Vote In School Board Elections — Democracy Counts On It – The 74

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

As election day nears, school board candidates across the country are scrambling to wrap up their campaigns. They’re running from forums to luncheons and knocking on doors to garner votes. Each interaction is critical because every vote counts, especially in off-cycle elections.

According to multiple studies, anywhere between 5% and 20% of citizens show up to cast their ballot for school board candidates. This low turnout has made it easy for political actors to use these seats in ways that often perpetuate inequities.

Take, for example, the Virginia Beach City school board. In May, the board voted 6-5 to acquiesce to President Donald Trump’s demands that districts roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and initiatives — a decision that can impact everything from diverse teacher recruitment programs to what is taught in American history. Students of color make up 60% of the enrollment in the district. Four of the six board members voting for the rollback, all of them white, were elected in an off-cycle election that saw just 20% turnout.

School board seats carry a lot of weight. Members don’t just hire superintendents and approve budgets, they also work closely with district leaders to make and approve interpretations of state and federal policy. They decide on critical funding allocation decisionsand work closely with district experts to approve curriculum and content and determine policies on things like school assignment plans, discipline and how to address performance gaps — all of which can have a big impact on Black and Brown students.

There are more than 80,000 board members across roughly 14,000 districts who hold these responsibilities. They have the agency to affect change more than most any other governing body. And, with the near dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, their responsibilities have become even greater at the same time that state and federal oversight has lessened.

Do we really want to rely on such a small portion of the population to elect these leaders?

We have to get more people out to vote, and we must demand our school leaders do what is best for the children who live in their district. Yet, serious barriers keep invested families and stakeholders from fully participating.

Students of color make up the majority of the enrollment in public schools, yet school boards are overwhelmingly white and more affluent than the families they serve. This is despite evidence that diverse boards tend to facilitate a decrease in achievement gaps.

Inequitable access to the ballot has historically inhibited people of color from participating in elections. This favors the average school board voter who is white, affluent and doesn’t have children enrolled in the district. These voters tend to elect incumbents leading districts where achievement gaps persist.

Even if we put aside representation, the fact remains that most candidates are often unprepared for the responsibilities of this local office and have proven themselves incapable of affecting legitimate progress toward increasing student outcomes.

Increasing opportunities for all citizens to civilly engage and ensuring a pool of higher quality candidates are recruited and trained on the basics of school governance and policy must happen in lockstep if we are to see increased, and representative turnout.

In 2020, the culture wars shifted voters’ attention to our classrooms. Critical race theory (CRT) became the hot-button issue. My assumption was that the added attention and the absurdity of the anti-CRT craze would inspire champions of equitable education to oppose this movement.

Nope. In one calendar year, acting individually and at the behest of 44 states, hundreds of school districts eliminated CRT across all programming and curriculum. Anti-LGBTQ+ policies were passed, books were banned and critical programs were defunded.

At a moment where historical media attention might have helped better inform the voters and get them out to vote, there was still a disconnect at the ballot box.

Maybe it’s civic illiteracy or a lack of awareness combined with the refrain, “I don’t have kids, I don’t care.” Regardless, 30% of votersoften Democrats, don’t complete a full ballot when they vote — meaning they skip over the municipal level races.

Far-right political actors are taking advantage of this, putting forth candidates for seats who often run uncontested and throwing large sums of money toward challenging candidates.

Moms for Liberty, which was founded in 2021, has become known for leveraging low turnout elections. According to data from local government and news sources analyzed by The Brookings Institution, 45% percent of their endorsed candidates won school board elections in 2022 and 33% won in 2023.

Project 1776, which says its mission is to elect conservative board membersis embracing a similar tactic. In 2022, three of Project 1776’s endorsed candidates were elected to the Olathe School Board in Kansas in a race that saw 25% turnout. In New Jersey’s Ocean City School District, three endorsed candidates won with 49% turnout.

When we consider who votes for school board, the increased turnout in elections like these implies the messaging used by a PAC like Project 1776 is resonating with voters and galvanizing them to the polls.

There is evidence suggesting groups like Moms for Liberty are losing their sway. Nonetheless, 80% of school board incumbents who run for reelection win, so we can expect the hundreds of candidates endorsed by these groups and elected based on their regressive platforms to be around for a while until more voters turnout and say otherwise.

Public education is a cornerstone of democracy — and it is clearly being chipped away. America’s 80,000-plus public school board seats are essential for holding together a fragile republicand they need our attention.

The list of challenges is long, and the work to eliminate them continues. At this moment, though, turning out to vote for your district’s school board members is more important than ever.

The candidates might not always be perfect, and the for barriers are significant — but protecting education, and therefore our democratic values, begins with exercising our right to vote.

Did you use this article in your work?

We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how