At what point does “Education” adopt a system wide approach, combined with a true collaborative effort, to support the vision of a macro-management environment of shared values, goals, rewards and accountability?

A school board is a legislative body, called school directors, who are elected locally by their fellow citizens and serve as agents of the state legislature.  Each board consists of nine members who serve four-year terms of office without pay.  School directors, although locally elected, are really state officials, co-partners with the legislature.  They are designated by school law to administer the school system in each district.

Source: www.psba.org

Constitutional mandate

Public education is fundamentally a state responsibility. A system of free public education is mandated under the state constitution, which states in Article II, Section 14: “ The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education. … ”

Constitutional recognition of the public schools as a legislative function is further found in Article IX, Section 10, in which a school district is described as a “ unit of local government.”

Public education thus enjoys special status under the state constitution and is the only public service so mandated by the constitution.

To carry out this mandate, the General Assembly created school districts and school boards in 1834. It conferred broad legal powers to the local boards, making them autonomous in many of their operations. Therefore, the school board is a political subdivision of the state for the purpose of convenient administration of the schools.

Legislative authority

The General Assembly created the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, the intermediate unit structure and other state agencies. These agencies administer the state laws that control the state ‘ s public education system. There are, therefore, several governing influences upon a board of school directors.

The School Laws of Pennsylvania is the primary compilation of the statutes enacted by the legislature having direct and pertinent reference to public education, its programs, its operation and its management. In addition, rules and regulation of the State Board, guidelines of the Department of Education, opinions and interpretations of the state attorney general and court decrees all influence local board operation.

Effective school boards concentrate their time and energy on determining what it is the schools should accomplish and enacting policies to carry out these goals.

Our system of a free public education is mandated within Pennsylvania’s constitution as follows “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the commonwealth.”  Public education also receives special recognition as the only public service that is mandated within the constitution.

How school boards started

In 1834, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania created a system of school districts and school boards.  It conferred broad legal powers to the school boards, making them autonomous in many of their operations.  In its very essence, a school board is a “unit of local government” for the purpose of convenient administration of the schools.

The General Assembly also created the State Board of Education, the Department of Education, the intermediate unit structure and a vast array of other state agencies.  These agencies administer the state laws that control our public education system.

The Pennsylvania Public School Code is the primary compilation of the statutes enacted by the legislature that has direct and pertinent reference to public education, its programs, its operation and its management.  In addition, rules and regulations of the State Board, guidelines of the Department of Education, opinions and interpretations of the state attorney general and court decrees all influence school board operation.

Source: www.psba.org

Needless to say, the landscape of public education has changed dramatically over the last 175 years. And we’ve just scratched the surface.  Obviously, we can’t forget our Federal government wants their input in this process too. Although that is another whole story we’ll mention along the way.

The role of a school board

Effective school boards concentrate their time and energy on determining what schools should accomplish and enacting policies to carry out these goals. In essence, school boards have three functions: planning, setting policy and evaluating results.

Planning — Boards are required to engage in strategic planning by regulations of the State Board of Education. Appropriate reports of the results of such planning must be filed with the Department of Education.

Setting policy — The central responsibility of a board, both in theory and in law, is to be the policy-forming body. Policy means actions of the board that set written goals and objectives for the school and parameters for actions.

Evaluating results — The board must evaluate the results of planning. Evaluation “ completes the loop ” and, in fact, leads inevitably to more planning. Evaluation occurs all the time, both formally and informally.  As a group, the board is not an administrative body; neither should it be a “rubber stamp” for professional educators.  The selection of competent administrators who understand their role is to carry out public policies established by the board is one of the board’s most important functions.

Some required duties:

• Adopt courses of study in consultation with the superintendent.
• Establish the length of the school term.
• Adopt textbooks.
• Elect superintendents and hire necessary employees.
• Enter into written contracts with professional employees and into collective bargaining agreements.
• Adopt the annual budget.
• Levy taxes; appoint a tax collector under certain circumstances.
• Provide necessary grounds and school buildings.
• Prescribe, adopt and enforce reasonable rules and regulations regarding school activities, publications and organizations.
• Provide special education for children with mental or physical disabilities.

Source: www.psba.org

Additional information

PSBA also published this great resource of quick and easy-to-understand information on this topic.

In this video, PSBA Executive Director Tom Gentzel discusses the various services PSBA offers to newly elected and veteran board members.  I highly value this organization for the incredible amount of information, resources and tools they provide to school board members.

Earlier this week, the National School Boards Association released this video to promote public awareness and advocacy for the collaborative roles of school board members and all stakeholders.

Disclaimer: PrideandPromise.com is not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with PSBA or its Pride & Promise public outreach initiative.