NSBA survey profiles school board members and their concerns

6/4/02 –The issues school board members are most concerned with are funding and student achievement.

That's one of the major findings in School Boards at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Conditions and Challenges of District Governance, the report of a comprehensive survey of school board members published by NSBA in May.

According to the survey, school board members are better educated and have higher incomes than typical Americans. Sixty-seven percent of them receive no compensation for their board service, and only 13 percent have a professional background in education.

"They are volunteers, serving their communities and the children in our schools," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. "They do not have a vested interest in any part of the educational system. They are there to represent all of our children."

While NSBA's magazine, American School Board Journal, over the years published snapshot surveys of various elements of school board demographics and board issues as Education Vital Signs, the most recent report is "the first comprehensive survey we have ever done," Bryant says.

The study's author, Frederick M. Hess of the School of Education and Department of Government at the University of Virginia, says one of the findings that surprised him the most is that 80 percent of school boards are financially independent. "They don't have to go to the local government to get revenue. They have the statutory authority to generate and spend money."

Large vs. small districts

The latest survey finds that school boards that govern large districts are strikingly different from boards in small districts.

"In large school districts [defined as those with 25,000 or more students], school boards are relatively political bodies, with more costly campaigns, more attentive interest groups, more politically oriented candidates, and more hotly contested elections," the report states.

Only 2 percent of school districts have 25,000 or more students, yet the concerns that predominate in the largest districts tend to be viewed as national issues. "Fully grasping the nature of governance in those districts, and how those lessons may or may not apply to the other 98 percent of school districts, is central to any effort to reform school systems," it says.

The report is based on a survey of board members in 2,000 school districts across the nation. The response rate was 41 percent. Here are some of the key findings:

Policy issues

• School board members of all sizes of school districts report their top concerns are budget/funding (cited by 97.6 percent) and student achievement (97.2 percent). Seventy-three percent of board members say the percentage of time their board spends on student achievement has increased during their tenure.

• Despite the media attention to school violence, only 11.7 percent of board members say violence is a major concern. However, 26.4 percent of those in large districts say school violence is a major concern, compared to 7.3 percent of board members in small districts (with fewer than 5,000 students).

• The most commonly used measures to address discipline and safety are expulsions, local law enforcement officers, locker searches, dress codes, and security personnel.

• Large districts are much more likely to offer school choice options than small districts. The most common choice options in large districts are alternative schools (cited by 78.5 percent of board members), home schooling (65.5 percent), public school choice within the district (62.4 percent), and magnet schools (55.9 percent).

• Among board members from small districts, the most popular choice options are home schooling (54.1 percent), alternative schools (39.7 percent), and public school choice outside the district (29.8 percent).

• Among all board members surveyed, 40 percent say their district requires site-based management and 18.4 percent encourage this practice. But while 68.5 percent of large districts require site-based management, only 49.3 percent of medium-sized districts and 26.7 percent of small districts do so.

• Nearly 18 percent of all districts require students to pass a test to be promoted to the next grade, and 42.2 percent require students to pass a test to graduate from high school.

Board service

• Typically, board members spend about 25 hours a month on board business, roughly one-third of that time in meetings.

• Time commitments to board business vary greatly depending on the size of the district. For example, most board members in large districts spend 26 to 50 hours a month on board business, while most board members in small districts spend 10 hours or less.

• When asked about the training they've received, the most often cited areas are board member roles and responsibilities (94.3 percent), board and superintendent relations (79.4 percent), leadership skills (76.5 percent), and legal issues in education (74.8 percent).

• When asked which areas they'd like to receive training in, the most commonly cited areas are student achievement issues, community collaboration, strategic planning, budget/resource allocation, and community engagement.

• Just over 67.2 percent of board members don't receive any compensation for their board service. Among all size districts, 9.6 percent of board members receive less than $2,000, 19.8 percent receive $2,000 to $9,999, 1.6 percent receive $10,000 to $20,000, and 1.8 percent receive more than $20,000.

• Board members in large districts are more likely to be compensated, with 13.3 percent receiving more than $20,000 and 51.8 percent receiving nothing.

• When asked how long their current superintendent has held the position, the mean for board members in all districts is 5.48 years. The mean superintendent tenure is 4.15 years for large districts, 5.24 years for medium districts, and 6.03 years for small districts.

• About one-third of board members say their superintendent was promoted from within the district.

• In evaluating the superintendent, the three most critical factors cited by respondents are the board-superintendent relationship, the morale of school system employees, and the safety of district students.

The school board

• School boards are somewhat less racially diverse than the nation as a whole but are more diverse than most state and national elective bodies.

• Respondents report that the boards on which they serve are about 85.5 percent white, 7.8 percent African-American, and 3.8 percent Hispanic.

• In large districts, more than 20 percent of board members are African-American or Hispanic.

• Among all districts, 61.1 of board members are male. The gender gap is greater for small districts: Their boards are 63.3 percent male, compared to 55.6 percent in large districts.

• Board members typically have an annual household income of more than $75,000 a year, which exceeds the national average of $49,692.

• Two percent of board members have household incomes below $25,000; 14.8 percent are in the $25,000 to $49,999 range; 24.1 percent are $50,000 to $74,999; 22.2 percent are $75,000 to $99,999; 21.3 percent are $100,000 to 149,999; 10.8 percent are $150,000 to $200,000, and 4.8 percent have annual household incomes over $200,000.

• When asked about their occupations, 44.6 percent of board members say they are in a business or profession, 26.2 percent are homemakers or retired, 13 percent are in education, and 10.6 percent work for a nonprofit organization or government.

• Three-quarters of board members are between 40 and 59 years old. Just over 20 percent are over 60, 5.4 percent are between 20 and 39, and 0.5 percent are under 29.

Board elections

• Eighty-five percent of school boards do not need the municipal government to approve their budget, and 83 percent do not need the city to approve a proposed bond issue. Eighty-four percent have a tax base against which the board is able to levy taxes.

• The vast majority of board members are elected. Overall, respondents say 4 percent of members on their boards are appointed.

• Among board members who are elected, more than 89 percent report that elections are non-partisan.

The removal of party affiliation from school board candidates, as well as the timing of board elections, is a legacy of school governance reform from the Progressive Era when there was an attempt to separate partisan politics from schooling.

• Less than half of district elections (46.5 percent) are always held on the same day as national or state elections, and only 34.2 percent are always held on the same day as mayoral or city council elections.

• Board elections held on the same day as national or state elections report 18 percent higher turnout than elections held on other days.

• Three-quarters of board members overall (75.6 percent) spent less than $1,000 on their most recent board campaign. Nearly 15 percent spent from $1,000 to $4,999, 4.6 percent spent $5,000 to $9,999, 3.6 percent spent $10,000 to $24,999, and 0.7 percent spent $25,000 or more.

• In large districts, 18 percent spent $10,000 to $24,999, and 5.9 percent spent more.

• Overall, 67 percent of board members used their own money to finance their campaigns. Just over 61 percent of board members in large districts received campaign contributions from employee unions, and 67.9 percent received contributions from the business community. That compares to 6.8 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively, of board members in small districts.

• Overall, 15.9 percent of board members identify themselves as liberal, 44.5 percent as moderate, and 35.7 percent as conservative.