Academy/Starting as a Board Member
Board member education requirements
Some states make you take a course or sign a certification before you can serve. Most don't.
Most states have no board education requirement. Where one exists, it varies sharply: Florida requires new directors to complete a state-approved course within 90 days, then continuing education yearly. Nevada only requires a signed statement that you've read the governing documents and the state statute. Check your own state and bylaws before assuming either applies to you.
Most states require nothing at all
There is no national rule requiring HOA board members to take a class, pass a test, or sign anything before serving. In most states, being elected or appointed is the whole requirement. If your state is one of them, that doesn't mean training is a bad idea, it means nothing forces it, and the responsibility to get oriented falls on you and your board.
Florida: a course, a deadline, and a personal consequence
Florida requires newly elected or appointed HOA directors to complete an approved education course within 90 days of taking office, and continuing education every year after.
"training relating to financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements"
Source: Florida Statutes, section 720.3033, Florida Legislature
Miss the deadline and you, personally, are suspended from the board until you comply. But the board's prior decisions are not thrown into question.
"failure to have the educational certificate on file does not affect the validity of any board action"
Source: Florida Statutes, section 720.3033, Florida Legislature
This is a Florida-specific statutory requirement. Most states impose no equivalent mandate, so confirm what, if anything, your own state requires.
Nevada: certify that you've read the documents
Nevada takes a lighter approach. New board members don't take a course, they sign a statement.
"the member has read and understands the governing documents of the association and the provisions of this chapter to the best of his or her ability"
Source: Nevada Revised Statutes, section 116.31034, Nevada Legislature
A self-certification and a mandated course are not the same obligation. Don't assume one state's rule tells you what another state expects.
If your state doesn't require anything
Start with your own bylaws, some associations set their own orientation expectations even where state law is silent. Ask your management company whether new-director orientation materials already exist. The Community Associations Institute publishes board orientation resources at caionline.org that are worth reviewing voluntarily, even without a statutory push to do so.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A Florida director misses the 90-day education certificate deadline. What happens to votes the board already took?
A Nevada board member and a Florida board member compare their state's education rule. What's the real difference?
A new director's state has no statutory board education requirement. What's the reasonable next step?
Sources
- Florida Statutes, section 720.3033 (Officers and directors; education requirements), Florida Legislature
- Nevada Revised Statutes, section 116.31034 (Election of members of executive board and officers of association), Nevada Legislature
- Board Member Tool Kit: A Guide for Community Association Volunteer Leaders, Community Associations Institute (CAI)
Starting as a Board Member
Next, work through the director orientation checklist to see what else you should gather in your first weeks.
Whether any education requirement exists, what it covers, and the consequence for missing it vary by state. Florida and Nevada impose very different rules, and most states impose none at all.