A large share of school board members has never worked in K-12 education, a fact that some say adds value to the governing board.
This summer, the EdWeek Research Center surveyed 478 school board members to gauge the biggest sources of community tension, barriers to building bridges between schools and families, and steps boards are taking to close those gaps. The survey also collected demographic information about board members, a historically understudied group.
About 44% of respondents said they have no professional experience in education, while 30% had experience as classroom teachers, and 11% worked for schools, but not as a teacher or administrator.
In comments on an Education Week Facebook post featuring a story on the survey results, online commenters weighed in on the potential benefits and drawbacks of school board members having various professional backgrounds.
Many noted that having school board members with experience in other fields, like construction or finance, could ensure the board is equipped to navigate all the complex policies, budgets, and other consequential decisions they are tasked with handling. Some researchers who study school district governance agree.
Others shared that a school board member’s main job is to represent the community—something people from all professional backgrounds can do.
The following responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
People value board members who represent and advocate for their communities
The best school board I ever worked with was in rural Missouri. Most members had only a high school education, but they knew what they wanted for their kids and were committed to their community. They worked WITH the superintendent and LISTENED to teachers and staff.
I’m learning one of the most important items a BOE member needs to focus on is advocating for the schools within their city, county, and state. … It’s important to have a diverse board and you should be able to have uncomfortable discussions and debates to come up with what’s best for your community.
School boards are supposed to represent the community. It’s fine to have a couple of members with an educator background, but ideally you will have people from all walks of life.
School boards need people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Public education is a complex system, and it takes more than one type of experience to govern it well.
What matters most is a board member’s willingness to learn, ask questions, seek out the right information, work as part of a team, and make decisions in the best interests of students.
We don’t all have to come from the same background to share the same commitment: doing what’s right for kids and the communities we serve.
The education experts are in the schools already
I personally have no qualms about local schol board members’ experience in education. They are not there to be experts. Their work is nearly all policies and budget.
We have capable administrators, teachers, and support staff to teach and do the rest of the day-to-day work.
What I see is that school districts have plenty of layers of education experts. And in school district departments, education has many more employees than facilities, finance, or communication. What’s needed is enterprise technology expertise, large project management expertise (building new schools and facilities), and better monitoring and management of spending.
Education expertise can be valuable, too
When I was elected to my school board in 2017, three of my fellow trustees and I were educators. I believe those were some of our strongest years as a board, largely because we brought firsthand educational experience and a deep understanding of campus operations, instructional practices, and student needs to our governance responsibilities.
Today, our board is composed primarily of non-educators, and the past two years have been among the most challenging of my board service.
