School Boards and Community Participation: Is it Happening? -- Rural Policy Matters, Volume 1, Number 2 (April 1999)

Public schools, local communities and education policies overlap (and occasionally collide) within the work and world of school boards. Theoretically, as democratically elected representatives of home communities, school boards are endowed with the responsibility to create the policies that direct their local schools. They are the legal and cultural entity that provides the close interface between community and school. School boards can be (or should be) an institution for very direct and influential community participation in local education.

So to what extent is this happening? Are there obstacles that prevent school boards from playing this critical role? Since one aspect of the mission of the Policy Program is "to help rural communities act on education policy issues affecting them," we are directing our attention to the potential of public school boards to strengthen rural schools in the context of their local communities.

School board powers and responsibilities vary significantly from state to state. Depending on specific state statutes and practices, school boards have a wide range of powers. Some boards can form and approve budgets, make personnel decisions, determine curriculum, close schools, negotiate union contracts. Others have more limited responsibilities. In order to tap the potential of school boards to act as authentic community agents, it is necessary to first understand how existing school board governance varies throughout the United States.

To gather information we sent out a three-page survey to the executive directors of each state's school board association. This questionnaire investigates areas such as board member demographics, methods of selection, powers, responsibilities, training opportunities and needs, collaborative efforts, presence of special interest groups, and their perceptions of the influence boards have in statewide issues.