School Board Members' Beliefs About State Education Policymaking and Policymakers

The impact of the pandemic and the political climate positioned school boards to advocate and leverage support and resources to inform and influence state education policy targeting the opportunity gap. This study assessed school board members' engagement levels with education policy and determined individual, institutional, and contextual factors that shape school board members' beliefs about state-level education policymaking processes and policymakers. This study's results could provide insights into how school boards serving underrepresented students mobilize to advance their policy goals and exercise their power as policymaking and policy-influencing bodies.

The XUSD (a pseudonym) school board meeting began with three newly elected school board trustees taking their seats for the first time. All three trustees attended an online New Board Member Orientation from the state School Board Association and had access to the meeting agenda well before the meeting date.

However, as the first school board meeting for this board progressed to the business items for the district, one newly elected trustee pondered out loud, “How are we supposed to know what to do with all this stuff?” The trustee’s comment illustrates the challenge school board members face after each election. There is always new “stuff.” The last two school board election cycles have been defined by many factors, including a worldwide pandemic, polarized communities,
information (and misinformation) that traveled at the speed of social media, and raucous school board meetings that pitted “parent’s rights” groups against equity and inclusion activists. What lacked clear and focused effort was sound educational policy aimed at improving the quality of education for all students.

Serving on an elected school board does not require expertise in school-related matters like curriculum, school finance, or educational policy. However, a lack of information or clarification about the trustee’s role may create misunderstandings and the inability to serve the students and constituents in the district. The impact of an overwhelmed
or underprepared school board member in a school district with limited-resource communities extends beyond board decision-making. The impact trickles down to underserved students and amplifies disequilibrium and inequity.