Contributed by Michael Cuglietta
Community association board members are responsible for governance, compliance, and protecting property values. Few homeowners joining their board for the first time have all the tools to succeed, and the consequences of uninformed decisions can be severe. The question of whether board member education and training should be mandated for volunteers is nearly as old as common interest communities.
Historically, CAI has been opposed to board education mandates because they are perceived as a barrier to volunteerism due to cost and time. However, sentiment on the matter has been shifting since the 2021 Surfside tragedy. In the past few years, there’s been a nationwide push to mandate education for community association board members to ensure they have the basic knowledge needed to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.
Now that several states have adopted such mandates and others appear poised to follow suit, CAI’s Board of Trustees revisited its long-held policy on the matter. “We’ve recognized that education is important. And states have recognized that education is necessary to keep board members from doing bad things,” says Kelly Zibell, AMS, PCAM, a member of the CAI Board of Trustees.
Last year, CAI released an updated public policy on board member education. While still not in favor of state mandates, the policy affirms the importance of board member education and defines what that learning should look like. The language represents a strategic decision designed to influence potential legislation. “The goal is better–trained, higher-level management by the homeowner leader boards without burdensome mandates that become unreasonable,” says Michael Johnson, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, with HOA Living in Draper, Utah. Johnson, a former member of the CAI Board of Trustees, helped draft the updated policy.
Before revising the policy, the board established a taskforce that spent two years surveying community association lawyers, community managers, and board leaders on their thoughts on board education and training. Based on the data collected, it gathered a list of 11 recommended topics of learning for board members including governing documents, ethics and leadership, risk management and insurance, and rules creation and enforcement. Accessibility, cost, and swiftness of training are all important pieces of the board education puzzle. “What we’re trying to do is work with the state organizations so that we set a framework of what board members do need to know and should know in every state,” says Zibell, who is with Communitas in Morgan Hill, Calif.
While an educated board is a huge advantage to a community, figuring out how to deliver that education without it becoming such a burden it scares board members away is the balancing act CAI and local chapters are trying to implement. “An educated board member is a better board member. Where they get that education and how they get that education is what is up for debate now,” Zibell says. “But nobody’s arguing that making sure boards have the information they need is a bad thing.”
CAI offers several resources to help community association board members get up to speed on important governance basics. Community Association Living, a new course developed by CAI’s education team, offers a clear understanding about the business of associations. The course highlights governance basics and explains how associations are organized, governed, and managed. It also gives homeowner leaders and residents a perspective of how associations can develop and maintain a cohesive, supportive society so everyone can fully enjoy and benefit from community association living.
The course is based on the publication of the same name, which is available for free digitally.
Michael Cuglietta is a freelance writer based in Orlando, Fla.
>>Learn more about the Community Association Living course.
>>Read more about board member education in Common Ground November/December 2025.
