New model of school governance proposed
2/18/03 -- School boards are so caught up in patronage, micromanagement, overregulation, and bureaucracy that they cannot put student achievement at the top of their priorities, concludes a new report on school governance released by the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
At the heart of the problem is the existing school governance structure, which makes school boards accountable to voters, unions, special interest groups, local and state bureaucracies -- everyone but the students, says School Boards: Focus on School Performance, Not Money and Patronage.
Author Paul T. Hill, acting dean of the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, offers these recommendations:
• Create a system of district charters, under which a school board must have its authority renewed every five years. Boards that fail to meet performance goals could lose their charters -- and control over local schools.
• Encourage the formation of more charter schools to ensure that school districts face strong competition for students.
• Foster competition among school districts by allowing districts to operate schools within one another's boundaries.
• Create competing school boards within a community.
• Strip away the authority of local school boards to hire and assign staff or reallocate funds among schools. This authority should be turned over to the superintendent and individual school sites.
Such recommendations either ignore or gloss over the immense oversight responsibilities of the school board, says Reginald Felton, NSBA's director of federal relations. Student achievement must be a school board's highest priority, he adds, but academic success doesn't happen in a vacuum.
In a second report released by PPI, A License to Lead? A New Leadership Agenda for America's Schools, Frederick M. Hess a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that the nation's system of recruiting, preparing, and licensing school administrators creates a huge obstacle to attracting new leadership talent.
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| Reproduced with permission from the Feb. 18, 2003, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2003, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |