Why School Boards Matter

How school boards are uniquely positioned to strengthen our public education system and our democracy.

In Virginia, a contentious school board meeting led to an arrest and trespassing summons. In Utah, eleven people were charged with disorderly conduct after a board meeting turned chaotic. Not long ago, school boards conducted mundane district business. Understudied and underreported, they were an afterthought of centrally driven education reform efforts. Now, across blue, purple, and red states, school boards have become the epicenter of heated debates, reflecting society’s deep divisions. In Why School Boards Matter, Scott Levy challenges conventional wisdom by reminding us of the essential role school boards play.

While battles in the boardroom may be uncomfortable, they exemplify how passionate Americans are about education. As policymakers debate the federal government’s role in K-12 and states pursue sharply divergent policies, Levy offers a roadmap that empowers school boards to tackle intractable public education challenges, including initiative fatigue, district climate, and accountability. School boards are where theory meets practice, where federal and state requirements converge with local policies, and where constituents can advocate for important issues affecting our children today. Every K-12 stakeholder—administrators, teachers, parents, and students alike—has a vested interest in understanding how school boards shape education.Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Battles in the Boardroom
1 Echoes of the Past
2 Erosion of Trust
3 The Fishbowl
4 Blurry Lines
5 Searching for a Ceasefire
Part II: The Case for School Boards
6 From Wall Street to a School Board Seat
7 Initiative Fatigue
8 District Climate
9 Engagement with the Community
10 Accountability
11 Short-Termism
Part III: Our Shared Responsibility
12 Strengthening School Boards
13 Beyond Education
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index"Thoughtful, earnest, well-researched… Levy offers a dozen worthy suggestions for improving the functioning as well as the span of control of local school boards: curbing state and federal interference, recruiting stronger candidates to run, providing better training for those who win, improving relations with the superintendent, and much more."
—Education Next“Scott Levy’s Why School Boards Matter is a vital, timely reminder of local democracy’s importance, offering practical insights for anyone invested in reclaiming our nation’s public education promise amid today’s turbulent political landscape.”
—David R. Schuler, Ph.D., Executive Director, AASA, The School Superintendents Association

“School boards are the heart of American education, but we know almost nothing about them. Drawing upon his own experience as a board member, Scott R. Levy has written our first reliable guide to these venerable but neglected institutions.”
—Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education, University of Pennsylvania

“Scott Levy provides a timely reminder of the important role of boards of education in modeling civil discourse and strengthening American democracy. Readers will benefit from the insights into effective board governance.”
—Patrice McCarthy, Executive Director and General Counsel, Connecticut Association of Boards of EducationScott Levy is Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has been elected four times to a local public school board in Westchester County, NY, and has served as president of a regional school boards association. He has also served as chairman of a children's hospital and Executive Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He spent two decades as an investment banker advising corporate boards and senior executives.