What does the Board of Education do? Parents aren’t always quite sure.
We all know about the roles of teachers, assistants, students and pupils in the education system, but what does the Board of Education do? (Or, put another way, what are they supposed to do?)
The Board of Education
Let’s take a snapshot look at their areas of responsibility and role in the education of our children.
- To set the standards of governance – to put it a bit more plainly, this means that the Board of Education makes all of the district policies for the schools, setting goals for each school to strive to achieve, and also goals for themselves for their own self improvement.
- Dealing with administration and personnel issues – ‘hiring and firing’ is basically what this means (even of the superintendent). The performance of the superintendent will be measured by the attainment of the school goals and performance. The Board of Education is also involved in the appointing of school staff and evaluating the existing teachers.
- Fiscal Management Issues – in a word, budget. This is one of the main roles of the Board of Education. Very often these budget issues make big local news, especially if there are repercussions such as staff cut-backs or loss of facilities. Any construction work or property purchases need to be approved by the Board of Education.
- Educational program – The Board of Education evaluates reviews and adopts any changes it may deem necessary to the educational process (changing to new textbooks etc). They need to take an overview of the quality of the education provided, and look for ways to improve education methods and hence improve and increase student achievement.
- Support School and Community Relations – The Board of Education is responsible for ensuring that the community is included in the public education decision making process. In order to achieve this, they have to develop a written policy which clearly states: – goals of community relation, ways to solicit staff and community involvement, complaints procedures, policy for public access to the school facilities, ways to encourage the involvement of parents.
So, if you’re a parent of a student at a school which you don’t think is achieving the results you had hoped for, don’t just sit there, get involved with the Board of Education. It’s up to all of us to help with the improvement of our education system, not just for ourselves and our children, but for the future of society as a whole.