leaders, chapters, member representation groups, and legislative action committees.
The updated public policy was approved by the CAI Government & Public Affairs Committee and presented to the CAI Board of Trustees in June.
The update comes in response to a marked increase in legislation nationwide addressing board member education following the 2021 tragic partial condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla. This incident highlighted the critical need for well-educated and competent board members who understand their roles and responsibilities. Educated boards have the ability to implement best practices and ensure good governance in community associations.
CAI firmly believes board members should be knowledgeable and proficient in their governance duties. The updated policy emphasizes the importance of board member education in maintaining safe and well-managed community associations.
However, CAI ultimately concluded mandatory government-imposed training requirements could have unintended consequences. Such mandates could deter volunteerism, a cornerstone of community associations, and potentially lead to costly education programs that are insufficient to cover the essential core competencies and best practices needed for effective governance.
A key aspect of the updated policy is its nuanced approach to legislative involvement. The policy allows the committees to define the terms and support mandatory board member education requirements if other groups or the legislature are pursuing such legislation. CAI will not actively pursue mandatory training legislation.
This balanced stance ensures that CAI acknowledges the importance of board member education, It also recognizes the potential downside of mandatory training requirements and seeks to support effective and practical solutions.
By advocating for accessible and comprehensive educational resources, CAI aims to empower board members to fulfill their roles effectively without the burden of mandatory training requirements. This approach ensures community associations continue to thrive under the leadership of well-informed and dedicated volunteer board members.
Find the new public policy here.
Quality training for board members is critical for individuals to understand their fiduciary roles and responsibilities in order to properly govern in a professional manner. We all too often hear of boards where this is severely lacking. Personally, I’d like to see required trainings on the foundational elements of professional governance and fiduciary duties.
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does this pretain to Indiana. CONDO management?
None of our five board members is cai educated in anything. Although our manager has obviously been trained there is no way he can do mire than suggest courses. Our president declares in open meetings that he knows everything and even will not sign a civility pledge. You can imagine the state if the community. I feelthat mandatory training is the only solution. Would be nice if everyone was reasonable but wr know that is not true. Reading the cai forum daily confirms that.
I am a firm believer in training board members, but our association does not have the budget to fund training. I was able this year to get the association to register the entire board in CAI. The cost of the online CAI training is too much for us to bear. Is there anyway some or all of this training can be provided at no cost