Politics of School Board Elections

1977 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delbert A. Taebel
Keyword(s):  
School Board ◽  
School Board Elections

Fighting for the local: Americans for Prosperity and the struggle for school boards

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Schirmer ◽  
Michael W. Apple
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
School Board ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jefferson County ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
News Reports ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
School Board Elections

Corporate-backed philanthropic groups have become increasingly involved in political processes in the past ten years. The Koch Brothers’ and their political advocacy groups, have become particularly prominent players. Their influence extends beyond high-profile state-level elections and increasingly have begun investing in municipal affairs of small cities and towns, such as school board elections like Kenosha, Wisconsin and Jefferson County, Colorado in the US. This chapter asks, why do groups like Americans for Prosperity care about small-town school board elections? This chapter highlights two particularly significant local examples in the United States: school board elections in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2014 and Jefferson County, Colorado in 2015. Through documentary analysis of school board records, news reports, and district evaluations, in both Wisconsin and Colorado, we chronicle the political contest for control of each school board. Our findings illustrate the ideological and political project of corporate, conservative influence in public education in the United States.

Who Has School Spirit? Explaining Voter Participation in School Board Elections

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 923-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Michael McGregor ◽  
Jack Lucas
Keyword(s):  
School Board ◽  
Voter Participation ◽  
Parental Status ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Municipal Election ◽  
School Board Elections

AbstractThis research note examines the correlates of turnout in Canadian school board elections. Using individual-level data from the Canadian Municipal Election Study, we find that gender, education, left-wing ideology, Conservative partisanship and parental status were associated with participation in Calgary's 2017 public school board elections. Some of these patterns relate to the specific details of Calgary's 2017 election; others, we suggest, may be characteristic of school board elections more generally. We relate our findings to the literature on ballot roll-off and low-turnout elections.

Urban School Board Elections

1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Just
Keyword(s):  
School Board ◽  
Urban School ◽  
School Board Elections

scholarly journals The COVID States Project #72: School Board Elections

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alauna Safarpour ◽  
Kristin Lunz Trujillo ◽  
Ata Uslu ◽  
David Lazer ◽  
Matthew Baum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
School Board ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Election Cycle ◽  
The Past ◽  
Shenandoah Valley ◽  
Transgender Students ◽  
History Of ◽  
Run Up ◽  
School Board Elections

The COVID-19 pandemic and the backlash against Critical Race Theory have led to increased attention to school board elections. To better understand who votes in these elections and who attends school board meetings, this report examines the demographic characteristics of individuals who say they attended a school board meeting in the past 6 months and those who say they voted for school board at some point in the past year.Turnout in school board elections has historically been very low. Although comprehensive sources of turnout in school board elections are lacking, prior research has estimated turnout in select races to be between 3% and 12%, with even highly salient special elections unable to top 30% turnout. Between high rates of uncontested seats and a lack of salience for these hyper-local positions, school board elections have rarely garnered much attention in the history of American politics. This has changed in recent years, with controversial issues of virtual schooling, mask and vaccine mandates, rules for transgender students, and concerns about how history is taught propelling school board elections to the forefront of numerous news cycles in recent months. The increased attention and salience in school board elections are demonstrated by the spike in the number of school board members facing recall efforts in the 2021 election cycle: According to Ballotpedia, there were 90 recall efforts in 2021, the highest number observed in the 12 years they analyzed. Local news have reported spikes in school board turnout in the 2021 election cycle, with Southlake Texas, Centerville Ohio, Virginia’s Shenandoah valley, and numerous other locales, reporting higher than usual participation.In the run up to the November 2021 elections, rancorous school board meetings garnered national attention and

Gender, Race and Political Ambition: The Case of Ontario School Board Elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
Adrienne M. Davidson ◽  
R. Michael McGregor ◽  
Myer Siemiatycky
Keyword(s):  
School Board ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
Progressive Ambition ◽  
Using Data ◽  
School Board Elections

AbstractThe political underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in Canadian politics is well documented. One political arena that has yet to be examined in this respect, however, is school boards. Using data from a candidate survey conducted during the course of the 2018 Ontario school board elections, as well as demographic data collected on the entire population of school board candidates, we explore the unique characteristics of school board elections. The research note begins by describing the gender and racial composition of candidates and trustees in Canada's most populous province. It then considers the ways in which school board elections may serve as a launchpad to higher office for either of these two traditionally underrepresented groups, as we explore the features of progressive political ambition, recruitment into school board campaigns and the relative electoral success of racialized candidates and women in this local office. While women do very well in school board elections, they are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to have the desire to move up to provincial or federal politics. Meanwhile, racialized candidates contest school board election in significant numbers and report similar levels of progressive ambition relative to their white counterparts, but they fare exceptionally poorly in school board elections.

The Point of No Return? Interest Groups, School Board Elections, and the Sustainment of the Portfolio Management Model in Post-Katrina New Orleans

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Richard O. Welsh ◽  
Michelle Hall
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
School Board ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Campaign Contributions ◽  
Educational Governance ◽  
Local School ◽  
State And Local ◽  
School Board Elections

Context Given the growing popularity of the portfolio management model (PMM) as a method of improving education, it is important to examine how these market-based reforms are sustained over time and how the politics of sustaining this model have substantial policy implications. Purpose of Study The purpose of this article is to examine important patterns and trends in the relationship between campaign contributions to local and state school board elections and the sustainability of the PMM in urban districts. We provide a descriptive analysis of the role of interest groups in education reform in post-Katrina New Orleans and document how the PMM changed the landscape of education politics, with a focus on the actors, both local and national, that sustain the PMM. Research Design We describe the creation of Act 35 and the evolution of educational governance changes in New Orleans to determine whether the same interest groups that played a role in the origin of the PMM also contributed to its sustainment. We analyze how these educational governance changes influenced the politics of education reform using data from the Louisiana Ethics Commission on campaign contributions to both state and local school board elections. We apply several non-board and board governance theories to examine interest group behavior. We also conduct interviews with stakeholders throughout the educational system to inform our discussion of the evolution of educational governance and the politics of education reform in post-Katrina New Orleans, as well as the categorization of candidates in school board elections. Results We find that in the post-Katrina era, there was a diversification of actors in the interest group landscape. These groups influenced educational governance through unprecedented levels of campaign contributions to the state and local school board elections. The influence of interest groups, especially out- of- state actors, contributed to an emerging shift in political control from “traditional” school board candidates to an increase in “pro-reform” board members. Conclusions The PMM is accompanied by heightened interest as well as an influx of out-of-state actors in educational policy making and the provision of public education. Unprecedented levels of campaign contributions suggest that state and local school board elections may be one of the primary mechanisms through which interest groups influenced post-Katrina educational governance. Out-of-state campaign contributions were mostly in support of pro-portfolio candidates. There appears to be tangible national support for the PMM that may play a crucial role in sustaining these reforms.

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