People might yell less at school board meetings if they realized they have the power to vote out board members who don’t listen and vote in better ones. But, the system is “rigged,” writes Matthew Ladner on reimaginED.
Unionized employees follow board elections closely, lobbying for their preferred candidates, while most people don’t know there’s an election or who’s running, much less what they stand for.
Ladner favors school choice, so families can find (and afford) the alternative that fits their family’s priorities.
But he also likes a simple, doable idea suggested by Max Eden, an American Enterprise Institute fellow. On-cycle school board elections would boost turnout and “elect governing boards with a stronger claim to community support and democratic legitimacy,” writes Eden.