Democracy in Action: American School Boards

Published in partnership with the National School Boards Foundation.

Ever been to a school board meeting? Were you absolutely riveted, or did you spend the evening nodding off in your seat? Either way, you probably caught a close glimpse of American democracy in action. Since their inception more than 200 years ago, school boards have been an institution of government very close to the people. School boards, which are unique to America, have always had a fundamental commitment to local, democratic decision-making and to the lay control of education.

Vision, Structure, Accountability, Advocacy
Nowadays, many school boards are using four key concepts to define their roles in governing education: vision, structure, accountability, and advocacy. These boards create a shared vision of the community's educational system; employ a superintendent and adopt goals, policies, and a budget in harmony with that vision; continually assess the effectiveness of the district's policies; and serve as advocates for children by establishing strong relationships with parents and involving other community residents or agencies to help meet children's needs.

Public Engagement
School boards around the country are reaching out to the public through a democratic process called "public engagement." Bascially, this process is about school boards taking the time to find out what their constituents think about certain issues, and looking to the constituents for direction. An excellent case in point is the Franklin, Wisconsin board, which created committees of parents and regular citizens to get a clear mandate for their constituency on important issues. Click here for details!

Past and Future Trends
The role of the school board has become increasingly complex and difficult in the last few decades. In recent years, the school board has come under intense scrutiny and criticism from education reformers at local, state, and national levels. At issue: How can school boards be structured so that they can spend more time on policy development instead of "micromanaging" issues that are best left to school administrators?

A few big city school boards, dogged by political infighting, frequent clashes between the board and the superintendent, and, sometimes, charges of corruption and fiscal mismanagement, have had their powers curtailed, at least temporarily, by the state. Since 1994, for example, a three-member state-appointed Financial Oversight Panel has been overseeing the troubled East St. Louis, Illinois, school system. And in Washington, D.C., a congressionally mandated nine-member emergency school board ran the school system until they decided on a new oversight plan for the city's public schools. The plan increases the board's scrutiny of the school system and gives an appointed board of trustees substantial responsibility. In these take-overs, the intent is to solve immediate problems and then put school governance back in the hands of publicly elected officials.

Elsewhere, the work of some local school boards has been changed by the advent of site-based management, a reform in which many decisions that traditionally are made at the district level are made at individual schools instead. In many such communities, local school councils play a governance role. In Chicago, for example, each school has a local council, a team of parents, community members, teachers, and principals that has the power to make policy, develop a schoolwide education plan, and hire and fire principals. Still, the city's school board, appointed by the mayor, has the power to intervene in schools deemed to be in a state of educational crisis.

Some changes have come a the result of state legislation. In Kentucky, for example, education reform legislation has granted far-reaching powers to six-member local school councils, which hire principals, manage budgets, and decide curricula. Each district's elected school board is still accountable for the actions of local councils, makes the final decision on hiring the superintendent, and allocates monies to each school. "Our duties as board members have changed, but we are still a very important part of the process," says Callie Anderson, a member of the Union County, Kentucky, board of education.

Change is Good
Many school board members and other educators see such changes in the structure and role of the school board as positive -- as long as grassroots democracy remains an essential ingredient. School board members say, in fact, that they want to engage even greater numbers of community residents in the educational process, so that school board decisions continue to truly reflect the community's aspirations for its children.

More on: Getting Involved with Your Child's School