High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States
We analyze the most comprehensive dataset on U.S. school board elections. We find that nearly half of races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80% of the time when they run. Because many incumbents retire instead of running for another term, however, turnover is high (with 53...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | AERA Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251349180 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849467202362671104 |
|---|---|
| author | Vladimir Kogan Stéphane Lavertu Zachary Peskowitz |
| author_facet | Vladimir Kogan Stéphane Lavertu Zachary Peskowitz |
| author_sort | Vladimir Kogan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We analyze the most comprehensive dataset on U.S. school board elections. We find that nearly half of races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80% of the time when they run. Because many incumbents retire instead of running for another term, however, turnover is high (with 53% of incumbents replaced in a typical election cycle). School board turnover is also only weakly related to student learning rates. These dynamics—high turnover disconnected from school performance challenges—occur across both urban and non-urban districts, regardless of student demographics and local media environments. Together, these results suggest that local democracy produces high leadership churn and minimal incentives to improve student learning, two findings that can inform debates regarding the benefits and costs of local democratic governance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eb5d63b504bb4b6c8e5823d2ca7ac774 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2332-8584 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AERA Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-eb5d63b504bb4b6c8e5823d2ca7ac7742025-08-20T03:28:43ZengSAGE PublishingAERA Open2332-85842025-06-011110.1177/23328584251349180High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 StatesVladimir KoganStéphane LavertuZachary PeskowitzWe analyze the most comprehensive dataset on U.S. school board elections. We find that nearly half of races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80% of the time when they run. Because many incumbents retire instead of running for another term, however, turnover is high (with 53% of incumbents replaced in a typical election cycle). School board turnover is also only weakly related to student learning rates. These dynamics—high turnover disconnected from school performance challenges—occur across both urban and non-urban districts, regardless of student demographics and local media environments. Together, these results suggest that local democracy produces high leadership churn and minimal incentives to improve student learning, two findings that can inform debates regarding the benefits and costs of local democratic governance.https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251349180 |
| spellingShingle | Vladimir Kogan Stéphane Lavertu Zachary Peskowitz High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States AERA Open |
| title | High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States |
| title_full | High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States |
| title_fullStr | High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States |
| title_full_unstemmed | High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States |
| title_short | High Turnover With Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States |
| title_sort | high turnover with low accountability local school board elections in 16 states |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251349180 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vladimirkogan highturnoverwithlowaccountabilitylocalschoolboardelectionsin16states AT stephanelavertu highturnoverwithlowaccountabilitylocalschoolboardelectionsin16states AT zacharypeskowitz highturnoverwithlowaccountabilitylocalschoolboardelectionsin16states |