In the early 1990s a handful of states created independent public charter schools, providing opportunities for teachers and others to develop innovative schooling options. Unlike private schools funded through vouchers or tuition tax credits, these new public schools practice open admissions, accepting all students as space permits. In exchange…

To increase citizen participation in local public schools, calls for boards of education to be replaced with local school councils. (PKP)

Describes a California School Boards Association project to describe each school board function and develop a comprehensive board training curriculum based on these descriptions. Effective board members clearly understand their duties and the importance of teamwork, support district programs and staff, respect the superintendent's role, establish…

Local school board, epitome of representative U.S. governance, is undergoing profound changes as to vision, focus, service approach, and structure. Local school boards can spark development of educational programs to prepare youngsters for increasingly competitive, technological, and dangerous world. To achieve needed reforms requires federal and…

Local school boards have been bypassed by state-generated educational reforms and often impede progress toward decentralization. The Twentieth Century Fund/Danforth Foundation Task Force on School Governance advises states to abolish existing school boards and replace them with local education policy boards responsible for setting policy…

Even after more than a decade of experience, surprisingly little is understood about the entities responsible for authorizing and overseeing charter schools. In this article, the authors argue that the success of the charter school movement depends on the effectiveness of those authorizers. In order to find out how charter authorizers are doing…

With physical facilities in every neighborhood offering unique citizen access, public schools must be major players in collaborative initiatives to provide more flexible, comprehensive, and coordinated services to needy children and families. School board leadership will be vital to any efforts to develop alternative governance structures and/or…

Public education and the preservation of American civilization is keyed to the well-being of the nation's 50 largest school districts. Large urban districts are difficult to operate, serve largely nonwhite and needy populations, and are undergoing badly eroding property tax bases essential for their funding. We desperately need informed,…

In trying to insulate school boards from city politics and political parties, early reformers severed board connections with other service providers. Today, worsening conditions for children and their families require "undoing" these reforms and transforming the board's role. Playing a smaller role in some executive, judicial, and…

School boards epitomize the U.S. tradition of representative local government. A 1992 National School Boards Association statement recognizes four major school board functions: envisioning a community's future educational program, establishing facilitative organizational structures and community environments, ensuring performance assessment…

Local system for public school governance has changed little since early twentieth century, when conception of school boards as trusteeships and superintendents as chief managers changed school-operating boards into policy boards. Since the late 1960s, local boards have reverted to politicized boards, increasingly involved in district…

Recent studies show that urban school boards are inadequate policymakers and reform catalysts. Lay school boards are not structurally suited to govern effectively in an increasingly divisive society facing unprecedented economic and social challenges. States are chiefly responsible for current local governance problems and should lead reform…

Plenty of state policies have been noteworthy in 2004, but one that had major impact went into effect in Illinois, where the governance of education was significantly restructured. S.B. 3000 (the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004) gives the governor greater influence over education through his or her control of the state board of…