Kindergarten children in the San Jose Unified School District. (EdSource file photo.)
Photo credit: Liv Ames / EdSource
High-profile political campaigns will capture the public’s attention in the coming months, but one set of local elections could be just as momentous: local school board elections.
Too many of us operate blindly when making decisions about school board elections. Few of us can say we regularly attend our local school board meetings (and those who do rarely represent the larger community). There is little research on school board members, and public understanding of a school board’s role is limited. Unfortunately, while it seems there is more news about school board members than ever before, these reports focus on unrest and discord. Stories about recent recalls, a dispute over which books to teach, or a violent school board meeting show that many school board members have become battlegrounds for political issues that go beyond K-12 education.
Now is an opportune time to raise awareness of the responsibilities of school boards and the positive impact of effective administration. Fortunately, there are good examples we can learn from. The California Collaborative on District Reform has published a case study on two California school districts – Napa Valley and San Jose Unified School Districts – that have a reputation among school superintendents for having very high-functioning superintendent-board relationships. The case study shows what practices administrative teams in other districts can adopt and how the public can reward them with their vote.
Commit to common priorities. The pressures facing school districts — including from the pandemic, teacher shortages, a daunting financial forecast, and others — are greater than at any time in recent years. These pressures often lead districts to fragment their work or, in an attempt to address all of the problems, do none of them right. In San José Unified and Napa Valley Unified, leadership teams guide their work around a shared mission, vision, and values that help create focus and coherence in an environment that could otherwise be overwhelming. Both districts demonstrate that with clearly defined priorities, school boards and their communities can work more effectively toward a shared vision.
Establish and accept behavioral normsJust as important as What a government team does is How it does its job. Napa Valley Unified and San José Unified both commit to common norms for working together that hold them accountable to act in the best interests of their communities. These norms include treating each other with respect, clearly defining what their role does And and commit to transparent information sharing. The standards help them stay focused, manage disagreements in healthy ways, and model behavior that districts want to develop in their students.
Invest in early and recurring onboarding experiencesThe November elections will change the composition of governing teams in many districts, potentially undermining commitment to priorities and norms. To avoid this, Newly elected trustees in San Jose Unified and Napa Valley Unified go through district-specific onboarding processes that include one-on-one meetings with the superintendent and members of the central office and a Good Beginnings workshop led by the California School Boards Association (CSBA) to build relationships with one another and collectively develop norms for how they will work together. A good onboarding experience promotes role clarity, lays a foundation for the leadership team to work together, and educates voters on what the school board role entails and how it can best serve the community.
Rely on internal commitments to overcome challenges. The two districts’ strong understanding of their roles and commitment to priorities and norms enable them to better navigate difficult times. Representatives from Napa Valley Unified described the painful decision to close schools in 2019 and 2021; members of the leadership team at San José Unified recalled an intense series of votes on police presence on school campuses. These difficult experiences tested the leadership teams’ norms and values, but board members reported that they would have been much more difficult without the practices, processes and commitments they had made beforehand.
This fall, voters will decide who will represent them in shaping local school policy.
Now is the time for district leaders, trustees and voters to ask themselves some critical questions: Do members of my community understand what the work of the school board entails? Do they understand what the district can accomplish through its commitment to problem solving? And are these behaviors and commitments reflected in their voting behavior?
By raising awareness, promoting understanding, and empowering voters to make informed decisions on behalf of their communities, we can help develop governing bodies that prioritize problem-solving over dysfunction, compromise over sensationalism, and the needs of students.
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Joel Knudson is a senior researcher at American research institutes and the Chairman of the California cooperation on district reforma learning community of researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and funders dedicated to improving teaching and student learning in the California school system.
Marina Castro is a research analyst at the American Institutes for Research, a nonpartisan, nonprofit social science research organization, and a fellow at the California Collaborative on District Reform.
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