Effective State Education Governance

Is any particular type of state board more effective than another? It is hard to define an “effective” board without knowing what it should do, and expectations vary from state to state about their place in American education policy. Should they lead and direct policy, or should they follow the lead of school districts? Should the governor, as a state-level politician, be a key player or not? Should they seek public input? Should they “control the narrative” to advance some desired policy goal with the press?

And who should they be? Are they supposed to be representative assemblies, drawn from a wide range of walks of life and demographics? Are they spokespersons for education generally or public education specifically? Are they to be drawn from the ranks of educators, policy experts, or the general public? None of these questions can be answered definitively for all state boards, in part because state laws and constitutions grant (or withhold) a  variety of their powers and in part because the boards comprise people with their own agendas.