When School Board Elections Lose Their Voice

When School Board Elections Lose Their Voice

Overseeing the vast majority of America’s 13,318 public school districts are elected groups of local community volunteers: school boards. These nonpartisan boards are tasked with setting policy, adopting budgets, and hiring a superintendent to run their districts’ day-to-day operations. This form of local control—rooted in Massachusetts colonial governance—remains the predominant structure for public school oversight across the country. But how …