School Boards

School Boards

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School Boards

Introduction

Local school boards are the foundation of American educational governance , founded on the belief that local citizens should control what the children in their community learn . Unlike most modern Western countries , our system is very decentralized . As our country developed and schools grew , school boards have progressively expanded their overall management role . The ultimate purpose of school boards is community representation in education issues . Thus , representation participation and the electoral system are significant . With an issue so

br broad , there are several stakeholders

The local community and its leaders , school board members , school district administrators and staff , individual school level administrators and staff , state education administrators and state policymakers all have a vested interest in this local school board issue . It is a contemporary in the minds of the average citizen and consequently it becomes important politically . Since most people value the school board and believe their role in education is important school board membership and representation have large implications for schools , policymakers , and the public . This examines issues related to school boards , such as development , responsibilities and governance structure . Finally , some conclusive remarks are presented

Development of School Boards

In early America , education was a local affair involving families neighborhoods and religious groups . The oversight of schools was the responsibility of local town officials (Bendiner , 1969 . As education spread across the American colonies creating schools and selecting teachers was the responsibility of local town meetings , the predecessor of today 's modern school board . After formal independence was achieved the United States Constitution gave implied recognition that education was to remain a local matter (U .S . Constitution , 10th Amendment

As a result , informal school boards increased as the country grew . The establishment of formal school boards first appeared in written law in 1789 in Massachusetts (Berliner and Biddle , 1995 . School boards were given the responsibility to collect and levy taxes , hire teachers and supervise instruction , acquire and maintain school buildings , and certify teachers (Levin , 2002 . As school districts grew , board members began to see the necessity for an administrative and operational figure that could spend more time running the schools , thus superintendents were hired (Spring , 2001

Approximately 50 years after local school boards were formally recognized , the first state board of education was founded in Massachusetts in 1837 under the direction of Horace Mann (Good , 1998 This board was created to assist local communities in providing improved education for their children . States became involved in education and required each district to accept fiscal and administrative responsibilities and to create rules and policies to dictate the goals and operations of the school (20th Century Fund Task Force , 1992 . This was the first of many steps toward a growing educational bureaucracy (Bendiner , 1969

The late 19th century brought many changes to the school board . The United States was becoming increasingly urban , the economy was adjusting from an agrarian base to industrialization and the public was condemning local and state governments for their...