KEEPING OUR SCHOOL BOARDS NONPARTISAN: WISCONSIN’S TRADITION

Across Wisconsin and the US, political interest groups target our open school board positions in efforts to take the “public” out of our public schools. They sponsor candidates to advance a national political agenda instead of our community’s educational interests. This trend has been particularly pronounced in the United States, where school boards have a significant degree of control over local education policy. It has created conflicts within local communities where controversies did not exist before and disrupt otherwise unified communities.

One of the main ways that groups use school boards to advance their agendas is by running candidates for school board positions. If enough of these candidates win elections to gain a majority on school boards, they gain the power to shape the policies and curriculum of our local schools and exclude the local community’s input.

The trend in some of our neighboring districts show that once in power, these partisan-sponsored school board members seek to introduce policies and curriculum changes that align with ideology instead of real-life best-practices for teaching and learning. For example, they often restrict access to information about contemporary topics that align with the district’s mission on developing informed citizens. They also interrupt teaching and learning by deciding they need to intervene in the hiring of district staff. In our own KM school board, there are certain members who continually attempt to block the hiring of teachers or administrators who have been interviewed, vetted, and recommended by the KMSD hiring committees.

In Wisconsin, our tradition runs non-partisan school board elections. While some citizens consider the voting record of candidates as part of their decision for election night, these ideologies do not enter the school board meetings. The norm among Wisconsin school board members is to leave individual political ideologies aside when they come together at their meetings to support community-wide educational decisions.

Overall, the trend of these groups using school boards to advance their political agendas is a worrisome development, as it threatens to undermine the integrity and impartiality of the education system. Most of us as Wisconsin educators, parents, and community members believe that schools should be focused on providing a quality education to all students, rather than promoting any individual’s political ideology. It is important for us to adhere to the principles of non-partisan school boards.

We certainly should not allow individuals to use our schools as their platform in their quest to advance their own political career. It is important for school boards to remain focused on the core mission of providing a high-quality education for all students. By working together and focusing on the needs of our students, school boards can help to create the best learning environment for all.