That鈥檚 the finding of a from the Hoover Institution, based on its 鈥溾�� project. Hoover researchers held nine in-person focus groups across seven states 鈥� Colorado, West Virginia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico and New York 鈥� and talked with 82 participants, from parents and teachers to leaders of nonprofit organizations and elected officials. The format combined short surveys with open-ended discussions, which allowed the researchers to gather a wide variety of information and hear the nuance behind it.

Of course, 82 participants across nine sites is a small sample, so the findings should be seen as qualitative and exploratory rather than nationally representative. Still, the responses identify some consistent patterns and offer some potential solutions. 

People don鈥檛 know how bad things are

The authors deliberately focused on communities where academic proficiency scores were low, in the bottom fifth of all schools statewide. Yet more than half of the participants weren鈥檛 familiar with how their local schools actually performed.

Focus group participants reported that they rarely heard news about student reading and math scores. Instead, they described district communications  as occasionally misleading. For example, one expressed concern that the local district was celebrating growth metrics that obscured persistently low performance. As another participant put it: 鈥淧arents can鈥檛 be involved if they aren鈥檛 informed. They can鈥檛 be informed if they aren鈥檛 invited.鈥�

Those who do know the ratings think their schools are failing

Among respondents familiar with the performance data, more than half rated their local district schools as needing improvement, or worse. When asked about the quality of different types of schools in their communities, participants gave district schools the lowest average rating, below charter and private schools and vocational programs. They described teachers ill-prepared for diverse classrooms, inadequate special education services and a striking absence of practical preparation for students in things like financial literacy or vocational and technical skills.

Communities want to help but feel shut out

A majority of participants said they want to be real partners in improving their schools, but fewer than a quarter said they think their districts actually want that. School boards, in particular, were rated as particularly unreceptive to community input.

The anecdotes reveal a repeating pattern: People show up to meetings, join committees, raise concerns 鈥� and are ignored, dismissed or labeled as troublemakers. In some communities, language barriers and unreliable translation services make things harder. In others, parents hold back out of fear that speaking up could affect how their children are treated in school. Overall, only about a quarter said they felt they could personally drive change. 

And yet, people are still willing to get involved. Nearly 90% of participants said they would join a community task force to improve their local schools. More than half said they鈥檇 take on an active or leadership role, and nearly two-thirds were optimistic about what a coordinated community group could accomplish. People may not think they can drive change on their own, but they still hold out hope for collective improvement efforts.

So what would actually help?

Participants had concrete suggestions like flexible meeting times, reliable translation services, transportation, modest stipends to recognize parents鈥� time commitments and protections against retaliation. Procedurally, they wanted to feel like they are being included early, not handed decisions after they have already been made.

None of this will be especially surprising to people who鈥檝e followed education debates over the years. This is not the first report to find that families are often excluded from decision-making.

Still, the Hoover research adds nuance and urgency. It offers a portrait of communities that are ready and willing to be involved, but are often blocked from doing so 鈥� and provides a set of suggestions for what changing that would take.

This school year, the Los Angeles school district has lost more than 13,000 immigrant students, mostly Hispanic, school officials said, with students fleeing in the months since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stepped up activity in Los Angeles in March.

The nation鈥檚 second-largest district now enrolls about 62,000 English learners, according to new figures obtained by 社区黑料, down from more than 75,000 immigrant students in the 2024-25 academic year.   

鈥淪ome children are just choosing not to go back to school, especially those who are immigrants,鈥� said Evelyn Aleman, founder of , a parents鈥� group which advocates for L.A.鈥檚 Spanish-speaking and low-income families. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because they know that immigrant children have been arrested or detained by ICE.鈥�

In the 2018-19 academic year, the district enrolled more than 157,000 English learners.  The downward trend of these students represents a stunning turnaround for a district that in 2003 was nearly half immigrant kids. It comes amid a districtwide decline in enrollment.  

L.A. is not the only city seeing declines in immigrant enrollment since ICE cracked down. Denver, Miami and San Diego have also . 

Since January, school officials, municipal leaders and state lawmakers have sought to present a brave face against the immigration crackdowns promised by President Donald Trump. Even before the ICE raids began, they issued guidance and rolled out tools and policies, and proposed legislation to limit federal immigration enforcement.

But the fear of ICE became real for many families, Aleman said, after federal agents in April showed up at two LAUSD schools seeking 鈥榓ccess鈥� to young students. 

The federal agents鈥� school visits 鈥� with as many as four appearing at one time looking for information on children in grades one through six 鈥� were considered the first reported cases of Homeland Security authorities attempting to enter a U.S. school. 

School staffers turned the agents away in both cases, but outside of school grounds at least two LAUSD students have been arrested and held by ICE, Aleman said.  

鈥淚t isn’t because they don’t want to be in school,鈥� said Aleman. 鈥淎 big concern for families is that they’re going to be separated [by ICE]. Rather than see that, many are choosing to self-deport, or children who are high schoolers are choosing not to return.鈥�

Instead, Aleman said, kids are staying home where they feel safe, or in some cases going to work outside their homes.  

According to LAUSD figures, the drop in immigrant students this year means LAUSD now enrolls about half as many of those kids as it did before the pandemic. 

Besides the ICE raids, factors including rising housing prices, falling birth rates and a tight local economy have also contributed to the exodus of immigrant students, said LAUSD Board Member , who represents , which includes neighborhoods such as South L.A., Watts and San Pedro.  

鈥淧eople are having less children, and traditionally, in Latino families, there are more children. So that鈥檚 one area,鈥� said Ortiz-Franklin. 鈥淎nd, obviously, the in Los Angeles is ridiculous.鈥�

Recent fears around immigration enforcement and the future of public assistance, such as SNAP benefits, are also likely driving down immigrant populations, Ortiz-Franklin said. 

shows the immigrant students in 2003 accounted for about 45% of enrollment, with more than 325,000 English learners enrolled there. Since then, the number of immigrant students has fallen sharply.

But the ICE raids that began in L.A. this year have given immigrant families more reason to be concerned about sending their kids to school 鈥� or leave the city entirely. 

To bolster immigrant students鈥� sense of safety, LAUSD officials have established 鈥榩erimeters of safety鈥� around campuses and instructed school staffers to refuse ICE agents entry, unless warrants are displayed.

The district has created its safe zones around schools by warning families to stay away when volunteer sentries spot ICE agents nearby. A free legal defense fund has been created for families facing enforcement.

Other measures include free busing to class, legal clinics for families, and remote lessons for when all else fails.

In a statement, a district spokesperson said LAUSD鈥檚 overall enrollment 鈥渃ontinues to reflect a long-term downward trend observed across large urban districts in California and nationwide.鈥� 

鈥淢ultiple factors contribute to these shifts, including declining birth rates, changes in housing affordability, and family migration patterns,鈥� the spokesperson said. 鈥淚n addition, increased federal immigration enforcement efforts have had a chilling effect in many communities.鈥�

LAUSD officials and researchers said it鈥檚 difficult  to pinpoint where immigrant families are going when they leave. During the pandemic, L.A. superintendent Alberto Carvalho said some of these families had left the state for Texas and Florida for economic reasons.

Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education Pedro Noguera said LAUSD will face challenges in attracting more immigrant families, even with the measures to protect students from ICE raids.

鈥淭hey’re taking a lot of extra steps to try to reassure the population, but it’s limited as to what they can do,鈥� Noguera said.  鈥淚t’s a combination of several trends, all heavy at once, that is producing this significant decline,鈥� adding LAUSD may soon have to make tough choices due to its shrinking class sizes.

Smaller class sizes have already prompted district leaders to consider measures such as closing schools or converting unused campus buildings for housing. 

Overall enrollment in LAUSD鈥檚 massive, 1,500-school system has cratered since its peak in 2002, when 746,831 students attended classes. This school year the district  enrolled 392,654 students, a drop of roughly 4% from last year鈥檚 count of 409,108, school officials said.

Enrollment this term has also failed to hit targets set during the budget process earlier in the year, indicating the losses are steeper than officials expected.

Julien Lafortune, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, said such declines are impacting districts around the state, of immigrant students.

鈥淭he growth of Los Angeles and other districts was driven by a lot of immigrants coming in, and then, on average, having more kids than the average native-born person,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow, we’re seeing kind of the inverse of that. Kind of a bust after the boom.鈥�

According to multiple studies, anywhere between and 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 .听

Take, for example, the Virginia Beach City school board. In May, the board voted 6-5 to to that districts roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and initiatives 鈥� a decision that can impact everything from diverse teacher recruitment programs to what is taught in American history. Students of color make up 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 .听

School board seats carry a lot of weight. Members don鈥檛 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 , and 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 鈥� all of which can have a big impact on Black and Brown students.

There are more than 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.听

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 of the enrollment in public schools, yet school boards are 听overwhelmingly white and than the families they serve. This is despite evidence that diverse boards tend to facilitate .听

Inequitable access to the ballot has people of color from participating in elections. This favors the who is white, affluent and doesn鈥檛 have children enrolled in the district. These voters tend to elect incumbents leading districts .

Even if we put aside representation, the fact remains that most candidates are often for the of this local office and have proven themselves 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鈥� 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 eliminated CRT across all programming and curriculum. , 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鈥檚 civic illiteracy or a lack of awareness combined with the refrain, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have kids, I don鈥檛 care.鈥� Regardless, , often Democrats, when they vote 鈥� meaning they skip over the municipal level races.听

Far-right political actors are taking advantage of this, putting forth candidates for seats who often and throwing 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, of their endorsed candidates won school board elections in 2022 and 33% won in 2023.

Project 1776, which says its mission is to elect , is embracing a similar tactic. In 2022, three of Project 1776鈥檚 endorsed candidates were elected to the Olathe School Board in Kansas in a race that saw In New Jersey鈥檚 Ocean City School District, three endorsed candidates won with .

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 like Moms for Liberty are losing their sway. Nonetheless, 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 鈥� and it is clearly being chipped away. America鈥檚 80,000-plus public school board seats are essential for holding together , and 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鈥檚 school board members is more important than ever. 

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

The superintendent waits for her turn to step to the mic. She鈥檚 here to explain the district鈥檚 new artificial intelligence pilot: a tool teachers say will give them back an hour per day for one-on-one time with their students. She鈥檚 just two minutes into her explanation of how the tool will work, when the first parent stands up and approaches the mic. She鈥檚 followed by others, who form an increasingly long line. The first parent calls the tool 鈥渟urveillance.鈥� The second warns of 鈥渞obots grading our kids,鈥� and a third questions 鈥渨hat are we paying teachers for.鈥� By the time the vote happens, the pilot is tabled. The tool hasn鈥檛 failed. The story has.

We鈥檝e seen this movie before. In the 2000s, No Child Left Behind brought nationwide accountability; in the 2010s, Race to the Top accelerated standards and testing. But then Common Core arrived and, in too many places, the fight wasn鈥檛 about better learning but about who was in charge. A student data platform launched into a vacuum of trust. District tools that could lighten teacher workload get framed as replacements for teachers. In each case, a new idea walked into an old narrative, and the old narrative won.

This isn鈥檛 a communications problem at the end of the process. It鈥檚 a design problem at the beginning.

The education sector spends billions designing programs, products and policies but spends almost nothing designing the story that helps people understand what they are and what they do. When narrative is an afterthought, the public makes meaning on its own, using their most familiar, vivid and available shortcuts.

Those shortcuts are powerful:

• Top-down control: When reforms arrive without local authors, communities read them as done to them, not with them.
• Data equals danger: Years of breaches and sloppy practice have built a trust deficit with families.
• Tech replaces people: In schools, the default story about technology as substitution 鈥� a zero-sum trade against human connection and judgment.

The result is predictable: Good ideas stall not because they鈥檙e bad ideas, but because their stories arrive late, or not at all.

A Better Way to Build: Frame 鈫� Test 鈫� Iterate 鈫� Scale

Narratives can be built with the same rigor brought to product development. As researchers who鈥檝e spent over two decades framing research across issues from health to early childhood, we鈥檝e learned that meaning-making is designable 鈥� and testable 鈥� if we treat it like R&D. The key steps include:

Frame. Start by clarifying the story you want people to understand. That means articulating the core ideas 鈥� what you want people to know, feel connected to, use, and ask for 鈥� and mapping how your audiences currently make sense of the topic: their mental shortcuts, blind spots and sticking points.

Test. Turn those insights into values, metaphors and explanations that close gaps and avoid unproductive defaults. Pressure-test them: on-the-street interviews, small-group conversations, then survey studies that quantify 鈥渇rame effects鈥� on understanding, support and willingness to act.

Iterate. Use what you learn to refine and improve. Co-design with the people who will use the strategy 鈥� teachers, principals, parents, students 鈥� and embed short-cycle tests in real communications.

Scale. Package the strategy so others can pick it up: make-and-use toolkits, visuals, model language, and training sessions. Keep support alive with checklists, refreshers and coaching.

Done well, this cycle doesn鈥檛 just produce better talking points. It builds a shared narrative that prepares the ground so good ideas can take root.

A district hoping to reboot its approach to standards and testing, for instance, could map local mindsets and realize they were up against a consistent pattern of thinking: that standards are being read as a scoreboard for punishment, not a roadmap for instruction. 

The team could reframe the work around 鈥渃lear signposts for students鈥� future success鈥� and swap abstract promises for concrete examples: student work samples, teacher-led walkthroughs, and community nights where families tried out classroom tasks. Instead of a press release about new assessments, the launch could lead with a values statement: 鈥淲e need to give every student a fair shot and clear feedback.鈥� The debate wouldn鈥檛 disappear, but it would move forward. People would begin to argue about how to do the work well, not whether to do it at all.

The same approach could work for a district introducing an AI pilot. Before getting started, district leaders could put four words on the whiteboard: Frame. Test. Iterate. Scale. Early on-the-street interviews would reveal the dominant default understanding: AI will watch our kids and sideline our teachers. So the team could test a different narrative: AI as a teaching assistant that handles routine tasks and frees teachers to do what only humans can do: build relationships, diagnose misconceptions and motivate. 

What Works 鈥� and What Backfires

Through our work, we鈥檝e distilled some key insights for education leaders trying to implement new approaches:

• Lead with widely shared values 鈥� like every student needs a fair shot and schools should equip young people to thrive. Start with why before what.
• Give the public a picture in their heads. Tested metaphors like 鈥渃o-pilot,鈥� 鈥渢eaching assistant,鈥� or 鈥渟ignposts鈥� help people picture how a tool or policy works and what it changes.
• Explain the mechanism. Don鈥檛 just claim impact; show the steps from cause to effect (e.g., AI drafts feedback 鈫� teachers spend more time in 1:1 interactions 鈫� students revise more often).
• Show the humans. Center teachers and students explicitly; make technology the helper, not the hero.
• Name and neutralize risks. Address privacy, bias and misuse plainly and show your guardrails.
• Avoid traps. 鈥淪ilver bullet,鈥� 鈥渃risis-only鈥� and 鈥渦s vs. them鈥� framing activates skepticism, scarcity and blame. They shrink your coalition and make backlash easier to trigger.

Public reaction to today鈥檚 ideas is shaped by yesterday鈥檚 scars. Communities remember when reforms felt like they arrived from far away, when data was used on them rather than for them, and when vendors treated schools like markets instead of partners. If we ignore that history, our messages will land as spin and we鈥檒l just add to skepticism and doubt.

Trust is rebuilt through design choices: who authors the narrative, whose voices lead, what benefits arrive first and for whom, and how transparently we report what we learn. When communities that have shouldered the most underinvestment see themselves in the story 鈥� and see safeguards and benefits by design 鈥� support grows and sticks.

Innovation doesn鈥檛 lack for ideas. It lacks the narrative infrastructure that makes them legible, trustworthy and adoptable. The fix is straightforward: put narrative prototyping on the critical path. Fund it. Time-box it. Test it. Ship it alongside the product or policy.

If we do, school board nights will sound different. Less rumor, more reasoning. Fewer boogeymen, more 鈥渟how me how.鈥� More time on what matters most 鈥� students learning well, with adults they trust.

Let鈥檚 build the stories that give great ideas a chance to work.

The board unanimously last month 鈥� and now the district is putting together a preliminary plan, with a deadline of February, 2026 to produce a package of new parental benefits.

Board Member , who represents , which includes neighborhoods such as South L.A., Watts and San Pedro, is the sponsor and a co-author of the resolution.

She said it鈥檚 about time the nation鈥檚 second-largest district treats its workforce of more than 70,000 employees, including thousands of working moms like her, more fairly.

鈥淧arents are spending the vast majority of their paycheck on rent and childcare, and a little bit left over for food and gas and other bills,鈥� said Ortiz-Franklin, a former LAUSD teacher who has two young children. 鈥淚t’s really affecting people’s livelihood.鈥�

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by board members Karla Griego and Kelly Gonez, includes provisions for the district to support family planning, pregnancy, parental leave and childcare. 

The district is beginning with a demographic study to determine which employees have families, or are planning to, and identify areas of need. The study will also assess the costs of expanding leave for new parents.

The district has contracts with unions that govern pay and benefits for its employees and is  currently negotiating a new contract with the city鈥檚 teachers union, which is also for parents.

Ortiz-Franklin said new parents who work for L.A. Unified currently face an impossible choice: pay for childcare for their family or pay other household expenses. The cost of high-quality childcare in L.A., she said, exceeds the income of many LAUSD employees.

She said teachers and other LAUSD workers are ineligible for the state鈥檚 disability insurance program, which offers partially paid leave of up to 16 weeks for new parents. Teachers and other LAUSD employees are exempt from the state鈥檚 family leave programs because the district鈥檚 benefits programs predated those of the state. 

Often, Ortiz-Franklin said, district employees have to use their limited sick days to take parental leave, leading many teachers and other school staffers to time their pregnancies so they give birth during the summer months, when they are off anyway.

In addition to calling for leave for pregnant employees, the resolution also calls on LAUSD to:

• Provide more access to reproductive healthcare, including fertility treatments.
• Create dedicated spaces for lactation at all district schools and offices.
• Help employees enroll their children in LAUSD schools near where they work.

LAUSD officials are now working on a plan to provide these new benefits, Ortiz Franklin said, with some of the new services coming online in the current school year.

Maya Suzuki Daniels, a teacher at San Pedro High School and a mother to a kindergartner and an infant, said the district needs to do more to support working parents like her.  

Suzuki Daniels said she鈥檚 spent up to $1,600 a month for childcare, putting financial stress on her family while she鈥檚 trying to work full time and raise young children.

鈥淚 exhausted all of my sick time, and I now am paying for their child care through personal loans,鈥� Daniels said, 鈥渨hich I’m told is very typical and normal for a working teacher. That sucks.鈥�

鈥�,鈥� a 36-page report published by  a nonpartisan nonprofit led by Tim DeRoche, an author and parent who lives in Los Angeles, draws on official attendance data for LAUSD鈥檚 zoned elementary schools for the years 1995 to 2024. 

Among the 456 LAUSD elementary schools examined in the report, enrollment is down 46% from their peak over the last two decades, while over half of these schools have seen enrollment decline by over 50%. 

The decline has left a lot of open space in 39 high-performing schools, but that doesn鈥檛 mean LA students are filling them, according to DeRoche鈥檚 analysis. In fact, he and his team found nearly 7,000 empty seats in the sought-after schools. 

DeRoche said that leaves a lot of empty seats at those schools and others like them.   

For example, high-scoring Ivanhoe Elementary in Silverlake enrolled 432 students in 2024, down from its peak of 467 students, leaving 35 empty seats, according to DeRoche鈥檚 analysis. Overland Elementary in West L.A. enrolled just 488 students, down from its peak of 557. Lanai Road Elementary in Encino had ten empty seats, according to the report. 

Under state law, traditional district schools are required to offer available seats to any LAUSD student who lives outside of the school鈥檚 attendance zone. 

LAUSD officials disputed the findings and methodology of 鈥淐risis in the School House,鈥� saying its use of peak enrollment to measure school capacity is inaccurate, because those schools were overcrowded then. 

DeRoche admitted his measurements were imperfect but said the gist of his analysis stuck.

Given the fact that most kids in L.A. attend lower-performing schools, and that the district is  with no end in sight, DeRoche  to open those high-performing schools up by reassessing enrollment zones.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to work for a system in which there鈥檚 more equitable access to these really coveted public schools, and it鈥檚 not based on your wealth,鈥� said DeRoche, who  on U.S. attendance zones.

DeRoche鈥檚 critique of admissions comes as LAUSD is contracting. Since the pandemic, the district has lost more than 70,000 students. Current enrollment sits at 408,083, down from a peak of 746,831 in 2002.

Decades of shrinking classes recently prompted L.A. school board president Scott Schmerelson to say district leadership needs to start talking about closing or combining schools, something that some other big U.S. cities are already doing.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has countered with a proposal to close down unused parts of school campuses while keeping schools operational, a tactic LAUSD is already deploying at some campuses.  

鈥淐risis in the School House鈥� focuses in part on a group of L.A.鈥檚 two-dozen top-scoring traditional district elementary schools. 

The report鈥檚 analysis of enrollment data for last year shows those schools had room for at least 4,306 more students. In addition, the report found almost 3,000 additional seats in district-run charter schools. But just four district schools reported only 58 open seats in the district鈥檚 Open Enrollment system for incoming students, DeRoche said.

The upshot is that kids, including those most in need, are shut out of good schools, said DeRoche, something he鈥檚 seen happen in  around the country.

Like those of other districts, Los Angeles schools post uneven scores on state exams, with lower-income, mostly minority schools earning lower marks. This matters, said DeRoche, because it perpetuates cycles of poverty and hands an unfair advantage to the wealthy.

Of the 456 LAUSD neighborhood elementary schools in DeRoche鈥檚 study, just 39 managed to get 70% or more of students reading at grade level. In those 39 schools, 45% of the students were white, while the other 417 schools in the study were only 7% white. 

In an interview, LAUSD鈥檚 senior executive director of strategy and innovation Derrick Chau said DeRoche also failed to account for important programs that are serving district students, such as magnet schools.

鈥淲e do have programs that have been and continue to be in high demand,鈥� said Chau. 鈥淭he reality is, as a system, we are recalibrating across the board on how to deal with changing enrollments.鈥�

Chau said the district is pursuing a number of tactics to boost enrollment in schools and also ensure seats in sought-after schools are distributed in a fair and equitable manner.

鈥淚 think we just need to readjust our system to make sure that we look at those programs, replicate them, and bring them to more students,鈥� he said. 

But the attorney and former teacher said he鈥檚 never seen anything like this year, where he鈥檚 currently helping to guide the nation鈥檚 second-largest school system through some rough situations. 

That includes federal agents , looking for immigrant students; cratering enrollments; and spiraling mental health problems, fueled by a widespread cell phone addiction among students the district is now finally trying to address in an effort led by Melvoin.

It鈥檚 a lot on the plate of the , who represents a large, diverse district in West L.A. and the West San Fernando Valley, which stretches from Encino to Hollywood and from the Pacific Palisades to Venice. 

And, almost unbelievably, it鈥檚 all happening amid an that experts say could turn out to be the country鈥檚 . L.A.鈥檚 devastating wildfires of unprecedented strength this year struck Melvoin鈥檚 board district directly, and consumed entire neighborhoods whole, homes, schools and all. 

The Palisades fire burned for two dozen days in January, killing 12 and destroying nearly 7000 buildings. Part of a complex of fires that struck the city this winter, the blaze displaced hundreds of families from Melvoin鈥檚 schools.    

That鈥檚 where we start our talk with him. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

How is the recovery going for the neighborhoods destroyed in the Palisades Fire?

We’re just taking it one step at a time. I was proud of the work we did to relocate to our elementary schools, in their entirety, within eight days. The Army Corps disaster team told me they rarely see anything like that. So that was a nice validation of the work we did.

As we think about the permanent rebuild, you know, I’m cognizant that I’m also not just building for the next five years, but the next fifty.  Hopefully this was a once-in-a-century sort of disaster.

What we’re thinking through what is, what do communities need, and how does the school district serve those communities? It’s a lot, but I’m inspired by the resilience.

There’s a lot of change happening right now at the federal level, under the new Trump administration. What are the ramifications for LA Unified?

Having served on the school board during the first Trump administration, you don’t want to swing at every pitch. We’re fully committed to protecting our vulnerable students. But we’re also not out there putting a target on their back by talking about it.

What’s really important to me is the congressional appropriation in Title One. There鈥檚 over a billion dollars for us to protect there, in that federal funding.

It boils down to protecting the federal money for local programs.

One hundred percent. So that’s why we try to take a fine line.

Still, high-profile LAUSD programs like the Black Student Achievement Plan, for example, would seem to catch the eye of the Trump administration鈥檚 anti-DEI wing.

One of the ironies, which you’re probably aware of, is that the Biden administration actually came after us because of the Black Student Achievement Plan. I’m just trying to call it like I see it. Because we’re in the business of running a school district, and not trying to play politics.

But you can鈥檛 avoid the big, sweeping changes in history, like the larger demographic shifts that are driving local enrollment declines for LAUSD.  

Part of the solution for enrollment is to see what’s working. Let鈥檚 create options that parents want.

But part of it is also acknowledging that the cost of living has skyrocketed. Folks are having fewer kids. We just don’t have the enrollment we used to, and we’re not going to.

So how do we think of our property? Are we going to build housing? Are we going to try to mitigate some of the charter co-locations?

You pushed hard for the district鈥檚 new smartphone ban. Congratulations on getting it done.

I had a meeting of my Youth Advisory Council, which is composed of students from each of my high schools. And they shared some really positive feedback. They like not being on phones.

I would say it鈥檚 been successful, as far as we continue to monitor the data. But this is a cultural shift. It wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Teachers liked the idea, but some students and parents were worried about losing touch. Now that the policy is in place, how鈥檚 it working out?  

Schools have, like, 95% general compliance. And then, if there鈥檚 an issue, they just enforce the consequences. If a student violates the rules, their phone is getting confiscated.

The first time a parent or guardian has to come into the school and pick up that student鈥檚 phone, that鈥檚 usually the end of it. Because those parents are not willing to do that again.

But is the absence of phones actually helpful for school climate?

I have more evidence of this at schools that were early adopters of cell phone policies. Those schools report that visits to psychiatric social workers are down, and visits to counselors are down. Anxiety is down. Kids report they’re happier.

Sounds like you鈥檙e off to a good start then.

I’m always of two minds. On the one hand, I think it’s a great time when we’re trending in the right direction, when we’re outperforming the state, or when we鈥檙e outperforming our peer districts. But I also won’t be satisfied until, objectively, we’re doing much better.

As the people responsible for deciding how to spend some $700 billion in education dollars, school board members, one might assume, are spending a lot of time discussing tough choices. 

But according to from researchers at Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, many boards devote as little as 15 minutes to considering possible trade-offs and the impact of spending decisions on student outcomes as they vote on new budgets. Indeed, as millions of dollars are allocated, half don鈥檛 ask any substantive questions at all, researchers found. 

But the data indicate that educating even a single board member on how spending can impact student learning stimulates more discussion. States could play an important role in making this happen, says the report鈥檚 lead author, Edunomics Director Marguerite Roza.

The results suggest that states, which provide the lion鈥檚 share of school funding, should consider requiring board members to undergo better training on budgeting, says Roza. Though states bear primary responsibility for holding districts accountable, they rarely demand that boards spend money on the things that . 

鈥淢ost board members have only rudimentary finance training that’s about compliance issues with state laws or audits,鈥� says Roza. 鈥淎s a condition of giving them the money, [states could require] board members to regularly get some training on the basic role of budget oversight. What is a strategic way to evaluate a budget? How often should they be asking questions about the outcomes, or equity or other kinds of things?鈥�

Published by Brookings, the paper is the latest of three drawn from a of hundreds of hours of video of school board budget deliberations, which take place every winter and spring. Using a federal grant, Edunomics researchers streamed meetings that took place in 174 districts of varying sizes, poverty levels and geographic settings in 27 states, tracking the amount of time each board spent discussing revenues and proposed spending, as well as what specific issues members talked about. 

The meetings analyzed in the latest report took place in 2023, when districts had wide discretion over an unprecedented $189 billion in pandemic aid intended in large part to boost students鈥� academic and social-emotional recovery. In theory 鈥� with students falling further behind academically, the money set to run out in September 2024 and a fiscal cliff looming 鈥� board members should have asked which investments were proving effective and whether budgets should be adjusted accordingly, says Roza. 

At the time, the researchers noted, states and the U.S. Education Department were offering districts numerous resources on how to best use the one-time infusion of federal funds. 

But on average, boards 鈥� which typically vote each spring to approve proposed budgets drafted by district leaders 鈥� spent just 40 minutes discussing finances. Conversations were longest in the largest school systems, yet in one-third of all boards, they took less than 15 minutes. Fewer than a fourth of budget discussions made reference to the possible impact of past or current spending decisions on student outcomes in reading, math, attendance, mental health measures or assessments. 

When board members did ask questions linking spending to results, says Roza, the conversation changed to, 鈥�’What did we learn this year and what are we changing next year to accommodate that?鈥� That that simple statement by a board member would create a lot of pressure on district leaders to be thinking about that and to come ready to talk about that in plain terms.鈥�

Student outcomes were discussed in just 7% of meetings in the highest-poverty districts in the researchers鈥� sample. Board members asked whether prior investments were delivering their intended effect in just 13% of meetings. How a proposed budget would affect individual schools within a district was raised in 15% of meetings, and the impact on different student demographic groups was discussed 22% of the time. 

One-fourth of boards spent the majority of their budget discussions focusing on sources of revenue, which they do not control. In 9 out of 10 meetings, there was no discussion of alternatives to the spending proposal before the board. Researchers categorized 53% of board members as 鈥渟ilent observers,鈥� who sat through meetings without offering substantive comments. 

A secondary goal of the research was to determine whether educating board members on evaluating budget trade-offs 鈥� something Edunomics does during annual workshops for district leaders and others 鈥� has an impact on deliberations. To that end, Edunomics and researchers at the American Institutes of Research鈥檚 National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, or CALDER, reviewed budget meetings from 2022 and 2023. Half of the videos were from districts where Edunomics had trained board members on finance issues between the two budgeting seasons.  

that board members who had participated in education finance training were more engaged in budgetary discussions, and were more likely to ask about budget choices and student outcomes and to insist on better information. Board members in high-poverty districts were most likely to ask about the sustainability of financial investments, the impact on different student groups and spending alternatives. 

鈥淚f we could get more board members focused on whether the budget is delivering the outcomes expected,鈥� says Roza, 鈥渢hat would just send a powerful message that this is what they’re expecting at the next meeting.鈥� 

Disclosure: In 2024, Beth Hawkins participated in an Edunomics education finance training. 

I am also the parent of four children who attend Albuquerque schools and a former fourth-grade teacher.

So, when I heard that school boards focused on students’ academic and outcome data, I was shocked. 

The reality is that school boards spend too much time naming buildings and debating sports schedules or determining which paper towels to buy.

School boards play a vital role in empowering local governance and harnessing the power of democracy to address challenges closest to home. So in 2021, I decided to channel my shock at how little attention my hometown school board paid to academic outcomes and ran for a seat. 

I knocked on 8,000 doors, and today, I’m president of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education. We now spend significant time on matters related to student outcomes at our meetings. During one recent session, we looked at state assessment data and focused on unconscionably low achievement rates among Native American students. The conversation shined a light on the problem, and the district superintendent committed to doing things differently, starting with sharing this data with tribal leaders. 

Shifting conversations, and the way the board works, hasn’t been easy. Political distractions and ingrained practices like trying to manage schools instead of letting superintendents do their job get in the way.

But focusing on student outcome data has never been more important, as the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress results show. The data is troubling.

Students are still experiencing declines in reading. Scores on the NAEP 鈥�  also known as the Nation’s Report Card 鈥� are down nationwide in both fourth and eighth grades, and that compounds declines seen on the 2022 report card. In math, scores increased in fourth grade, an area of resilience, but they’re flat in eighth grade after crashing historically the last time the test was given. 

NAEP is the only common assessment that allows policymakers and education leaders to compare student achievement across states and more than two dozen urban districts. Albuquerque is among those districts that get NAEP scores, and I’ll be studying our results with my colleagues. 

For example, I’m particularly interested in what’s going on with middle school, because our eighth-grade scores dropped in both math and reading. And I also want to know why our fourth graders posted flat scores in math while the nation overall made progress.

Of course, the work can’t just be about studying the data. We have to act on it, too. Our board has set for math, reading and college and career readiness, and we assess progress in these areas every month. We also hold our district’s leadership accountable for these goals, which ensures critical issues get the attention they deserve. For example, we鈥檝e seen grade-level proficiency grow for targeted student groups from 11.3% in 2023 to 12.8% in 2024. The proficiency rate today is 2.5 percentage points higher than in 2022 and represents real learning for students who are Native American, African American, economically disadvantaged or English learners, or who have learning disabilities. 

If you’re a school board member, or a citizen who wants to see action on these issues, here are steps you can take today.

• Read the NAEP results. These are reported for the nation, by state and for 26 large urban districts. NAEP also disaggregates data by student subgroups. As a group, Hispanic eighth graders nationwide saw the biggest declines in reading and math. It warrants asking how they are doing in your community. 
• Think about questions you want to ask your school district leaders after looking at the data. 
• Set measurable goals based on multiple, reliable data sources. Use your power, either as a board member or engaged parent or citizen, to hold your district accountable for meeting them. 
• Don’t forget about non-academic data points. The Nation’s Report Card includes student survey data on confidence and chronic absenteeism, both of which are improving somewhat but aren’t back to pre-pandemic levels. Analyze this data and see if it offers insights into the well-being of your students and the culture and climate of your schools.

As a parent, I experienced the frustration of seeing my sixth grader doing fourth-grade work during the pandemic. I could clearly see the problem because she went to school virtually from my kitchen table. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get school or district officials to respond to my concerns. That is among the reasons I ran for the board. From this perch, I know school board members can play a leading role in ensuring that schools are responsive to student needs and parent concerns. But they can’t do that unless they turn their attention to the things that really matter. 

Kate Gould said the classroom became a dangerous place for her son after took over the Douglas County school board and the district removed masking requirements.

After a prolonged back-and-forth, involving a pulmonologist and a special education attorney, district leaders finally agreed to an accommodation for his classroom, mandating masks. But mere weeks later, the superintendent was fired and, under new leadership, the district again removed the masking accommodation without consulting doctors or Gould, she told 社区黑料 in a recent interview. 

Now, almost four years later, Gould and her family live in Southern California 鈥� where they moved during the pandemic for its masking and eventual COVID vaccine requirements 鈥� and they and other parents, advocates and health experts are gearing up for what could be the next front of the school culture wars: a broader attack on school vaccine mandates by the incoming Trump administration.

Currently, all 50 states have vaccine requirements for children entering child care and schools. But with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 鈥� who has peddled baseless conspiracy theories and 鈥淭here’s no vaccine that is safe and effective鈥� 鈥� potentially at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, advocates and parents are right to fear a rollback of requirements, enforcements and funding, according to interviews with about a dozen experts. 

鈥淭he anti-vax warriors have made it inside the castle walls,鈥� said Richard Hughes, a George Washington University law professor who teaches a course on vaccine law.

Kennedy’s legitimization and the different levers he could pull, experts told 社区黑料, could have an immense impact on vaccination rates and the spread of preventable, contagious diseases in school-aged kids.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy would take control of an agency with a budget and 90,000 employees spread across 13 agencies, including the and the . Dave Weldon, nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to head the CDC, has also endorsed debunked theories, and some chronic diseases.

Kennedy, whose nomination faces from health professionals and scientists and questioning by , did not respond to requests for comment. He has said he would not take away vaccines but look to make more of their safety and efficacy data available. 

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what he鈥檚 going to do,鈥� John Swartzberg, a professor at the University of California Berkeley鈥檚 School of Public Health told 社区黑料. 鈥淏ut if he tries to carry out the things that he鈥檚 publicly stated 鈥� not just recently but over a long, long time 鈥� then the implications for our children in school are dire.鈥�

While most school vaccine requirements come from states, the recommendations they’re based on begin with federal agencies, such as the CDC, and enforcement is often left up to local districts. This leaves room for both federal influence and 鈥渁 hodgepodge of enforcement,鈥� said Northe Saunders, executive director of the pro-vaccine , who sees battles around school vaccination mandates playing out at the federal, state and school board levels.

Experts agreed the federal government is highly unlikely to attempt to take vaccines off the market or categorically ban mandates, and most don鈥檛 anticipate individual states will do away with their long-standing requirements.

But James Hodge, a public health law expert at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, pointed out, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 actually have to pull the vaccine for people to stop using it. You have to raise doubts about it.鈥�

That can happen by planting seeds of misinformation, he said, or by starting to require that vaccines be assessed differently for approval or federal funding. Any slight dropoff in parents vaccinating their kids entering schools or day care can result in disease outbreaks, an outcome Hodge said he expects to see over the next year or so. Such declines are

As secretary, Kennedy could delay FDA vaccine development and influence the selection of CDC advisory committee members who make the vaccine recommendations that states then use to determine their requirements. Programs that provide free vaccines for kids could also see their funding cut.

鈥淭here鈥檚 short-term threats in terms of funding and what鈥檚 going to be available for state immunization programs,鈥� Saunders said, 鈥淸and then] there鈥檚 long-term threats about immunization policy and what the future of the immunization landscape in the country can hold.鈥�

Even in Democratically controlled California, Gould, the mom whose son has cystic fibrosis, said she鈥檚 concerned about shifts in vaccine rhetoric, particularly at the school board level. 

鈥淚 think what I have learned from my experience in Douglas County, Colorado, is that when these individuals take over majorities on school boards, it really affects everyone 鈥� Despite the fact that we are a highly educated, very liberal, coastal section of Southern California, you definitely have people that are trying to make inroads 鈥� and these are people who are anti-science.鈥�

Are vaccines the new critical race theory?

Parents across the country are able to apply for exemptions if their child is unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons. Most states also have religious exemptions, and 20 have some form of personal , leaving a varied landscape. 

School vaccine mandates have been around for , and while some pushback has always existed, it wasn鈥檛 until COVID that there was a real spike in vaccine hesitancy, according to Kate King, president of the and a school nurse in Ohio.

The source of the skepticism has shifted, too: 鈥淩arely have we seen the federal government behind those debates in a way that this next administration could be,鈥� said ASU鈥檚 Hodge.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, sees the potential 鈥渦nraveling of decades and generations of protective vaccines.鈥�

鈥淩FK believes he knows more than the totality of any science that has come before him,鈥� she said. 

For a vaccine to get approved, it must first go through an advisory committee at the FDA. Another committee at the CDC then develops recommendations for vaccine schedules, which state legislators rely on to determine their school policies. Kennedy would have an enormous impact on who serves on these committees, and he could stack them with anti-vaccine advocates.

Kennedy could also request a review of all vaccines that have been previously approved by the FDA and subject them to new requirements. 

Many vaccines are paid for by the federal government. If Congress 鈥� under HHS鈥檚 direction or on their own 鈥� were to begin pulling that money, some of the most vulnerable children across the country could lose access to immunization. Trump has threatened to requiring vaccines for students. 

鈥淭he moment you start tacking on any price tag to a vaccination 鈥� any price tag whatsoever, even fairly minimal 鈥� you do see vaccination rates go down,鈥� said Hodge.

Beyond policy actions, experts warned of the power of rhetoric. 鈥淲e still rely 鈥� even under legal mandates that exist at the state level 鈥� on public acceptance of vaccines,鈥� Hodge added, so for vaccine rates to remain high, so too must the public trust. The mere presence of a federal official who is skeptical and 鈥� at times outright hostile 鈥� towards vaccines gives the opposition more credibility.

Since the enforcement of these policies is typically left up to the district level, some advocates are anticipating increased pressure on school board members to take anti-vaccine positions. 

鈥淭he real tension is if a school board decides that they don鈥檛 want to support these [vaccine mandate] policies,鈥� said Hughes, the GW law professor. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 change the policies, but they might say, 鈥榃e don’t support these policies. Not in our school district. No way, no how.鈥欌��

He said he鈥檚 already seen some groups use vaccines as a wedge issue, much like the debate over critical race theory 鈥� an academic framework used to examine systematic racism 鈥� that convulsed school boards a few years ago.

In , public health workers were recently forbidden from promoting COVID, flu and mpox 鈥� previously known as monkeypox 鈥� shots, according to a recent NPR investigation. And a regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID vaccines to residents in six counties after a by its board. 

There鈥檚 money in anti-vax anxiety

The anti-vaccination movement is not new. It can be traced back as far as the 18th century with Edward Jenner鈥檚 discovery of the smallpox vaccine. Because it was made from cowpox, people at the time were afraid that if they got the vaccine, they鈥檇 turn into a cow, said Swartzberg, the public health professor who has taught a course on the anti-vax movement for over a decade. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 always been opposition to vaccination because it鈥檚 the idea of the word inoculate, 鈥� meaning putting into you something foreign 鈥� and that scares people,鈥� Swartzberg said. 鈥淚 understand that. That鈥檚 where emotion has to be countered with data.鈥� 

The group of people so stringently anti-vaccination that they refuse them is small but vocal, he said. Over the past few years, though, 鈥渟omething has dramatically changed in our society,鈥� and the voices behind the movement have shifted from expressing personal fears to looking to monetize the fears of others. 

For example, Joseph Mercola, deemed one of the 鈥� the 12 people responsible for sharing the majority of anti-vax messaging on social media 鈥� made substantial sums of money by peddling far-fetched health claims and then as alternative treatments. Kennedy also appeared on the 鈥淒isinformation Dozen鈥� list.

Others sell merchandise, books and tickets to events, offer exclusive paid content on platforms like Patreon, have sponsored content and display affiliate marketing links to anti-vaccine products.

鈥淚t鈥檚 turned into an incredibly lucrative field for anti-vaxxers, and what鈥檚 really facilitated this has been the internet and the lack of any monitoring of the internet for misinformation and disinformation,鈥� Swartzberg said.

Just last week, Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, d that it will end its fact-checking program on social media posts. 

Using social media and other mechanisms, the anti-vax movement has targeted fairly insular groups around the United States with misinformation, he added. These include New York鈥檚 and the y in Minnesota, both of which have seen recent measles outbreaks. 

While the image of vaccine skeptical parents is often one of young, white 鈥�,鈥� Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, also pointed to 鈥渨ell-earned鈥� trepidation among Black and Latino parents. 

Historically, she noted, significant harm has been done to Black communities through the weaponization of medical trials, and families of color have had particularly negative experiences with the health care system 鈥�

During the pandemic, Children鈥檚 Health Defense, Kennedy鈥檚 anti-vaccine advocacy organization, seemed to tap into this distrust when it put out targeting Black Americans with disproven vaccine claims.听

Gould, the California mom, said if she were still living in more conservative Douglas County she鈥檇 fear that people would 鈥渂elieve the disinformation [and] stop vaccinating their children. For kids with chronic illnesses 鈥� or like my son, a life-limiting illness 鈥� that has massive consequences. It has life-or-death consequences.鈥�

Financial dysfunction is plaguing many city school districts.

is the most concerning. The district鈥檚 current $300 million budget gap is set to triple next year, which isn鈥檛 surprising since enrollment dropped 10% over six years as the district added staff. Now, it won鈥檛 close schools, won鈥檛 reduce the workforce and is being told by the mayor to give in to union demands for big raises. How would the math work? The mayor wants the district to take out a short-term, high-interest loan. Oh, and the city and district still need to work out how to .

is a close second. Two years ago, leaders agreed to a costly labor agreement that they admitted would require major cuts. But then they didn鈥檛 make those cuts. Instead, leaders exhausted all reserves and are borrowing money they鈥檒l have to pay back by 2026. What鈥檚 the plan for the $100 million budget deficit? None yet. 

Why are financial crises suddenly common among large urban districts? Federal relief funds are part of the issue. Despite warnings that the money was temporary, many city districts used those one-time funds for salary raises and new staff hires.  

Some never had a plan for what would happen next. For example, when the federal relief funds ended, leaders in seemed surprised by a glaring $143 million hole in their budget forecast.

Of course, it鈥檚 never easy to cut labor. But avoidance makes it worse over time. In a recent hostage-like negotiation, the superintendent demanded $10 million from the city within 24 hours or the district would start issuing pink slips.

Falling birth rates are another factor. Over the long term, fewer kids means fewer dollars and a need for fewer schools. Closing schools is tough work, and many city districts especially aren鈥檛 up for it. In , schools are down to capacity. After pressing pause on its school closures, now has until Dec. 15 to come up with an alternative or face a potential .

Sometimes it鈥檚 basic financial mismanagement. For months, , inadvertently overpaid its staff, which, not surprisingly, has created a drain on the budget.

got behind on filing its financial reports and ended up with a state-imposed 鈥渃orrective action plan鈥� that involved repayment of $43 million. After the state imposed an external financial audit, the district has since .

In , where Las Vegas is located, 鈥渕iscalculations鈥� keep shifting the budget gap by tens of millions. And because New Orleans dragged its feet on surfacing a $20 million miscalculation of local tax revenue, each of its schools must cut some six or more staff midyear.

In St. Louis, the issue appears to be an unwarranted spending spree by a newly hired 鈥� and now fired 鈥� superintendent.

All these financial messes are leaving kids in the lurch. The dysfunction destabilizes the district, often leaving little time to make consequential decisions like staffing cuts or school closures. Employees are demoralized. Trust in the system erodes. Families with means pursue other options. Most of all, the financial upheaval takes all eyes off the district鈥檚 primary responsibility: student learning.

What is it about city school systems that predisposes them to such financial dysfunction? One obvious factor is that leaders are underprepared to manage complex financial operations that can involve upward of a billion dollars 鈥� or more 鈥� in public funds. Coming off a that outpaced inflation, few of today鈥檚 leaders have any experience with making hard budget tradeoffs. As forecasts change, leaders ignore the signs, stall or, in the case of , pass off major budget-cutting to a task force of 40 volunteers.  

Another reality is the intense, unbalanced political dynamics common in today鈥檚 urban centers. Powerful labor groups make unaffordable demands. Vocal parents resist program reductions or school closures. Some elected board members reverse planned cuts, imagining they鈥檙e defending constituents from the heartless bean counters in the district鈥檚 finance office. The good finance leaders flee the turmoil. Eventually, the district runs out of beans.

Strong district leadership should be an antidote. Leaders need to be , sharing options and explaining financial tradeoffs. They need to make hard choices, laser-focused on what鈥檚 best for students. They need to safeguard their schools’ financial integrity, ensuring that today鈥檚 decisions don鈥檛 erode the education of tomorrow鈥檚 students.

Missing in action are states. Typically, legislatures throw up their hands and bemoan local control. Many are wary of state takeover policies in part because of their of impacts on students.

But there are . Requiring multi-year budget forecasts and minimum levels of fiscal reserves are a start. States can then adopt policies that get triggered when districts overspend and deplete those reserves, each with the goal of helping the district get back on track. With some 80% to 90% of expenses going to personnel, states could mandate that labor contracts be reopened for renegotiation. They could appoint a financial auditor to communicate honestly about district finances. Also triggered could be a requirement that the board and leaders undergo finance training and hold more frequent meetings until budget gaps are addressed.

Standing by while finances erode further in these urban districts is unfair to the many students who depend on their leaders to manage the billions being deployed for their education. Continuing to look the other way will make things worse. City kids need the adults to figure this out.

Over the last several months, 社区黑料 has taken a look at some of the biggest education issues at play during the 2024 election cycle. Here鈥檚 an overview of the federal, state and local races and ballot measures that are poised to impact students, teachers and families the most. 

The White House 

In the first presidential debate of this election season between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, the candidates were asked a question that was top of mind for parents and child advocates:

鈥淚n your second term, what would you do to make child care more affordable?鈥� asked Trump during that June debate. 

But rather than focus on children, many critics said the two candidates behaved like them.

Even after Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in as the Democratic party鈥檚 presidential nominee and tapped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a former public high school teacher, as her pick for the vice presidential candidate 鈥� education and child care still did not make it to the center stage of election season conversations.

Instead, most clues about Trump鈥檚 education policy have come from The Heritage Foundation鈥檚 Project 2025, an ambitious Republican agenda to transform the federal bureaucracy under a second Trump presidency. While Trump has denied any involvement in the creation of Project 2025, experts say the plan reflects many of the ideologies held by the former president and, if enacted, would have considerable fallout in the world of education. 

Project 2025鈥檚 chapter on education, for example, offers prescriptions for eliminating Title I grants to high-poverty schools, revising accreditation requirements under the Higher Education Act and dismantling the Department of Education, among other things. Overall, the plan seeks to reimagine the US government as a guardian of parents鈥� rights and supports school choice. 

Publicly, Trump has also said that he would pull funding from any schools that teach critical race theory or support transgender rights. 

Meanwhile, Harris has not offered much in terms of her education policy. She has made it clear that she thinks Trump鈥檚 plan to eliminate the Department of Education would be a terrible idea and has criticized his attacks on curricula taught in schools.

One item that could be on the table during a Harris presidency is a pay hike for teachers. Few may remember it now, but Harris took the biggest swing on education policy of any Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary: a $315 billion to raise teacher pay and overhaul the profession. The American Federation of Teachers, the nation鈥檚 second largest teachers union, was the first group to voice their support of Harris as a presidential candidate this summer. 

While the two candidates have vastly different aims when it comes to education, there is one area both camps seem to (mostly) agree on: Expanding the Child Tax Credit. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have embraced proposals to expand the program, which offers relief to parents of kids under 17 years old. Depending on the election outcome, neither party may hold enough power to enact its vision, however. 

National Issues

Bible teachings in public schools: Republicans have spent a lot of energy getting the Bible into public schools. Much of the spotlight has been on Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters, who mandated that schools stock classrooms with Bibles. Louisiana passed a law requiring schools to post the 10 Commandments in classrooms, the subject of , while the Texas Education Agency has proposed a Bible-infused reading curriculum that includes stories from the Old and New testaments. 

Whether those ideas will resonate with Christian voters is harder to answer. One recent poll suggests it won鈥檛. On a long list of concerns influencing churchgoers鈥� views in this election, public schools ranked near the bottom as a reason why they would pick a presidential candidate. Instead, the economy and border security topped the list. 

School boards: Moms for Liberty, the conservative advocacy group, hasn鈥檛 been able to repeat its success at the polls since 2022, when its school board candidates were scoring victories across the country. Some say voters are clearly tired of what one researcher called the 鈥減olitics of disruption.鈥� Others believe the group鈥檚 leaders are more focused on adding members and mobilizing voters for Trump than winning local races. There have also been efforts to recruit moderates to run against conservative candidates like those from Moms for Liberty. 

A good indicator of who will win school board seats is whether the candidate has the endorsement of a teachers鈥� union. According to research out of Ohio State University and Boston College, a union endorsement increases support for candidates by as much as 20 percentage points among various voting blocs, with the effects particularly concentrated among Democrats and those who favor organized labor. Almost no group, including Republicans, responds negatively to the endorsements, the authors found.

School choice: A high-stakes political battle is brewing around school choice. GOP groups are funneling millions of dollars into state races to defeat critics of education savings accounts. In Texas, observers say, the victories by pro-ESA candidates could lead to a more conservative legislature or a potential Democratic backlash. 

It鈥檚 worth noting that voters have a history of rejecting private school choice measures at the ballot box. Recent voucher proposals garnered less than a . But advocates in three states are hoping to break that trend on Election Day. In , voters will decide whether to preserve or overturn 2023 legislation that created a private school scholarship program. Initiatives in and , if approved, could pave the way for lawmakers to create vouchers or education savings accounts in the future.

State and local races and ballot measures 

Arizona: The outcome of Arizona鈥檚 legislative races could upend what has been one of America鈥檚 most welcoming environments for school choice. Democrats, who already hold the governorship, could take control of both legislative chambers by flipping just four seats, which would make Arizona voters the first in the nation to hand over governance of an ESA program to its opponents. 

California: A single, heated school board race in Los Angeles could help decide the fate of the nation鈥檚 largest charter school sector and the LA Unified School District. Upstart vows to bring a pro-charter voice to LA Unified鈥檚 board, but faces stiff opposition from union-backed incumbent . 

Delaware: With at least eight high-level reports over the last 25 years calling for a wholesale overhaul of a Jim Crow-era school funding formula that gives more state aid to wealthy districts and shortchanges disadvantaged kids, whoever wins Delaware鈥檚 governor race will have their work cut out for them. 

Illinois: October was already destined to be a tumultuous chapter in Chicago politics, as voters prepared for the first school board elections in the city鈥檚 history. But the abrupt resignation of the city鈥檚 existing school board, and the related crisis of governance over the country鈥檚 fourth-largest school system, has magnified local divisions over finance and the role of the powerhouse Chicago Teachers Union. Now locals are wondering if the mayor can keep the district solvent 鈥� and his own administration afloat. 

Indiana: In Indiana鈥檚 governor race, GOP U.S. Senator Mike Braun, who鈥檚 been endorsed by Donald Trump, wants to expand the state鈥檚 school choice voucher program. If elected, Braun and his running mate, far-right , have pledged universal school choice for every Indiana family while focusing on parental rights and school safety. His opponent, former state schools chief Jennifer McCormick, who has the backing of the state teachers union, seeks to expand affordable child care, fight what she believes is excessive state-mandated testing and call for an equitable school funding formula. 

Massachusetts: In Massachusetts, Ballot Question 2 asks voters to decide if the MCAS exam should remain a high school graduation requirement. If it passes, Massachusetts would have no statewide graduation requirements, making it an outlier nationally. Instead, its some 300 districts would determine requirements locally. Those in favor of repealing the requirement 鈥� largely backed by the state teachers union 鈥� argue it narrows curriculum and harms students with disabilities and English language learners. Those who want to keep the test, including Gov. Maura Healey, say it鈥檚 an important accountability measure. 

Minnesota: If Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are elected in November, Minnesota鈥檚 lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan, will become the first Indigenous woman governor in U.S. history. The daughter of a Hubert H. Humphrey campaign strategist and an Ojibwe land-rights activist 鈥� Flanagan was the youngest person elected to the Minneapolis School Board. She has promoted free school lunch and Indigenous curriculum.

North Carolina: North Carolina鈥檚 race for governor has been marked by scandal. In September, that Republican nominee Mark Robinson called himself a 鈥淏lack Nazi鈥� and posted 鈥渟lavery is not bad鈥� anonymously on a porn site. Beyond the controversies, Robinson has kept education debates centered on eradicating the presence of 鈥減olitics鈥� and 鈥渋ndoctrination鈥� in schools, and . His challenger, Democratic candidate Josh Stein, told that his top priority as governor would be to improve public education. He has also supported to address the youth mental health crisis, and wants to expand access to community colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Whoever is elected as the state鈥檚 leader will appoint individuals for , subject to confirmation by the assembly. 

Another pivotal race in North Carolina will be for superintendent. Republican candidate Michele Morrow, a homeschooler who rallied outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, has a history of disparaging public schools with choice words like 鈥渋ndoctrination centers.鈥� She faces Democrat Maurice 鈥淢o鈥� Green, a lawyer and former district superintendent. Whoever wins will be responsible for more than 2,700 schools and a $13 billion education budget. 

Rhode Island: Providence, Rhode Island鈥檚 school board has been appointed by the mayor for decades, but voters will be able to pick board members again this election. The catch is that state control of the district was just extended to 2027, limiting what the new board can do. New members will still have to navigate their way out of state control as well as handle challenges with low test scores, falling enrollments, school closures and demand for more charter schools. 

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But according to research from political scientists at Ohio State University and Boston College, one of the most valuable assets of all is the endorsement of the local teachers鈥� union.

, circulated by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, finds that a union endorsement increases support for candidates by as much as 20 percentage points among various voting blocs, with the effects particularly concentrated among Democrats and those who favor organized labor. Almost no group, including Republicans, responds negatively to the endorsements, the authors found.

The study offers an intriguing explanation of exactly how teachers鈥� unions help their preferred politicians win office. Beyond storming the polls with energized members, or using to get out the vote, local teachers鈥� associations appear to triumph in large measure through their popularity with the electorate. Parents and community members from different walks of life believe that leaders who win the approval of teachers will do what is right for schools, including by improving student performance.

Ohio State political scientist Vladimir Kogan said that he and his co-author, Michael Hartney of Boston College, were struck by the 鈥渉uge positive effect鈥� of such endorsements on the public perception of candidates. Among Democrats, he noted, the boost was of approximately the same size as learning that a given candidate was a Democrat himself. 

鈥淚n American politics, it’s very hard to find a piece of information that moves votes as much as partisanship, so that’s a pretty shocking impact,鈥� Kogan said. 鈥淓ven for Republicans, it’s positive.”

The researchers investigated the scale of the political benefits by running multiple studies over the last 12 years. 

The first, in 2012, consisted of a survey administered to about 1,700 registered voters in San Diego about their voting intentions in two upcoming school board races. The elections were nonpartisan, as are contested throughout the country each year, but participants were randomly presented with biographies that either included or excluded information about one candidate鈥檚 endorsement by the San Diego Education Association. 

Among Democrats who learned of the endorsement, support shot up by 12 percentage points. Independent voters became about six points more likely to support the union-favored candidate, while for Republicans, the boost was positive but statistically negligible. Across a range of nonpartisan demographics, the effects were even larger: Respondents who rated teachers favorably were 10 points more likely to favor a union-endorsed candidate, and those who rated labor unions favorably were 20 points more likely. 

A follow-up experiment, conducted at the beginning of 2023, replicated those findings almost exactly. This poll was sent to a national sample of roughly 1,400 respondents, with some exposed at random to candidate descriptions highlighting the support of 鈥渁 local teachers鈥� union鈥� (or, more generically, 鈥渁 local teacher association鈥�). 

The average survey participant was eight percentage points more likely to opt for a candidate who received an endorsement 鈥� more than enough to swing a close election. And while that added support was again driven by those who felt warmly toward unions and teachers, reactions to the endorsement information from almost all respondent groups were either positive or effectively neutral; just one small group, those who voiced negative views of teachers, were more likely to reject a candidate after learning they had the backing of a teachers鈥� union. 

It is notable that unions’ blessing kept its potency between 2012 and 2023, a period when politics became and unions themselves for prolonging school closures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Kogan said that the lasting strength of the union movement 鈥� often cast as the villain in some of the fiercest disputes of the education reform era, including battles over school choice and teacher tenure 鈥� wasn’t widely understood by those who have opposed it. 

“This is inconsistent with the stories reformers tell,” Kogan said. “I think they underestimate how influential teachers 鈥� and teachers’ unions 鈥� are, in terms of how much voters are willing to defer to them.”

鈥業ncredible鈥� branding

Critically, Kogan and Hartney鈥檚 survey work only shows how potential voters tend to react when they discover that a particular candidate has been endorsed. It is unknown how often that information actually reaches them.

Though a fixture of local civic life, school board races are among the most opaque of any in American democracy. the National School Boards Association, participation in the elections 鈥� often conducted during off-cycle years, with no national or statewide figures to draw marginal voters 鈥� ranges from 5 to 10 percent. Since party affiliation is seldom listed on the ballot, even those who turn out don鈥檛 receive a clear signal about candidates鈥� policy preferences.

John Singleton, an economist at the University of Rochester, said that messages from trusted local groups likely played a crucial role in guiding voters鈥� decisions. Unlike statewide or congressional campaigns, he said, most school board elections generate little in the way of media coverage. 

鈥淵ou could go on your school board candidate’s Facebook page and read about their policy positions, but that’s going to require you knowing who they are and seeking them out,鈥� Singleton observed. 鈥淥n the other hand, it’s possible to passively absorb that information鈥� through media and endorsements, he added.

The second survey allowed the research team to directly test the importance of union support against various other attributes that might plausibly help voters make up their minds, including candidates鈥� occupations, whether they had children, and whether they had received endorsements from other groups. In thousands of head-to-head comparisons, respondents rated imaginary candidates with randomly assigned traits.

This added wrinkle made it even clearer how influential teachers unions can be. The effect of their endorsement was larger than that of a local newspaper or chamber of commerce. Revealingly, the advantages it conferred were also greater than those of an endorsement from a cafeteria workers鈥� union 鈥� showing that teachers themselves, more so than school employees generally, command particular loyalty from their communities.

Singleton said that the successful branding exemplified by groups like the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, extending from tiny local school districts to national politics, was 鈥渒ind of incredible.鈥�

“In terms of the coordination between the grassroots and the national organizations, and the influence they have, it’s a model for other activist efforts,鈥� he said.

Notably, the 2023 study prodded participants to not only name which candidate they might support, but also which would be more likely to improve conditions in local schools. Union-endorsed candidates were, on average, thought more likely to raise teacher salaries, improve academic outcomes for students, and to be more responsive to parents. 

Kogan said the reputational improvement of being affiliated with a teachers鈥� union was highly unusual. The only comparably positive perception he could think of was the of the American Medical Association, which has exerted heavy influence in public health policy over the last century.

Until recently, Kogan argued, police unions enjoyed a similar 鈥渉alo,鈥� frequently winning voters for their chosen candidates in elections that hinged on questions of criminal justice and public safety. But has shown that, with the increasing polarization around policing and officer-involved shootings, views of those unions have taken on a more partisan skew.

鈥淢any voters, particularly Democratic ones, have realized that a candidate isn’t necessarily good just because the police union says so,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he halo effect has eroded over time for police unions, but not for teachers.鈥�

Once elected, the new board members were equally effective at advancing their agendas. According to the free speech watchdog group PEN America, over the last two years, 247 school districts have banned books and at least 894 have prohibited 鈥渄ivisive鈥� speech. 

Superintendents were fired or pushed out in nine of 17 boards flipped by right-wing candidates in 2022. In the first two hours of its inaugural meeting, newly dominated by Moms for Liberty-backed members fired the district鈥檚 first Black superintendent and its attorney, banned discussion of critical race theory and started the process of removing books and other materials from schools. 

Now, four election cycles after these groups emerged, the culture warriors have competition in hundreds of races from candidates backed by another set of organizations newly focused on school boards 鈥� this time, recruiting and training opponents of book bans, restrictions on classroom speech and instruction, rollbacks of LGBTQ student rights and educator censorship. 

They鈥檙e bringing many of the sophisticated campaign strategies 鈥� and money 鈥� long common in top-of-the-ticket state and federal races to contests in even small districts. Some are deliberately recruiting young, diverse candidates. 

There are an estimated 12,000 school board races on ballots this year, ranging from headline-grabbing contests in huge urban districts like Los Angeles and Chicago to small, rural communities where elections are decided by a handful of votes. The organizations jumping into the fray are just as varied, ranging from national coalitions like the 鈥� which supports candidates throughout the country 鈥� to groups focused on a specific demographic or hyperlocal race. 

In Arizona, organizes Native communities and people of color. is focused on school systems in Marion County, Indiana. trains potential board members in both English and Spanish.

Like their right-wing counterparts, these candidate incubators are typically organized as 501(c)4 nonprofits, which can engage in political activity and are required to make of their spending. Frequently, they have a more traditional nonprofit partner that can鈥檛 participate in electoral politics but can educate voters about issues.       

Because many of the larger groups previously focused on state and federal elections, they are where Moms for Liberty and other right-wing organizations have won significant victories and to recruit slates of candidates to oppose them.  

Once a thankless job, even more so now   

Traditionally, school board politics has differed from that of other elections. Mostly nonpartisan 鈥� which has been generally perceived as a good thing 鈥� the contests can be as bitterly fought as other races, yet they rarely interest people who don鈥檛 have a direct connection to their local schools. This translates to low voter turnout, which can give outsized influence to teachers unions, education reform advocates and other special interests that sometimes supply funding and volunteer door-knockers. 

School board members are rarely paid more than a stipend 鈥� if that 鈥� to take on a demanding role that involves making often unpopular decisions involving hundreds of millions of dollars and the well-being of their neighbors鈥� children. 

Historically, particularly in smaller communities, persuading people to campaign for such an undesirable job has been tough. But injecting national, partisan issues into school board races has proven a remarkably effective for the GOP 鈥� and led to constant harassment of school board members even over seemingly noncontroversial issues. This year in Minnesota, for example, there are with more open board seats than candidates.

For those who do run, an increase in the number of 鈥渟ingle-issue鈥� board members can grind the process of taking care of a school system鈥檚 day-to-day business to a halt. And even though the number of ballot-box wins by Moms for Liberty and similar groups is falling, the attendant acrimony can drive nonpartisan people off boards and flatten interest among prospective moderate replacements.

The goal of the new candidate incubators is to seek community members willing to serve and to train them in the nuts and bolts of campaigning, as well as in how to govern effectively and seek compromise in polarized environments 鈥� and to survive the rancor and even physical threats that, at least for the moment, can come with the job.   

When board politics is personal

Kyrstin Schuette has first-hand experience with the impact ideological politics can have on students. In 2009, the board of Minnesota鈥檚 largest school system, the Anoka-Hennepin School District, adopted what is often called a 鈥渄on鈥檛 say gay鈥� policy, limiting what staff could discuss with students about LGBTQ people and issues. Teachers interpreted the rule as prohibiting them from intervening in in-school victimization. 

In the first year the edict was in place, nine students who had been bullied because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity committed suicide. 鈥淚 was almost the 10^th,鈥� says Schuette, who was harassed by classmates and a teacher starting in her sophomore year of high school.   

In 2011, she became Jane Doe, the lead plaintiff in a against the district. As part of a settlement, the Justice Department imposed a consent decree requiring Anoka-Hennepin to make a number of systemic changes that were supposed to protect Schuette and her classmates going forward. 

The court order, however, did not sway the board. Even before the end of the legal oversight, a right-wing majority overruled school administrators and illegally ordered them to prohibit a transgender swimmer from using the boys’ locker room. The athlete, 鈥淣ick,鈥� sued. In 2021, the case was settled with another order requiring the district to again adopt policies designed to protect LGBTQ students. 

In 2022 and 2023, three school board members were elected with the support of the 1776 Project PAC and a similar group founded in 2022, the Minnesota Parents Alliance, creating a 3-3 partisan split. The new conservative bloc demanded the rollback of portions of the 2021 settlement that would bring the district into compliance with the law. 

The three also threatened to if administrators did not do away with diversity initiatives and adopted new, state-mandated social studies standards that include ethnic studies. By law, districts must provide instruction that covers the grade-by-grade standards and have to balance each year鈥檚 budget by July 31 or shut down. 

In July 2023, Schuette launched the , which trained and backed 84 candidates in 27 Minnesota districts in time to run last November. This year, the group is working with more than 200 candidates in 42 Minnesota districts and 14 other states.

Schuette credits her group鈥檚 rapid growth to pent-up frustrations with recent years鈥� education politics, but she鈥檚 quick to add that many of the candidates she鈥檚 trained needed convincing they could run, win and make a difference.  

鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely some apprehension there,鈥� she says. 鈥淧arents, community leaders, former teachers 鈥� those are folks who need a little more encouragement.鈥�

Founded in 2017 to train primarily young candidates for a number of offices, this year has launched a $3 million pilot program to test to the races it will get involved in. The group hopes to be active in all 50 states, with a particular emphasis on the 60% of school board races that are uncontested. 

Denise Feriozzi is executive director of the Pipeline Fund, created in 2018 to bring more people of color, women and low-income people into electoral politics. Two years ago, the fund began identifying school districts where have had the biggest impact and organizing its own candidates to counter them. 

Like Schuette, Feriozzi says the Pipeline Fund has seen a groundswell of interest 鈥� ironically, something she credits in part to the successes of the 1776 Project and Moms for Liberty: 鈥淥ver the last couple of years, folks have really recognized the potential for school boards to impact the lives of students.鈥� 

Strong candidates, Feriozzi says, should 鈥渂e able to answer the 鈥榳hy.鈥� What is it you want to be able to accomplish?鈥� The rest, she says, can be taught.   

‘How do you work with the other side?’

A professor of education politics and policy at Michigan State University, Rebecca Jacobsen has studied the politicization of school boards. She predicts the recruiting and training efforts by moderate groups will translate to higher-caliber board members in many places. But she also harbors concerns. 

Candidates backed by the conservative organizations that sprang up in 2021 were often counseled to engage in what she and others call politics of disruption. Traditionally, nonpartisan board members are urged to observe rules designed to ensure civility. They often agree not to surprise one another with sharp questions during public meetings, to make sure comments to reporters and constituents are in accord with board decisions and to not embarrass the district staffers whose job it is to make presentations.

The new members, Jacobsen says, are frequently coached to deviate from the old customs: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to speak as a board鈥�; 鈥淢aintain your own Twitter, maintain your own social media presence鈥�; 鈥淒on鈥檛 do it behind the scenes, do it in public.鈥�  

鈥淭his really changes who runs, why they run and what their role is,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he point is to sow distrust and chaos.鈥�

Jacobsen was part of a team of researchers who watched 156 board meetings in 15 states from 2019 to 2022. They found a marked increase in shouting, insults and threats 鈥� both by board members and people in the audience 鈥� particularly in areas where Moms for Liberty and similar groups were active. 

Traditionally, school board service involves constant compromise, Jacobsen continues: 鈥淏ut there are no compromises when [you believe] the other side is harming children. How do you work with the other side when you think the other side is fundamentally evil?鈥�

Because of this, beyond the basics of fundraising and door-knocking, the Pipeline Fund works with organizations to equip prospective board members with strategies for campaigning and governing in high-conflict environments. The group works with the to help candidates minimize or navigate online and physical threats and harassment, for example.

The fund and numerous local candidate training groups work with , an organization founded by Orleans Parish School Board member Ethan Ashley in 2020. Its goal is to 鈥� with an emphasis on women of color 鈥� and newly elected officials with policy-making skills.

New board members, he says, need training on everything from parliamentary procedure to self-care. And in a contentious environment, that support needs to be ongoing and emphasize using relationship-building skills to try to create a cohesive board culture.

鈥淭here are 12,000 school board races on the ballot this year,鈥� says Ashley. 鈥淲e believe the community knows who the right individuals are to run those races. We鈥檙e thinking deeply about how to support them after they are elected.鈥� 

Johnson stood at the podium of the South Side鈥檚 Sweet Holy Spirit Church as he took questions about the abrupt resignation, just a few days prior, of all seven of his appointees to the local board of education. Flanked by a roster of supporters and aides, he introduced his choices to fill the departed members鈥� seats and once again pledged to bring progressive change to the fourth-largest school system in the United States.

It was a theme he鈥檇 sounded since nearly two years earlier, and one that helped transform him from a former educator and organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union into in the country. For his allies, particularly the political powerhouse CTU, the consistency of the mayor鈥檚 messaging signaled his commitment to find more resources for Chicago Public Schools, even in the face of and vanishing pandemic relief funds.

But if the event was intended to calm the uproar that has swirled around the district鈥檚 leadership and finances since the beginning of the school year, it was destined to fall short. From its outset, the mayor was interrupted repeatedly by a group of hecklers protesting the replacement nominees. After some were removed, Johnson grew testy with reporters, objecting several times that their questions were 鈥渄isrespectful.鈥�

In , the mayor dismissed critics who have rejected his spending plans 鈥� including a proposal for the district to take out a $300 million loan to fund teacher pay increases and pension contributions 鈥� by comparing their arguments to those of Confederate leaders during the Civil War. 

Yet the number of those has only grown in the last few months. They now include the district鈥檚 CEO, Pedro Martinez, who of a short-term loan over the summer; the seven departed board members, who gave up their titles after Johnson to fire Martinez; and no fewer than 41 of Chicago鈥檚 50 aldermen, who signed sternly counseling against further borrowing and voicing concern about the sudden empowerment of 鈥渓ame-duck appointees鈥� over the remainder of the board鈥檚 term. Public opinion is no sunnier, with revealing that 60 percent of Johnson鈥檚 constituents disapprove of his leadership.

At the heart of the conflict rests an elemental question: Who will govern Chicago鈥檚 schools? Mayors have enjoyed the right to appoint and dismiss members of the school board for nearly three decades, and Johnson鈥檚 slate of replacements will be able to approve his agenda once they are seated. But the Illinois legislature recently mayoral control over the district, charging the city with establishing a popularly elected, 21-seat board by 2027. In November, voters will choose the first 10 elected members, with Johnson appointing 11, to a hybrid body that will preside over the transition.

The district will spend that interregnum attempting to balance its accounts, while also negotiating new contracts for teachers and principals and deciding the fate of scores of under-enrolled schools. Local K鈥�12 leaders foresee increasingly bitter disputes arising over the reach of the CTU, which now appears to hold most of the leverage over critical decisions. At the same time, their opponents increasingly question the legitimacy of a process that has seen one iteration of the school board precipitously leave office, and another be appointed in its place, just weeks before the election of a third set of candidates.  

Neither the mayor鈥檚 office nor the CTU responded to requests for comment from 社区黑料.

Arne Duncan, who served as Chicago Public Schools CEO from 2001 to 2009 and, later, as the U.S. secretary of education, said he hoped both sides could compromise around the most pressing dilemmas facing students and educators. Now helping to lead in dangerous neighborhoods, he observed that the tension around K鈥�12 education could benefit from the type of de-escalation he often sees practiced between feuding gangs.

鈥淕uys who have shot at each other still find ways to put that aside and make peace for themselves and their kids,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淚f they can do that every day, I hope our elected leaders can find the courage to, metaphorically, put down the gun and do the right thing.”

But Meredith Paige, the mother of two high schoolers and a leader of the advocacy group CPS Family Dyslexia Collaborative, said that to everyday Chicagoans, the feeling was one of 鈥渃haos.鈥�

“We might not see the impact on children for a couple of years, but on the ground, parents are saying, ‘What the [hell] is happening? The schools are falling apart, get me out of here.’鈥�

鈥楢 crisis of leadership鈥�

Families have an immediate opportunity to make their feelings known in November, when Chicago will hold its school board elections. 

The power to appoint members, who wield authority over the major policy choices in a district serving more than 320,000 students, has rested solely with the mayor since 1995. Throughout 2019, long-serving Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel happily used that prerogative to overhaul the school system, lifting academic standards and opening over 150 new schools. Academic achievement flourished in the aftermath, with showing that students in Chicago Public Schools made more academic progress than those in virtually any other district in the United States.

But the public came to sour on the fast pace of change, especially after Emanuel successfully pushed for the closure of 49 schools in 2013. Public polling, along with a series of held throughout the city, favored direct elections over the political appointment process. The Illinois legislature acknowledged that reality in 2021 by passing legislation to establish an elected board.

have filed to run for seats in the city鈥檚 10 newly created school board districts, with many grouping into two blocs: one backed largely by the Chicago Teachers Union and left-leaning community groups, the other favored by donors inclined toward education reform, including charter school supporters. Campaign donations across the 10 races $2.5 million, with charter-friendly groups for the bulk of spending thus far.

Against that messy backdrop, Mayor Johnson , who are expected to be seated later this month, to preside over the district until newly elected members take office in January. In the new year, they may be either re-appointed or again replaced by a new group of Johnson appointees. 

But in the meantime, they will be left with the critical decisions of whether to terminate the contract of CEO Martinez, who has served since 2021, and approve the mayor鈥檚 push to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to defray short-term expenses, including a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching employees of Chicago Public Schools.

Byron Sigcho-Lopez, one of the nine alderman who did not sign the open letter criticizing the previous board鈥檚 mass resignation, said he was untroubled by the move, noting that the school board鈥檚 current term has nearly expired and that its members had not chosen to run for any of the elected seats. 

“I don’t see any problem with the board leaving,鈥� Sigcho-Lopez said. 鈥淭his board had one more session left. I think they’re doing the responsible thing, and I thank them for their service.鈥�

But most other local office holders have objected strenuously both to the substance of Johnson鈥檚 plans and the lurching shifts in CPS governance. Democratic State Rep. Ann Williams 鈥� who that established a two-year interval of hybrid governance 鈥� said she was disturbed by the board鈥檚 unplanned turnover just weeks before Election Day. She added that she had been 鈥渋nundated鈥� with calls from worried constituents in her North Side district about what it might mean.

鈥淭his really flies in the face of what I was trying to do as sponsor of this bill in Springfield, which was to bring democracy to Chicago Public Schools,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 happened is a crisis of CPS leadership, and that’s how it’s being perceived by Chicagoans.鈥�

Daniel Anello is the CEO of , a nonprofit that receives support from Chicago鈥檚 business and philanthropic communities and advocates for more parental voice in education policy. He argued that the developments of the last few weeks more closely resembled Emanuel鈥檚 鈥渢op-down鈥� management style than the participatory democracy that voters hoped for in 2021.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e just saying, ‘Here’s the replacement board’ and claiming that it was a smooth transition going as intended,鈥� Anello said. 鈥淏ut then, why wasn’t the former board at the press conference? They just disappeared. It’s just not the inclusive promise of community engagement that this mayor ran on.鈥�

Showdown over pensions, debt

The district projects that it will of $505 million in the coming school year, stemming from a combination of normal operating expenses, increasing healthcare costs, and of federal ESSER funds that helped states weather pandemic-related shortfalls in revenue. The long-term picture has been further clouded by steadily decreasing student enrollment, by more than 80,000 students 鈥� or roughly one-fifth 鈥� since 2010.

The administration of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Johnson鈥檚 immediate predecessor, also transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in pension costs to CPS that had historically been underwritten by City Hall 鈥� a reflection, they argued, of the district鈥檚 new independence from mayoral control, which Lightfoot had opposed in 2021. While Martinez in May alongside CTU leaders to ask lawmakers for additional funding, the resulting increase to what had been requested. 

A source close to the district, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely about political matters, said the unsuccessful pitch to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Illinois Democrats served as a wake-up call that the district would not be spared from retrenchment in the coming years.

鈥淚 think that the union thought, once Brandon got elected, that they’d be able to walk into Springfield and get whatever they wanted,鈥� the source said. 鈥淏ut there’s no money, especially after ESSER funds have expired.鈥�

In July, Martinez and the school board that aimed to close the deficit through a mixture of staff cuts and freezes to almost 250 jobs. In an unusual response, the mayor the fiscal direction laid out by his own hand-picked board, counter-offering that $300 million to cover its costs. Instead, the budget was authorized as written.

After that, the source remarked, the relationship between the mayor and district leadership 鈥渨ent south very quickly.鈥� The CTU, Johnson鈥檚 attack on the proposed cuts, of planning to close more schools. By mid-August, the mayor was widely thought to be preparing to fire his schools chief. 

In a statement, Martinez expressed optimism that some breathing room might be gained from the city鈥檚 special 鈥渢ax increment financing鈥� districts, which are funds designed to attract developers and employers. Using those resources, he argued, 鈥渨e can address these looming costs without cuts, without taking on expensive short-term debt, and without waiting for additional funding to materialize from the state.鈥�

But even if both sides can agree on a new source of spending, the district and the union are simultaneously engaged in a contentious negotiation over the terms of the next teacher contract. The , a non-partisan research group, has estimated that once the district pays out an expected series of teacher raises and assumes more pension debt from the city, its deficit . 

Karin Norington-Reaves for the elected seat in the city鈥檚 10th school board district. A critic of Mayor Johnson, she has pledged from the CTU. She warned that if Johnson鈥檚 newly appointed board resorted to accepting a 鈥減ayday loan,鈥� it would only bring more financing costs and could lead to the district鈥檚 bonds being downgraded. 

鈥淎nybody with any level of financial acumen understands that when you have debt, and you borrow, you create further debt,鈥� Norington-Reaves said. 鈥淚f you were an individual, that would tank your credit worthiness, and it’s no different for the school district.”

But Sigcho-Lopez, the alderman, countered that Chicago students鈥� learning needs were too great to countenance staffing reductions, especially given the still-significant trauma of COVID.

“To cut staffing in a time when these kids just survived a pandemic? We’ve got kids who are orphans, who need extra social workers,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don’t think teachers and social workers and librarians are where we should focus our energy.”

Tough decisions ahead for new board

The priorities of Johnson鈥檚 newly selected board members remain unclear for now. Any action taken against Martinez is likely to prove explosive to politicians and educators alike; in August, when his termination was first rumored, and assistant principals signed a letter opposing the idea.

Though Johnson retains the power to appoint more than half of the incoming members of the hybrid board, November鈥檚 election outcomes will also help determine the course taken over much of the remainder of his first term. If the CTU鈥檚 preferred candidates prevail in their contests, they will likely take it as an endorsement of the positions shared by both the union and the mayor. 

The expense and pugnacity of the campaigns have already proven discouraging to some who had welcomed the arrival of an elected board. Parent Meredith Paige said that a friend and fellow activist had explored a run, but she was quickly discouraged by the demands of the process 鈥� the number of signatures required to run was raised from a proposed 250 to 1,000, more than twice that required to run for the Chicago City Council 鈥� and abandoned the notion.

鈥淚t just came out how much the charter schools are pouring into these races, and how much CTU has spent,鈥� she lamented. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly how people worried it was going to go.”

Norington-Reaves, a longtime nonprofit director and former congressional candidate, sounded confident in her ability to win the support of voters but argued that the stakes for the election seem higher than they should be. A Chicago native, she said she and others had long resisted the temptation to decamp to higher-performing suburban districts, but that her daughter鈥檚 learning needs were ill-served in her hometown.

鈥淚 don’t want to have to leave my city, but I will, if that’s what I have to do for my child.鈥� Norington-Reaves concluded. 鈥淚 am tired of fighting what feels like an uphill battle for investment, for economic development, and for good education just to have it be undermined. It feels like [the mayor] is willing to give it all to CTU.”

Duncan, a former high-level college basketball player, drew a comparison between the district鈥檚 situation and that of the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls. , he said, that team dissolved not due to failures on the court, but rather to personality conflicts among the franchise鈥檚 leadership and players.

Like the Bulls, Duncan said, Chicago Public Schools had a record to be proud of 鈥� and protected.

“No one beat the Bulls, they just imploded because they didn’t realize that the whole was bigger than the sum of their parts. Twenty-five years later, Chicago’s never had a championship basketball team. You don’t recover from these kinds of things.”

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation and the Joyce Foundation provide financial support to Kids First Chicago and 社区黑料.

Once a fast-growing experiment in education reform, LA Unified鈥檚 decades-old charter school sector has never seen challenges like those it faces today, with falling enrollment, tough new policies, and a hostile school board that has throttled charters鈥� access to public school space.

But the school board part of that equation could shift, if LAUSD teacher and charter-supporting rabble rouser Dan Chang can take LA Unified鈥檚 seat for school board District 3 in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, from teachers鈥� union-backed incumbent Scott Schmerelson.

Chang and Schmerelson share many of the same priorities for board policies, but Chang said he sought to address and in LA Unified, while Schmerelson said he鈥檇 seek to ensure traditional district-run public schools aren鈥檛 constrained by the presence of charters in public school buildings. 

With the teachers鈥� union struggling to defend its 4-3 majority on the board, Chang and Schmerelson鈥檚 race will decide whether the board tips in favor of charters and school reforms, versus more orthodox approaches to improving schools favored by the union.   

Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, whose first education job was at a charter school management organization, said in an interview that if he is elected he鈥檇 juice the city鈥檚 charter sector by moving to repeal the controversial policy established this year that limits where charters may operate.  

鈥淟A Unified needs a new voice,鈥� said Chang, who also previously led the boards of in the San Fernando Valley. 鈥淚t鈥檚 critical to have someone with my experience on the board.鈥�

The contest in District 3 is the most expensive school board race this year in LA, a city known for the, with more than $4 million raised or spent on behalf of the campaigns of Chang and Schmerelson.

Schmerelson, a former teacher and principal who’s held the seat at District 3 since 2014, is on the board, beat Chang in the March primaries, winning nearly 45% of the vote, compared to 29% for Chang.   

It wasn鈥檛 enough to prevent the race from going to a runoff at the general election next month, but Schmerelson, who is viewed as the favorite in the race, is sanguine. He has some reason to be confident, having broad support in his district and a track record of winning.

鈥淚 accept that I was elected by my constituents in board District 3, and I make sure that my schools get the attention that they need, everything that they need,鈥� said Schmerelson. 

In 2020 Schmerelson in the general election, despite more than $6 million spent on Koziatek鈥檚 behalf by groups including those backing charter schools.

鈥淭he race is Scott鈥檚 to lose,鈥� said David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member and district gadfly.  

Tokofsky, who has worked on LAUSD board races for decades, estimated Chang鈥檚 campaign would have to outspend Schmerelson by four to one in order to capture the seat.

The show Chang鈥檚 campaign hasn鈥檛 quite reached the magic 4:1 ratio, yet. Chang鈥檚 campaign and its backers have raised or spent more than $3.6 million so far in the race, compared to nearly $1.4 million for Schmerelson鈥檚 campaign.

But with nearly a month left in the race, that could still change, Tokofsky said.

Los Angeles Unified is the largest district in the country controlled by a school board. LAUSD board members are relatively well-compensated compared to those of many other districts, with yearly salaries of $125,000. 

LAUSD school board members are also given a staff. Board members choose the district鈥檚 superintendent, help set district policy and control LA Unified鈥檚 $18.8 billion budget. 

LAUSD board elections in 2017 set a record for the most expensive school board races in U.S. history, with around $15 million spent that year on races that moved the board in the direction of pro-charter education reformers.

The outsize campaign spending in Los Angeles is unique, because the city has an organized opposition in the charter community to the teachers鈥� union, setting up arms races in campaign spending to control the board.

That鈥檚 compared to other cities, where unions often dominate board elections and their candidates often coast to victory. In places like New York and Chicago, the mayor appoints the school board, so unions concentrate their money on mayoral races.

With nearly 20% of the district鈥檚 enrollment, including LAUSD-affiliated charters, the charter sector in Los Angeles is the nation鈥檚 largest, with well-organized operations in advocacy and campaign finance.

The statewide California Charter School Association Advocates has endorsed Chang and helped fund efforts to get him elected, including television and radio advertisements targeted at LAUSD families who will vote in next month鈥檚 election.

CCASA Advocates Executive Director Gregory McGinity said his group is confident that Chang will fight to improve educational options and boost academic outcomes for all LAUSD students and not just those in charter schools.

鈥淗is commitment to expanding access to high-quality public schools鈥攂oth traditional and charter public schools鈥攁ligns with our mission to empower families,鈥� McGinity said. 鈥淲e are confident in his ability to represent all voices and champion educational equity for all students.鈥�

, which endorsed Schmerelson and helped fund efforts to keep his seat in this year鈥檚 race, didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment on the race this year.

But in a statement on the union web site, UTLA lists the qualifications of Schmerelson, a former Spanish teacher, saying that he has ensured funding for schools in his district and pushed for changes in LA Unified to make schools cleaner and safer, reduce class sizes and boost students鈥� test scores.

鈥淪chmerelson will make sure students feel safe and can meet their full potential,鈥� states the UTLA鈥檚 endorsement.

UTLA has a track record of, and after charter advocates gained control of the board in.

Both Chang and Schmerelson said ensuring a post-pandemic academic recovery for all LAUSD students, increasing campus safety and addressing enrollment declines are among their top priorities for new policies in the coming years.

Where they differ is how to achieve those aims, with Schmerelson favoring magnet programs, high-impact tutoring and investments in traditional public schools as a means for academic improvement, compared to Chang鈥檚 emphasis on high-performing charters.

Both men favor the presence of police on LAUSD campuses as a means of improving school safety. The winner of the pivotal race will help shape the direction of the district as it contends with challenges including a shrinking budget and increasing school violence.

 鈥淭he weird thing is, if you listen to the candidates, it’s very hard to tell them apart. They all say more-or-less the same things on the issues,鈥� said Pedro Noguera, dean of University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

鈥淪o you can’t really distinguish the candidates based on what they’re saying or what they’re putting out in campaign materials,鈥� he added. 鈥淵ou really do have to follow the money.鈥�

While public education is the cornerstone of democracy, the technical causes that make school elections unrepresentative are many. Off-year elections lead to low voter turnout for choosing the nation’s approximately . Students 鈥� those most affected by what happens in the classroom 鈥� are excluded from casting ballots. The unchecked influence of dark money remains prevalent. Extremists inject national culture-war issues into local races to spur battles that distract education leaders from their core mission. And few states or communities mandate any kind of legal right to a quality public education.

This status quo results in unrepresentative decision-making, which threatens American public education and democracy as a whole.

According to a recent poll, believe democracy is under threat. But in places where democratic innovations are implemented, voter participation increases, dark money decreases and governance becomes more representative of the communities it serves.This is an emerging opportunity that education advocates must seize. 

Across the country, promising signs of progress are emerging. In Portland, Maine, the school board now uses . In California, districts are moving en masse to , which dramatically increase voter turnout and produce representatives better aligned to their constituents. Cities in Maryland have , and many states are considering a new legal right to a quality education.

These nonpartisan, pro-democracy reforms are creating more inclusive, representative and responsive educational governance systems that reflect the diverse voices of their communities. Yet, this progress is uneven. In states like Texas and Florida, the opposite trend is evident: increasing centralization, a shift toward partisan elections and erosion of community control.

In response, was founded by Education Civil Rights Now, The Open System Institute and Seek Common Ground to advance these trends and support this emerging movement in education to build a stronger democracy. But early on, it became clear that most education leaders were not aware of this critical landscape. For six months, a team researched and now has produced 鈥� a unique nationwide analysis that highlights promising policies and challenges (like ranked-choice voting bans) and zeroes in on communities and states with the potential to unrig the system. The research seeks to be the starting point for leaders in education and democracy to work together in a shared pursuit that could accelerate the power of both movements. 

How does this get started? First, communities and states can use the map to assess the current status of their edudemocracy. Second, leaders must identify starting points at which governance and electoral design could be changed. Building coalitions to reimagine and create these new systems ensures the result isn鈥檛 a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather a strategic push for innovations that meet local needs. Lastly, education and democracy leaders should form learning communities to support one another and commit to the long, hard work of generating even more innovative ideas over time, increasing participation and decreasing polarization.

Achieving these goals will not be possible unless leaders from across the political, practitioner and philanthropic spheres unite in common purpose. This fall and beyond, Cornerstone intends to do its part by raising funds to empower organizations on the ground in states and communities. They will commit to building coalitions 鈥� working with state legislatures and local school boards, among others 鈥� to pass policies and practices that will open up education democracy. Hopefully, more will join them to learn from the first group and chart their own path to implement high-impact reforms. 

Our goal is that by the 2030s, the nation should have a transformed educational election landscape,where innovations like expanding voting rights to 16-year-olds in school board elections, attaining school board turnouts as high as those for presidential elections and enshrining high-quality public education as a civil right are the norm, not the exception.

The decisions made today will shape the future of the education system and democracy for generations to come. The new National EduDemocracy Landscape Map offers a roadmap for navigating this opportunity and rebuilding trust in institutions, reinvigorating public participation, decreasing polarization and ensuring that all children receive the education they need to secure the future they deserve.

Boards are charged with approving the budget. In doing so, they authorize the district鈥檚 investments 鈥�  and cuts. Furthermore, board members serve as a conduit between districts and communities, and it鈥檚 their job to bring the community along during difficult budget tradeoffs. When done well, it means that they鈥檙e helping communities understand the district鈥檚 financial outlook in advance and soliciting input on a range of budget-cutting options before final decisions are made. Board members then weigh in on budget drafts, seeking to leverage available dollars to do the most for students. Once the board signs the budget, members keep working with the community to share its rationale and the implications for students and staff.

The challenge is that most school boards have no experience with deep budget cuts. The typical district has seen a decade of solid budget growth, capped off with a hefty infusion of federal relief funds. But this fall brings a , when relief funds dry up as and districts must sort through commitments they made to new staff and inflation-era pay hikes.

As this budget season gets underway, that inexperience has been evident in many of the 200 school board budget meetings our team has observed as part of a federally funded research project.

Too often, we鈥檙e finding that the majority of trustees in these meetings aren鈥檛 engaging on budget discussions beyond a generic 鈥渓et鈥檚 protect students and classrooms鈥� statement or a 鈥渉earty thanks to the CFO for the presentation.鈥� Too rarely do trustees investigate different budget options, weigh tradeoffs or explore expected impacts using student data.

Some boards use most of their time to dwell on the district鈥檚 lack of revenues or declining birth rates 鈥� neither of which is under their control 鈥� instead of using their time to decide how to spend what they do have. In one meeting, a trustee asked why even discuss the budget at all.

Sometimes there is deliberation, but often the back-and-forth reflects a lack of understanding of the major cost drivers and tradeoffs at play. A call for bigger pay hikes comes without an understanding that with a tight budget, higher salaries bring even more staff reductions. A request that any cuts come from the central office may not take into account that the needed cuts are bigger than all central staff salaries combined. A directive to avoid job reductions will mean gutting tutoring contracts and after-school programs, regardless of whether those are adding value for students.Sometimes trustees will and wait until the final hour to engage. When a motion to cancel a cut during the final hearing doesn鈥檛 come with an offset, it can mean wiping out reserves and jeopardizing the district鈥檚 financial health. Who gets blamed when a district faces insolvency? The board.

Financial training can help.

Blaming board members for budget choices may not seem fair when few trustees have had meaningful training on budgeting with scarce resources. We believe state education agencies should for their financial responsibilities.

At Edunomics Lab, we鈥檝e seen how a little training can go a long way toward equipping trustees with the skills needed to digest financial forecasts and budget-cutting options, deliberate using data and explain their choices. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e offering a virtual workshop in April, designed to help leaders meet the budgeting challenges of this moment. (You can .)

This year鈥檚 budget season will be a trial by fire for many board members. Deciding which investments stay and which must go is a tremendous responsibility. This year especially, boards will be in the hot seat as districts grapple with cuts that will affect those in their community. Today鈥檚 and tomorrow鈥檚 students depend on leaders to navigate this perfect storm to keep their district on solid financial footing while maximizing value with the dollars at hand.

With tough, new policies, falling enrollment, and a hostile district school board, the decades-old charter school sector in Los Angeles has never faced headwinds so stiff, operators say.

Los Angeles, which has more kids in charter schools than any city in the country, this month banned charters from nearly half its school buildings, even as dropping enrollment emptied out classrooms across the city. 

Enrollment is cratering for schools across Los Angeles, with district schools seeing larger drops than charters.  

Later this year, L.A. is bringing its charter renewal process back online after a three year suspension due to the pandemic, employing a state law meant to hasten the closure of low-performing charter schools. 

And fewer kids are signing up. Applications for opening new charter schools in the city, which once arrived annually by the dozen to L.A. Unified, this year completely dried up, according to the California Charter Schools Association.

One of the largest charter networks in Los Angeles, KIPP SoCal Public Schools, is this year due to declining admissions. 

鈥淲e’re on the brink of a new chapter,鈥� said Joanna Belcher, chief impact officer for KIPP SoCal, which currently operates 23 charter schools. 

鈥淚n L.A., specifically related to ed reform, for a long time, the focus was on growth,鈥� said Belcher. 鈥淏ut now, particularly in L.A., our focus is not on growing.鈥�

Instead, Belcher said, the network is focused on making sure existing schools can continue to operate, and deliver on their promise of providing high-quality options for families in need of good schools. 

To accomplish those goals, Belcher said, KIPP SoCal is working to hasten post-COVID academic recovery, attract and retain talented staff and refine its teaching practices based on feedback from graduates. 

Charter schools now account for about 20% of the district鈥檚 enrollment, serving more than 150,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade in 275 schools. 

Enrollment in the schools peaked in 2021, when the city鈥檚 charters enrolled nearly 168,000 students. Since then admissions have declined by nearly 11%, although not as fast as district schools.  

L.A. Unified enrollment reached 639,337 in the 2015-2016 school year and fell to just 538,295 in 2023, a decline of nearly 16%. 

Experts say reasons for declining enrollment in Los Angeles include a falling birth rate, families leaving the city, and more families choosing homeschools. 

The shuttering KIPP schools aren鈥檛 the first charter schools in Los Angeles to close in recent years. More than a dozen other charters have shut down in the city since 2019, with falling enrollment being a chief reason for the closures.

Declining admission is being felt across the city. With vastly more resources than the independently run charters, L.A. Unified has so far avoided the closure of traditional public schools, although Superintendent Alberto Carvalho recently said it is a possibility.

Keith Dell鈥橝quila, vice president of greater Los Angeles local advocacy for the California Charter Schools Association, said the district鈥檚 new colocation policy, which blocks charters from many of the city鈥檚 campuses, has also discouraged new schools from opening in the L.A. Unified. 

鈥淥ur expectation is for the district to treat charter school students and their families fairly,鈥� Dell鈥橝quila. 鈥淲e absolutely do not believe this policy reaches that standard.鈥� 

This year, there are zero petitions to open new charter schools in the district, Dell’Aquila said. 

It wasn鈥檛 always this way. 

L.A. Unified, the nation鈥檚 second largest district, was one of the first in the country to allow charter schools, converting its first school to charter status in Westchester nearly 31 years ago.  

A period of rapid growth for charters in the district commenced, with enrollments peaking during the pandemic. There are still more than double the number of charters in L.A. Unified than there were a decade ago.

But though the district鈥檚 on state tests and post higher graduation rates, charter operators feel they are under attack, said Oliver Sicat, CEO of Ednovate, which has five charter high schools in Los Angeles.   

鈥淚t鈥檚 the low point now,鈥� said Sicat, who has operated charters in L.A. for a dozen years, following stints as an educator and administrator in Boston and Chicago. 

The district鈥檚 enthusiasm for charters, Sicat said, has journeyed through peaks and valleys over time, but in recent years a shrinking pool of students has come to pit district schools against charters. Both types of schools are funded on a per-pupil basis.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gone from an atmosphere of collaboration to one of competition,鈥� said Sicat. 

Two years ago , giving the board a new majority with a skeptical take on charter schools, and handing opponents of the schools, who argue charters siphon resources from district programs, a powerful upper hand. 

The board in September issued a new resolution for Carvalho to create a policy banning charter schools from collocations at roughly 350 school buildings, and barring charters at collocated sites that could disrupt enrollment feeder patterns for district-run schools.  

Carvalho complied, and at a Feb.12 meeting the board voted 4-3 to approve the union-backed . Board president Jackie Goldberg, a coauthor of the resolution calling for the policy, said the policy is meant to preserve district programs.  

鈥淭he whole point of charter schools was not to replace the public schools, but to improve the public schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat has been lost, as soon as you make it a competition.鈥�  

With the board鈥檚 majority tilting against them, charters could be closed down in the upcoming cycle for renewals, which the schools face this year for the first time since 2020, said Joni Angel, executive director of the Los Angeles Coalition for Excellent Public Schools, a group that a represents some of the city鈥檚 largest charter operators. 

鈥淚t feels inevitable, at this point, that charters will close,鈥� Angel said, both due to the new colocation policy and renewal cycle restarting, given the current composition of the board.

But Angel said the board could tip again back in charters鈥� favor in the coming November elections. Two incumbents are running for reelection and two retiring members, including Goldberg, are leaving open seats. 

If either of those open seats is won by a pro-charter candidate, the board鈥檚 current majority could flip, Angel said. 

Fraught school-board races are nothing new in Los Angeles, where for years both unions and charter school backers have thrown their might behind candidates to win elections that could tilt the board in either direction of pro- or anti-charter.

Gregory McGinity, executive director of the California Charter Schools Association Advocates, said the pro-charter group, which has backed candidates in the past, is keeping a close eye on the upcoming school board races, for which primaries will be held next month.  

鈥淲e believe that voters will respond positively to candidates who champion policies that foster collaboration between traditional public schools and charter public schools,鈥� McGinity said. 

With the California Charter School Association already against L.A. Unified鈥檚 new collocation rules, and the upcoming school board elections, conditions in the country鈥檚 largest charter school system could again favor charters, said Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California Rossier.

鈥淚t’s not really clear to me what’s likely to happen in this election. But absolutely, if the board changes hands, that could have a serious impact,鈥� he said. 

California Charter Schools Association President Myrna Castrej贸n said for now the future of charter schooling remains unclear in Los Angeles, and, indeed, all of California, where statewide enrollment in charters reached a peak about three years ago. 

鈥淭he value of charter schools in the next ten years is going to be defined less by how fast you can grow, but how responsive you are to change,鈥� Castrej贸n said. 鈥淲e see families leaving the public school system, period, in much higher numbers than we ever have before.鈥�

The online tool, its creators say, will democratize school performance data at an important time, as schools nationwide struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scheduled to go live today, the new website sports a simple interface that allows users to query it conversationally, as they would a search engine or AI chatbot, to plumb math and English language arts data in grades 3-8. At the moment, there are no firm plans to add high school-level data.

If, for instance, a superintendent is curious about math scores for kids learning English in her state, she can : 鈥淪how me math scores over time for English learners and non-English learners in Minnesota.鈥� Want to know the 10 school districts in Mississippi with the highest ELA scores in 2023? .

Similarly, parents moving to a new town or neighborhood can ask about data for individual schools in most cases.

The project, dubbed , is a partnership between Brown University and , the company that built the site鈥檚 AI functionality. 

The tool takes a cue from data dashboards, such as the federal government鈥檚 , which collect statewide assessment information. This one goes further, allowing more up-to-date analyses of state, district and even school-level data, with protections that shield individual students鈥� scores in small districts and schools. 

Within state, local and school-level data, users can also break down results by race, ethnicity, economic level and other indicators.

The AI aspect allows users to query the database in plain language, said Emily Oster, a well-known economist who often writes on parenting. Oster led the tool鈥檚 development and said its potential customer base is broad, from parents and school board members to state policymakers and journalists.

鈥淵ou can imagine people actually wanting to see in a more granular way, or be able to explore in a more granular way: 鈥楬ow are different schools in this district doing鈥� or 鈥楬ow is my district doing relative to another district?鈥� This will make that much easier.鈥�

Oster said the tool is so easy to use that a school board member sitting in a board meeting could pull out her phone and in a few seconds produce a chart showing school-by-school test results districtwide. 

Policymakers could also benefit from the tool, she said, since they can鈥檛 always access state assessment data without cumbersome requests to state education officials. 鈥淎nd that takes time. If you want to have access to get an insight quickly, this is going to make it easier.鈥�

What鈥檚 perhaps most useful, Oster said, is the ability to look inside individual states, down to the district or school level, to figure out which schools and populations are doing better than others. 鈥淚 think that’s actually pretty powerful in terms of where the policy is made.鈥�

Reliance on 鈥榩lain language鈥�

Project Manager Clare Halloran said Zelma grew out of Brown researchers鈥� own frustration in trying to compare COVID recovery data across states. 鈥淚t was usually hard to find out where the information was, what was missing,鈥� she said.

Even states with public-facing data portals and dashboards don鈥檛 make the job easy, she said, as many are 鈥渁 little bit clunky.鈥� They rely on dropdown menus that can only offer one indicator at a time. With Zelma, she said, 鈥淵ou can really just kind of say in plain language what you’re looking for,鈥� even if it involves several variables. 

鈥淚 think it will make a lot of data just a lot more accessible to a lot more people,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen the states release their data, we get the headline. But it’s hard for the average person to explore it a little bit more.鈥�

All queries are public but the authors aren鈥檛 identified. The site resembles a Twitter-like feed, with the most recent queries at the top so users can see what others want to learn about.

It also offers warnings 鈥� dubbed 鈥渘otable events鈥� 鈥� that caution users not to read too much into proficiency levels in certain cases, such as in states and districts where new assessments are being administered, or where they see lower participation rates.

And while it can offer rudimentary comparisons between states, Oster said neither Zelma nor the assessments themselves are built for such comparisons. 

鈥淭here are things across states you might get out of this, for example how much recovery has there been鈥� in one state vs. another, she said. 鈥淵ou can sort of squint a little and think about differences in trends. And I actually think there is some stuff we can learn from those kinds of trends. But in terms of levels, these data are just not well suited to a question of, 鈥業s Mississippi outperforming Michigan?鈥� That’s why we’ve got the NAEP data.鈥�

Actually, asking the tool to compare states will prompt a warning saying that states administer different assessments and that proficiency rates 鈥渁re not comparable across states.鈥� 

Even with a more user-friendly interface, though, the site is only as good as the data underlying it 鈥� and it鈥檚 uneven among states. Minnesota, for instance, offers test scores clear back to the late 1990s. But Rhode Island has no data before 2018.

And, of course, virtually no states returned test scores in 2020 and 2021, when the U.S. Department of Education granted blanket standardized testing waivers amid the pandemic.

Paul Peterson, who directs the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University鈥檚 Kennedy School, said he welcomed the ability to more easily dig into states鈥� updated testing data.

鈥淎ny enhancement of transparency is a good thing,鈥� he said.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to Zelma and 社区黑料.

From teacher to congressional candidate, Nick Melvoin has accomplished much in his years of public service. Now he is one of 18 candidates running in the March 4, 2024, primary for U.S. House of Representatives California District 30.听

Melvoin started his career as an English teacher at Markham Middle School in L.A.’s Watts neighborhood. Motivated to see more change in the school district, he obtained a听law degree and worked in the Obama administration with the Domestic Policy Council and the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office. He was elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District鈥檚 Board of Education in 2017 where he has served as a representative for LAUSD鈥檚 fourth district and the board鈥檚 vice president. With his term ending in 2023, Melvoin has decided to take the next step and run for California鈥檚 30th district, striving to enact the permanent change he wished for as an educator.听

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

社区黑料: What are the main issues you are focusing on in your campaign?

Nick Melvoin: The three top issues for me are 鈥� education, affordability and infrastructure. As my generation has come to bear the brunt of climate change, that is also important to me. Gun violence protection, marriage equality, and reproductive justice are all critical platform elements for me.

Before deciding to run for California’s 30th District, what made you want to become a teacher?

I realized … that there were so many barriers that were holding kids back who lived only a few miles away from me in Los Angeles. So I graduated college and became a teacher because I thought that’s what I wanted to do and I immediately saw the barriers that are holding kids back, that are holding teachers back, the bureaucracy, the underfunding. I have just been on this journey to find ways to remove those barriers for kids and that led me to law school then to the school board and now to running for Congress. 

The issues that the Los Angeles school district has faced have been exacerbated in the past few years after post-pandemic issues with high absenteeism and staffing. What do you believe is the best way to deal with these issues?

L.A. Unified led nationally in food security, in internet and service provider, in COVID testing and vaccination. We were not just educating kids, we were making sure that they were fed and their families were fed, that they had internet and computers, that they had tests, and that they had the vaccine鈥he things we鈥檙e doing now are things like expanded time in school, summer school, Saturday school, and still serving three meals a day at most of our schools. We’ve built housing on district property to help employees and, increasingly, families. I have created partnerships with legal service entities to embed lawyers in school communities, to help families with immigration, wage gap, and eviction protection鈥e partner with Planned Parenthood and put health clinics on campuses. We do vision screening and give kids thousands of pairs of free glasses every year, we do oral health screenings … There’s still more we have to do to get kids there, but we’re doing a lot of work.

You touched a little bit on inclusivity as a huge part of your campaign. What does equity and inclusivity mean to you? And then specifically within the school district how can you encourage equity and inclusivity? 

I think at the higher level, it’s about creating a culture where everyone feels they belong … At the school district level … where 84% of kids are living in poverty, and 90% of kids are of color, equity means righting historical wrongs … We have one of the most equitable school funding formulas in America. It’s called our student Equity Needs index and it looks at factors like poverty asthma rates and non-fatal gun violence and says those communities that have higher rates in all those, receive more money, they need more support in their schools. We’re directing money where it’s needed most.

You mention on your website that it was important for you to ensure good-paying jobs for everyone, how do you think this can be achieved in the district? 

I鈥檓 proud that under my leadership of the school board, we have led to the highest minimum wage for public school workers in the country … We need to be creative around other parts of their compensation, so health care, and housing, the district has taken on an ambitious program to look at our underutilized land and build housing for employees鈥� If we can through infrastructure improvement, maybe lower the cost of building housing, we can lower housing costs … I support the public option, medicare for all who want it. Ultimately, I think these things, when braided together, will lower the cost of things for families in LA.

What sets you apart from other candidates? 

There are a few things that set me apart, one is my age … and I think it is important for the next generation to take the helm … I think we are more inclined to work together to solve problems because we have seen the consequences of the failure to solve problems … Also, I have seen implementation, which is so critical, because good ideas often die during implementation. … So I think the mix of age, but also pragmatism, and solution-oriented thinking sets me apart. 

On Tuesday, the court will consider whether those officials 鈥� in one case, board members for the San Diego-area Poway school district 鈥� can block constituents from responding to posts on platforms like Facebook and X.

鈥淕overnment accountability 鈥� goes down the toilet if officials can effectively 鈥榤ute鈥� their critics,鈥� said Cory Briggs, an attorney who represents Poway parents Christopher and Kimberly Garnier. 鈥淣obody is required to read the comments on social, but preventing them from being expressed in the first place ensures that nobody ever hears dissenting voices.鈥�

Michelle O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff, a current board member, and T.J. Zane, who served from 2014 to 2022, argue that they were acting as private citizens and, therefore, had a right to cut off the Garniers鈥� ability to reply. They complained that the couple essentially trolled them, repeatedly posting the same comments 鈥� in one instance, more than 200 times in a 10-minute period 鈥� and cluttered up their feeds.

But the Garniers say both O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff and Zane identified themselves as government officials and that, by all appearances, used social media as an extension of their board positions. Blocking them 鈥� no matter how annoying or off topic their posts might have been 鈥� was a violation of free speech and their First Amendment right to petition their government, according to . The U.S. Appeals Court for the 9th Circuit agreed.

In an age when the public is far more likely to air concerns about government online than attend an official meeting, the case has major implications not just for how parents engage with school board members, but for how citizens in general interact with their elected leaders. It鈥檚 one of two cases before the court on Tuesday that pose the same question 鈥� whether an official鈥檚 use of a private social media account amounts to 鈥渟tate action.鈥�

involves a city manager in Port Huron, Michigan, who blocked a resident after he complained about local efforts to prevent COVID transmission. In that case, the federal appeals court took the opposite view, saying the manager did not act 鈥渦nder the color of law.鈥� The split between the lower courts prompted the Supreme Court to take up the cases.

Like the Garniers, some First Amendment experts want the court to uphold the 9th Circuit鈥檚 decision. Katie Fallow, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said if an official discusses government business on social media, the First Amendment still applies, even if using the account isn鈥檛 a formal part of the job.

鈥淭hey use it to talk to the public about their policies and solicit input from constituents,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he question is, 鈥楧oes the public consider this to be the source of official pronouncements?鈥� 鈥�

Fallow has experience with the issue. The Knight Institute in 2017 because he blocked critics on Twitter. The Institute won the case at the appellate level, but the Supreme Court dismissed it because Twitter鈥檚 former owners in 2021 following the uprising at the U.S. Capitol. (Trump鈥檚 account has since .)

O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff and Zane 鈥� like Trump 鈥� opened their accounts before they took public office. 鈥淥nce elected, they keep using it,鈥� Fallow said. 鈥淭hey want their brand and their followers.鈥�

Neither O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff, Zane, nor their attorney agreed to an interview prior to oral arguments, but representatives for other elected officials have been closely following both cases. 

The California School Boards Association wrote in to the court that if the Garniers win, boards would have to 鈥減olice鈥� members鈥� social media accounts and could potentially face more litigation . During elections, the association added, incumbents would be limited in controlling unflattering posts while challengers would be free to restrict negative comments.

Board members need a 鈥減ractical test鈥� that clarifies 鈥渨hen social media activity transforms from personal to state action,鈥� the association wrote. Because of the 鈥渞apidly evolving nature鈥� of social media, the rules should apply across all current and future platforms, the brief said.

The filed a brief in the case because 鈥渇ederal government officials also use social media accounts,鈥� and whatever the court decides would apply to those officials and employees.

Years of conflict

The Garniers, who have three children in the district , have a troubled relationship with Poway officials that goes beyond social media posts. In 2013, Christopher, who once worked as a coach in Poway schools, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the district. Then in 2015, a judge granted the district a against him requiring that he stay away from his children鈥檚 school and its former principal. He was accused of making verbal threats, disrupting a meeting and pounding on car windows 鈥� allegations he denied.

Christopher, who is Black, argues that he was singled out because of his race and that the district treats minority students unfairly. It鈥檚 an issue that surfaced in comments his wife posted on the board members鈥� Facebook pages. According to court documents, Kimberly posted: 鈥淚 have children of color in the district, and I don鈥檛 want them going to school and seeing a noose.鈥� 

Christopher鈥檚 replies focused on both racial and financial matters. Following several of O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff鈥檚 posts, he wrote that the board members, among other officials, 鈥渞efuse to meet with our interracial family.鈥� In another lengthy Facebook reply, posted multiple times, Christopher argued that Black students in the predominantly white district were disproportionately suspended and that he didn鈥檛 receive all the discipline data he requested through a public records request.

He was an outspoken critic of former Superintendent John Collins, who to not reporting more than $300,000 in consultant income, a misdemeanor. Collins was sentenced to five years probation and had to repay the district $185,000. 

鈥淭rustees lack the intestinal fortitude to fire this man,鈥� Christopher replied in response to several posts from 2015. Briggs, the Garniers鈥� attorney, said his clients thought financial oversight had not improved since the board fired Collins in 2016.

鈥淗ow many times should constituents be allowed to express admittedly legit criticism of their elected representative鈥檚 performance?鈥� Briggs asked. 鈥淭he answer can only be: as many as it takes to get [them] to do better or to get [them] voted out of office.鈥�

鈥楽trange bedfellows鈥�

The case predates the pandemic. But the COVID era 鈥� with its virtual government meetings and restrictions on in-person gatherings 鈥� has only intensified the level of vitriol on social media.

Data shows that Americans who rely on social media for news tend to be younger and more likely to have school-age children. Forty percent were in the 30-49 age range, according to . Online threats of violence against public officials, meanwhile, have increased, , especially toward judges and prosecutors. But at the height of debates over mask mandates and vaccines, superintendents and school board members were also targets of online intimidation and bullying.

Jonathan Zachreson of Roseville City, California, has been on both sides of the issue. During the pandemic, he advocated for reopening schools and against a vaccine mandate for students. State Sen. Richard Pan, who wanted to for students, even blocked him on Twitter (now X).

Now Zachreson is on his town鈥檚 school board. After he was elected, he said the district advised members on the legal issues surrounding social media. To him, there鈥檚 no gray area.

鈥淓ither don鈥檛 talk about school business or don鈥檛 block people 鈥� it鈥檚 like one or the other,鈥� he said. 

But he added that as with public meetings, there should be limits on 鈥渄isorderly鈥� behavior, like spamming. The question, he said, is whether the Supreme Court will draw that line.

Andrew McNulty, a Denver attorney, said he can鈥檛 predict how the court 鈥� with a 6-3 conservative majority 鈥� will rule on the cases. He鈥檚 particularly interested because he represents a Denver Public School parent who filed last month against a board member who blocked her on Facebook.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much conservative backlash about censoring speech,鈥� McNulty said. The court has also agreed to hear cases from on whether tech companies can be sued or penalized if they block or limit content. And it will consider in which Missouri and Louisiana accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of conspiring with social media companies to suppress opposition to COVID vaccines, mask mandates and school closures. 

Until now, against Trump was the most high-profile case over the issue. But Democrats have also been sued for blocking critics. In 2019, progressive New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a former Republican state lawmaker and talk show host she blocked on Twitter. 

鈥淭he First Amendment makes strange bedfellows,鈥� McNulty said. 鈥淚t crosses the ideological spectrum.鈥�

Student representation on school boards is a growing national trend, and Washington state is a pioneer, with nearly half the 295 districts in the state 鈥� 鈥� including students on their boards. According to the, there are more than 500 student board members across 42 states representing more than 20 million students 鈥� a number projected to grow.

Often, these are non-voting members whose power comes from their ability to speak on the record and to influence peers to get involved in what鈥檚 happening at their schools. In rare cases, student representatives have a binding vote, such as in Maryland, where the state Supreme Court recently the constitutionality of having students under 18 serve as voting members.

Even in districts where students don鈥檛 have an official seat on their district board or on board advisory committees, they鈥檙e still showing up at meetings to make public comments and take part in important conversations.

This is a tremendous opportunity for school board members and district leaders to truly hear the perspectives of multifaceted, diverse students and to consider their experiences when making decisions that directly affect them.

During the past five years, I worked closely with school board directors across Washington state, and I observed many successful examples of districts where student representatives had a meaningful impact on policy. Here are some strategies and initiatives that all districts can employ.

First, there may be a tendency to appoint students who already hold leadership roles because they are known entities. It鈥檚 important to give the opportunity to all students announcing via social media, school apps, posters, QR codes and word of mouth that applications are open. A key part of this strategy is actively recruiting students with varied experiences and backgrounds and others who are not usually involved in school governance. Students themselves say this method is the most inclusive and leads to the most diversity of voices 鈥� something they greatly value.

Second, consider advisory voting 鈥� a simple process that many districts have been implementing recently that enables student representatives to voice the concerns, needs and viewpoints of the student body and submit a non-binding vote. After school board members have discussed an agenda item, the chair will ask the student representatives to offer an advisory vote 鈥� a chance to share their perspective with the rest of the board, for the record. Members can then consider that information when casting their votes. More and more boards are adopting this process, and the Washington State School Directors鈥� Association recently shared for districts earlier this year.

Third, engage students in real-world experiences. One Washington district assigned each student representative to analyze one section of a long-term strategic plan, break it down and clarify its implications for young people. They helped simplify the content and collected feedback from peers, which provided valuable insights for the board. In some districts, student representatives play a key role on superintendents鈥� advisory councils, which are designed to give district leaders feedback directly from students. Student board representatives will often lead these councils, helping to gather a wide array of perspectives and ideas and then bringing that information back to the board, where they can be considered in upcoming decisions.

Fourth, to sustain advances in student representation, schools and districts need to explicitly commit to providing opportunities for student voice. Whatever this looks like 鈥� board representation, surveys, focus groups, one-on-one conversations 鈥� districts should put it in writing so students know what to expect and can hold leaders accountable. One challenge in involving students is ensuring they feel their feedback has been taken seriously. When the issue of tokenization arises, it鈥檚 often because students weren鈥檛 acknowledged or no one responded to them, which makes them feel that they鈥檙e not seen, heard or valued. Usually, this is inadvertent. Making sure feedback and accountability measures are in place can head off this potential challenge.

Lastly, it鈥檚 not realistic to expect that two or three students on a school board can fully represent the perspective of every one of their peers across the district. But there are many ways to get more students involved. Districts can invite them onto advisory committees and topic-specific working groups. They can conduct polls and surveys and demonstrate how they used the results. They can hold leadership training workshops to prepare the next generation of student representatives.

Incorporating student voice into decision-making builds civic engagement and prepares students for the world that awaits them beyond high school. For student representatives on school boards, learning about governance, legislative processes and budgeting is priceless. But what such a program really does is ensure the health and vitality of the local school system and, by extension, the nation’s democracy.

Boards erupting in chaos over censorship and assorted culture wars? Same as it ever was. Rancorous board debates over various opportunity-hoarding privileges 鈥� tracking, selective magnet schools, adjusting neighborhood enrollment boundaries, etc 鈥� distracting boards from real school governance? Standard operating practice. 

So when I read AJ Crabill鈥檚 book, Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective, I nodded when he wrote, 鈥淚t is common that school boards are professionally ineffective.鈥� ()

He would know. He鈥檚 a former board chair for Kansas City, Missouri鈥檚 public schools, and has worked with numerous boards as the national director of governance at the  

Spring is school board election season where voters cast their ballots for Board of Education members in April and May. I chatted with Crabill shortly before his book鈥檚 March 28 publication. In it, he听 argues that this sorry state of school board affairs need not be permanent. He provides an incisive account of the strengths 鈥� and most common flailings 鈥� boards bring to their work, as well as a five-step approach towards making them effective.听

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

社区黑料: Let鈥檚 start with the backstory 鈥� how did this book come to be? Why did you decide to write it?

Crabill: So the intention is pretty straightforward: to accelerate the transition of school boards across the nation from focusing on adult inputs (things like staff, books, programs, and facilities) to focusing on student outcomes. That is the central premise. That’s the beginning, middle and the end. Everything else is just details. 

It does start with an account of how school boards get stuck focusing on adult inputs, and some of the harms of that. But the rest of the book is really focused on getting school boards intentionally and unapologetically focused on growing what students know and are able to do.

That’s presumably rooted in some of your time on 鈥� or working with 鈥� school boards, right? 

Certainly. And my experiences, and everything I’ve read, and the research literature also point in the same direction: the things that school boards focus on actually do, in fact, matter. When school boards focus on student outcomes, they鈥檙e more likely to create the condition from improvements in student outcomes. If school boards focus on the color of the cheerleaders鈥� uniforms, we’re more likely to have the proper color of uniforms. 

Or your anecdote in the book about a board that spent a meeting obsessed with a potential change to the color of their school buses, right? That was arresting. 

Yeah, I mean, one member was saying, 鈥淚鈥檓 philosophically opposed to non-yellow school buses.鈥� I mean 鈥� look, I don’t have to make up stories. They鈥檙e all true 鈥� sadly, all true.

I believe you. I’ve sat through enough of these that I no longer have to suppress what used to be shock at what privileged families will say in . 

In fact, let me ask you about a related tension. You suggest that the board improvement process starts with clarifying a vision and setting priorities. That requires something like a board and community consensus, but right now, there鈥檚 ample discord around American visions for public education. Boards host a lot of arguments about things that aren’t student outcomes. What if the process of electing school boards is in tension with getting members on the same page long enough to improve them, no?

Yeah. All of school boards鈥� natural incentives are aligned with a focus on the adult inputs. You have to acknowledge that and figure out how to solve both sides of the equation. There has to be some realism here: School boards are never going to be able to escape all of the incentives around them. Whether it’s the training they receive, mandates from the state, the demands from neighbors who want their pet interests attended to, all of that is going to have to be wrestled with. 

But that’s why I suggest boards spend half of their time on priorities around student learning, which still leaves the other half free for other priorities, whatever else the community values 鈥� finances, yellow school buses or anything else that comes up. We want board members to leverage the amount of focus that is beneficial for students, but also sustainable, given the realities of their circumstances.

A number of education reformers over the years have seen exactly what you’ve just described and they’ve concluded that school boards aren鈥檛 salvageable. Could we do more for kids with an entirely different model of governance?

This question鈥檚 been brought up repeatedly over the years. The problem is, we don’t have any evidence of other governance models that significantly outperform elected school boards. Go from an elected board to one appointed by the mayor, or a hybrid model, and all of it winds up with the same propensity for becoming focused on adult inputs. They fail for different reasons and in different ways, but they fail all the same. 

Charter school boards are wildly susceptible to becoming focused on their founder rather than on student outcomes. Appointed boards are wildly susceptible to becoming vehicles for patronage rather than focused on outcomes. So they wind up failing in very different ways, but failing nevertheless. Add up all the data and there doesn’t seem to be a compelling argument that, if we just select members in a different way, that that will solve governance problems. 

My answer is more nuanced and more practical. It鈥檚 this five-step continuous improvement process that offers a practical thing that we can do tomorrow. We don’t have to wait for legislation. We don’t have to wait for the 鈥渞ight鈥� superintendent or the 鈥渞ight鈥� children, the 鈥渞ight鈥� parents, or the 鈥渞ight鈥� teachers. We need to focus, set priorities, monitor our progress towards them, align resources with our goals and then share our progress with the community. 

How can elected boards manage controversies like the recent spate of book censorship arguments?

This is like the difference between debating the placement of a single stop sign versus debating about safety. The job of the board isn’t to pick and choose where to put stop signs. The job of the board is to get underneath arguments about stop signs and figure out, OK, what is the community value that is really at stake here? Safety. 

The same principles apply to the books鈥� example. The board should be very aggressive about codifying community expectations to protect the values beneath. These are what I refer to in the book as 鈥済uardrails.鈥� On certain books, communities will differ. One might say, the value that we have around book selection is: We want them to be inclusive. We want all of our curriculum and learning materials to be representative of the diversity of our student body. But another community might say, the thing that we value about books is how they represent and lift up a view of American exceptionalism. If they don鈥檛 match that, we don’t want them in our libraries. 

These are two competing sets of values, and they’re entirely appropriate for their respective communities. The job of the board is to represent the vision and values of their community, and those values are going to differ wildly by place. So, codify the values and then let the district鈥檚 professional education team figure out what it looks like to honor these values in the daily practice of the school system. 

And I think that variety is great. Part of what鈥檚 awesome about America is that, whatever your thing is, there’s probably a geographic community somewhere for you, and you have the freedom to pack up and move to that community. When you get there, the local school board should represent the set of values you sought out. 

This gets tougher in places where the vision is contested, right?

Yeah, and you’ve got a lot of these more purple places. A lot of school districts across the country are countywide systems, and so you wind up with this mashup of urban, suburban and rural, all in the same school system. It gets a lot more challenging in those places, because you wind up with boards that have this kind of bell curve distribution of ideology with left partisans and right partisans 鈥� all serving on the same board together. Usually most people are somewhere in the purple middle.

But the work is the same. They have to go out and do a lot of listening 鈥� and then accept the reality that the final product, the final set of goals isn鈥檛 going to look like someone on either political pole might want. Their job is to represent the values of the full community.

How is it that boards get so far off track?

One thing that I often say while working with school boards across the nation is, 鈥淭he student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change.鈥� What can most drive changes in adult behavior? The three things that we’ve identified, the most potent levers for adult behavioral change are knowledge, skills and mindset. 

Knowledge. What do I know? 

Skills? What can I do with what I know? 

Mindset? What is my view of the world? How do I make meaning of the things that are occurring around me?

Knowledge-based board failures are basic things. Do we have goals? Are we spending time on things that are actually about what students know and are able to do? Can we distinguish between an adult input and a student outcome? These are solvable through training on state requirements and best practices. 

Skill-based failures happen when we don鈥檛 deploy time efficiently and impactfully. What skill set do we need to transition from the status quo behaviors to the behaviors that could make the biggest difference for students? 

Mindset is by far the most impactful driver for behavior changes. It鈥檚 about seeing the world differently so that I can behave differently.

What makes mindset so powerful?

Here鈥檚 an example I used in the book: Imagine a school board that believes that 鈥渢his kid AJ just doesn’t want to learn.鈥� That gives rise to one set of adult behaviors, one that can legitimize efforts to push little AJ out, because obviously anytime  AJ doesn’t perform, it鈥檚 taken as proof that he just doesn’t want to learn. Whereas if I adopt a different mindset, 鈥淎J does want to learn, but there’s a gap between where he is and where he wants to be,鈥� then my commitment is to help him bridge that gap. 

Nothing about little AJ has changed. My knowledge and skills haven鈥檛 changed. But now I see the universe as one in which AJ wants to learn and I am the bridge for him. Now all of my knowledge and skills can be deployed in a powerful and transformative way that actually makes a difference. And when, for whatever reason, AJ still doesn’t learn, I still know that he wants to and I鈥檝e got to look for the next thing that I’ve got to change about my adult behavior to set him up for success. And then the next thing. And so on. 

It confers a sense of resilience in the face of the inherent challenges that come with education. Teachers work so hard because education is such a hard process, and they have to stay resilient. An empowering mindset supports that resilience, a disempowering mindset undermines it. That is just as true in the boardroom as it is in the classroom.

But it鈥檚 tough to shift to that mindset, no? It鈥檚 something that I’ve thought about a lot, because I鈥檝e done a lot of work in early education, and we have this compelling research base around investing in very young kids, in the birth to 5-years-old range. The evidence shows that this is to shift children鈥檚 trajectories, because their brains are uniquely plastic 鈥� they鈥檙e still developing. But we don鈥檛 talk about the less-sunny implication there: We should intervene early because adult behaviors are way harder to shift. How can boards make those shifts 鈥� and sustain them?

I highlight research on this in the book. It shows differences in outcomes between school boards that got no training or coaching, boards that got training on being more student-focused and boards that got training and coaching on that focus. The training helped! The boards that just got the training saw some slight increases in student achievement compared with the boards that got nothing. But the boards that got both training and coaching saw something like twice the growth. So training is necessary, but coaching is essential. 

So it takes boards having a willingness to be coached and supported, and to ultimately change behavior. I鈥檝e certainly had the privilege of watching school districts do this work and show real improvement, put real points on the board. I had the privilege of working on this during my own years of board service in Kansas City. Over a six-year period, we were able to double the percentages of students on grade-level reading, grow graduation rates by 15 points and then 鈥� for the first time in decades 鈥� gain full accreditation from the state. 

The book is full of stories like these. And they make one thing clear: When school boards get intensely focused on improving student outcomes, great things happen for the students.

Obviously, the book鈥檚 full of concrete ideas for improving a school board 鈥� but if you could share one piece of advice with elected members out there, what would it be?

Work with your board chair to identify to what extent your meetings even look at student outcomes. I conclude the book with this 鈥� telling readers that if they鈥檙e ready to take the next step, . Actually evaluate your recent board meeting to see where you spent your time. Then sit down with your board to ask one another, with sincere curiosity, if this is what we want. Do we want to continue this pattern? Or do we need to focus more on student outcomes to actually move the needle on student performance?

School board members want great things for their students. My experience has been, when board members are confronted with this, the conversation opens them up to an urgency around action. 

But after spending most of a school year in a role at the center of America鈥檚 education culture wars, the high school senior said he鈥檚 used his first-hand experiences to be a voice of 鈥渕oderation鈥� on the seven-member board.

In the face of extremist views, he counters with a dose of reality: 鈥淩egardless of what Tucker Carlson says is going on in Idaho schools, here’s what’s actually going on,鈥� he鈥檒l offer. 鈥淥nly students can provide that on-the-ground perspective.鈥�

In Boise, Rajbhandari鈥檚 election win has put in motion a chain reaction of efforts to elevate student voices. The school board now includes a brand new youth advisory council and the district this year administered a first-ever mental health survey to take account of the struggles its students are experiencing.

Meanwhile, the teen has also helped usher along a Climate Action Plan the board is implementing 鈥� a measure he had long pushed for as a climate activist with the in his days before holding elected office.

社区黑料 caught up with the young politician, who’s juggling the responsibilities of senior year alongside oversight of his roughly 23,200-student district, for a Zoom conversation that ranged from his efforts with the nonprofit to facing off against counterprotesters wielding AR-15s.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

社区黑料: It’s been the better part of the school year that you’ve been on the Boise school board. What has stood out to you most so far?

Shiva Rajbhandari: Coming into the school board, I thought this was really the end-all be-all of problem solving. But there’s such a big team that works across our district to write good policy and to propose a strong budget and to make sure that we’re hiring the top staff to keep our schools running. Learning about the incredible people across our district has been really rewarding. 

Also learning how slow change is sometimes. Coming into this role was this transition from being an activist and really calling the shots. Like, we would meet on a Thursday and have a protest organized by Saturday. Those things were very quick. 

Now, there’s a lot more accountability 鈥� to our patrons [constituents], to our students 鈥� so things happen slower. But it’s neat to consider all aspects of the solution and think critically about how we can best prepare students for college, career and citizenship while maintaining the integrity of our district and the faith of our patrons.

That must be an interesting transition, from activist to school board member. So what are some of the issues you鈥檙e working on now where the pace of change has felt slower?

One thing I’m really excited about is establishing a permanent student position on the school board. We’ve been talking about it since January and before that, I was talking with trustees, talking with staff, about how we could shape this policy. [It鈥檚 gone to several committees including our student advisory committee and] now we’re waiting until September to take it back to the Governance Committee for review and then hopefully passing. So that’s one example.

Another example would be our district sustainability commitments. This [issue] is why I ran for the school board initially. I led this campaign with my fellow students across our district to establish a clean energy commitment and a long-term sustainability plan for our schools. We’d seen districts across the country move quickly and then our district was slow and deliberate about it. But ultimately, our efforts did lead to the passage of this commitment on clean energy by our school board. 

Some things just take a lot of time, like reviewing all the carbon emissions of our district. And then [the question of] what does the long-term plan look like that saves our taxpayers money. That’s going to take probably another year or two to craft that plan and get that through. 

Going back to the effort to get a permanent youth board member, in your view why is youth voice so important in school decisions?

Students are the primary stakeholders in our education. And yet, our school boards are elected by people who are over 18, the majority of whom are no longer in K-12. They tend to be parents or grandparents or community members, but really only students can provide that on-the-ground perspective of what鈥檚 going on in our schools. I think having students on school boards is about bringing in a perspective that is vital to policymaking.

In addition, elevating students to positions of leadership empowers an entire generation of students within your district. Because when students understand that their voices are being taken seriously, that more than anything allows students to achieve their education goals. 

How have your friends and peers reacted to your role on the board? Are they telling you things to bring up in meetings?

Absolutely. Our whole district is getting so much more engagement with students and it’s helped us think outside the box about how to engage students in policymaking. 

For example, we did a districtwide mental health survey. That’s something we’ve never done before and we found out 30% of our students have had depression or suicidal ideation. We identified stress and social isolation as key contributing factors we really want to tackle. But that’s something our district has never done before, not because our district didn’t value student voices, but I don’t think we understood how incorporating student input could help our district. 

We also put together a student advisory committee [to the school board] and we have peer feedback groups. We’ve seen so many more students attending our board meetings, asking questions of our board, bringing ideas forward. 

It鈥檚 a simple thing to have [a student] up there on the dais, but it really opens the floodgates for transformative change within a system that is often really rigid.

I saw that you made YouTube previews of the last few meetings. Was that an effort to make the board more accessible to your peers?

Yeah. I think there’s really this misunderstanding of what the board does, and how folks can give input. And so the goal of the video is to communicate to students, 鈥楬ey, this is what’s going on at our board meeting.鈥� Everybody should be able to participate.

Going back to when you won your seat, that was a victory over an incumbent who had an endorsement from a far-right group. How have you navigated extremism in the campaign and in your term on the board?

Our state is split ideologically between the far right and the really far right. And there’s this hate group called the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a policy think tank, whose stated goal is to in our state. And so we’ve seen that come up time and time again with allegations of indoctrination or grooming in our schools. Now we’re seeing the third iteration of that, which is vouchers in the name of school choice, giving public dollars to private and potentially religious institutions with limited accountability.

I think the perspective that I鈥檝e brought is one of moderation. Regardless of what Tucker Carlson says is going on in Idaho schools, here’s what’s actually going on. And here’s what students actually need. No one is scared about a [female-identifying person with male genitalia] going to the girl’s bathroom. What folks are scared about is their friends committing suicide, because we don’t have the mental health resources or the resiliency factors that we need. 

It鈥檚 bringing an ounce of reality back to these ideological conversations. I’m super lucky that, in our district, the problems we have with extremists aren’t nearly as bad as in the rest of the state. 

Your time on the board isn’t the first time you’ve interfaced with right-wing activists. Can you tell me the backstory there?

Yeah, gosh. It’s funny, I think nationally, when people hear about Idaho, it’s like, 鈥極h, my gosh, people are running around with guns.鈥� And living in Idaho, it’s almost like a fact of life, you organize a protest and folks show up with AR-15s.

The first time I interacted with the group I think you’re referring to, the , I was in ninth grade. We were organizing a protest on Capitol Boulevard and it was 70 kids who got together with signs and we blocked the street, we were playing music and it was honestly a fun day. These folks showed up with AR-15s to our rally. Not only that, but then a ton of cops showed up and they all were friends with the [counterprotesters] who weren’t even from Boise.

Then last year, a student brought a gun to Boise High, the school I鈥檓 at now, and he was suspended and not allowed to walk at graduation. This same group . 

The threat of extremism and militarism is very real in Boise. But we’re not afraid of them. We’ve been through so much. I think that takes away the power when people aren’t afraid of you. 

I know we’re jumping from one hot-button issue to the next, but I also wanted to ask about book bans. I saw there’s some state legislation proposed schools for 鈥榟armful鈥� books. And there have been several Idaho districts, not Boise, that have enacted bans. So I’m curious how that’s come up in your time on the board?

What鈥檚 a little humorous to me about the whole book ban thing is, it’s not parents and it’s not students asking for books to be banned. It’s generally random people who have heard something. And so, for example, in the nearby city of Meridian, there was this group that tried to get 200 books banned from the school library and I think they just pulled the list off the internet because half of the books weren’t even in the Meridian library. 

To me, I will never support any kind of book bans ever because I think free access to information is the cornerstone of democracy.

The narrative that鈥檚 being missed is that book bans, frankly, are disempowering to students. It’s alleging that students don’t have the agency to know what they should read. Schools are a resource, they’re a tool for students to learn and engage and ensuring that there’s open access to information is critical to that.

You wrote a recent about efforts to reduce youth voting, which seems like a big issue for you also because I saw you co-lead the organization BABE VOTE. Can you tell me about that?

BABE VOTE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, voter advocacy organization promoting voter registration among young people. We just got the data back and Idaho is the between 2018 and 2022. So the efforts that we’re doing are working and it’s really exciting. 

The [Idaho] House and Senate both just passed a bill banning the use of student IDs at the polls, which for many students, that’s their only form of ID, especially college students. 

As soon as the governor signs this bill, we’re actually going to be and protecting the right to vote. So it’s that kind of stuff, knocking on doors, registering people and reminding people, 鈥楬ey, there’s an election,鈥� and then protecting the right to vote in the legislature and across the state.

What’s it been like to juggle all this work alongside senior year?

It’s been a little bit crazy. Honestly, being on a school board is [manageable]. Any student can do it. People try to make it something that it’s not.

Senior year, you have so many opportunities and it’s such a wide world. Sometimes it’s hard to get up for first period everyday. But just keeping a Google Calendar and checking in with my friends and making sure that I’m taking time for myself. Also remembering that I don鈥檛 have to do everything right; I have this whole team of folks who have supported me in my election on board and support this climate activism work.

One of the things that’s kind of taking a beating has been my track practice. Sometimes it鈥檚 hard to get to my practices.

What events do you compete in?

I run the mile and the 800 [meters].

And do you know what your plans are for next year, both in terms of school and whether you鈥檒l maintain the position on the board?

Yeah, I’ll stay on the board. I made a commitment. All meetings we can mostly do virtually, but I will be leaving the state for college. And I want to study public policy and maybe go become a lawyer or something. [Rajbhandari has been accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill, Whitman College and Stanford University and is still deciding where to attend. He was elected to a two-year term.]

And last, who’s one teacher who made the biggest impression on you and why?

Well, there are so many. My teachers were the best teachers ever. One teacher, Monica Church, she was my Student Council teacher and capstone teacher sophomore year. She’s just been such a mentor and a guiding force in my life. Whenever I have a problem or something I want to talk about, she’s the first person I call.

I remember one time in my capstone class, I was running for [student body] vice president and I was a sophomore, so no one had ever done that before, and I was talking about 鈥楬ey, the election鈥檚 tomorrow. Everyone, make sure you go vote.鈥� And one of my friends, who is kind of a contrarian, goes, 鈥榃hy would you ever vote for Shiva?鈥� Then Ms. Church was like, 鈥榃ell, I would vote for Shiva. And one thing I’ve learned in the last eight months has been never bet against him.鈥�

Now that鈥檚 a source of [motivation]. Whenever I’m like, 鈥楾his is hard,鈥� I remember Monica Church, someone I respect more than anyone, said, 鈥楴ever bet against Shiva.鈥�