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Fordham Institute promotes educational excellence for every child in America via quality research, analysis, and commentary, as well as advocacy and exemplary charter school authorizing in Ohio. It is affiliated with the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and this publication is a joint project of the Foundation and the Institute. For further information, please visit our website at [fordhaminstitute.org](fordhaminstitute.org). The Institute is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.  \nSuggested Citation  \nDavid M. Houston and Michael T. Hartney. Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict. Washington D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Institute (October 2025) .  \n[https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/whos-board-school-boards-and-political](https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/whos-board-school-boards-and-political)  \nrepresentation-age-conflict  \nAcknowledgments  \nThis report was funded in part by The Wallace Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wallace Foundation. The report was also funded in part by our sister organization, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. We are grateful to Boston College professor Michael Hartney and George Mason University professor David Houston for their diligent work on the report and the resulting insights from their analysis. Thanks also to external reviewers Leslie Finger, assistant professor of political science at the University of North Texas, and Sarah Anzia, the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy & Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, both of whom offered helpful feedback on a draft of the study.  \nAt the Fordham Institute, we express gratitude to national research director Adam Tyner for managing the project and editing the report; Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli for providing feedback on drafts; Robert Chung for assisting with editing and formatting; Stephanie Distler for managing report production; Victoria McDougald for overseeing media dissemination; and Elainah Elkins for handling funder relations. We also send our heartfelt gratitude to David Yontz for copyediting and Dave Williams for creating the report’s figures.  \nContents  \nForeword 3  \nIntroduction 9  \nSurveying School Board Members 13  \nSchool Board Members’ Political Identities 14  \nSchool Board Members’ Demographic Identities 18  \nSchool Board Members’ Attitudes Toward Education Issues 22  \nSchool Board Members’ Perceptions of School Board Elections 27  \nDiscussion 29  \nAppendix 31  \nEndnotes 42  \nForeword  \nBy Michael J. Petrilli and Adam Tyner  \nThe United States has more school board members than any other group of elected leaders—more than state representatives and more than city councilors. [1] Even after many district consolidations over the past century, we still have over 13,000 school districts, virtually every one with its own board.  \nDespite its ubiquity and durability, however, the local school board is actually a pretty weird political institution. Since the Progressive Era, most board elections have been designed to “de-politicize”education, and consequently, they are often uncontested and held in odd corners of the calendar when few people vote, which means they’re often dominated by candidates with ties to the education establishment.  \nYet school boards are also an enigma. Another vestige of the Progressive Era is that their elections are typically nonpartisan, meaning the ideological leanings of school board candidates are less obvious than for candidates in most other elections. And discussions about teaching, learning, school effectiveness, and pupil achievement, which would seem to be a school board’s chief reason for existing, are often notably absent from these elections—and then from board agendas. The typical school board meeting is mor","cbCaiimx69bp90ot","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiimx69bp90ot","pdf",1725528,45,"English","# Contents\n## Foreword\n## Introduction\n## Surveying School Board Members\n## School Board Members’ Political Identities\n## School Board Members’ Demographic Identities\n## School Board Members’ Attitudes Toward Education Issues\n## School Board Members’ Perceptions of School Board Elections\n## Discussion\n## Appendix\n## Endnotes","[{\"question\":\"What is the report’s main focus?\",\"answer\":\"The report analyzes who school board members are and how they politically represent their communities in an era of conflict and culture-war issues.\"},{\"question\":\"How large is the survey and how many districts are included?\",\"answer\":\"It draws on data from more than 5,000 school board members across 3,093 distinct school districts.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the report compare board members with the general public?\",\"answer\":\"It compares board members’ responses with the beliefs of the American public using questions modeled after recent nationally representative surveys.\"}]","Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict - October 2025 | PDF",1792063361,113]