Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #128

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving  school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy. 

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

  • On the issues: The debate over the benefits of private school choice 
  • In your district: Reducing chronic absenteeism
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • SCOTUS upholds lower court injunctions against U.S. Department of Education Title IX rules
  • Extracurricular: education news from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey

Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over the benefits of private school choice 

In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board members deliberate when they set out to offer the best education possible in their district. Missed an issue? Click here to see the previous education debates we’ve covered.

Since the pandemic, an increasing number of states have enacted policies that offer families taxpayer funding for various education options outside the public school system. While proponents claim those policies allow for innovation in education, critics say they undermine public schools and make our society less democratic.

Doug Tuthill writes that decentralization is good for education and allows greater customization to meet students’ needs, especially with help from technology. Tuthill says the government has a monopoly on education, one that fails to provide the best options for children. He hopes government control continues weakening over the coming decades, allowing for different educational approaches and more experimentation. 

Anya Kamenetz writes that centralized approaches that promote public school education are better for society. Kanenetz says public schools allow diverse students to find common ground and practice cooperating. She says options like private schools that cater to less diverse groups of people create division and hurt democracy.

Public education is transitioning from its second to third paradigm | Doug Tuthill, Next Steps

“Just as public education’s transition from its first to second paradigm was driven by changes in transportation, communications, and manufacturing innovations in the 1800s, the rise of digital networks, mobile computing, and artificial intelligence in the 21st century is generating changes that are causing discontent with public education’s second paradigm. Decentralization and customization are becoming core societal values that are transforming all aspects of people’s lives, including how we work, communicate, and consume media and entertainment. Consequently, decentralization and customization will be at the core of public education’s third paradigm. … Currently, government has a monopoly in the public education market, which undermines the market’s effectiveness and efficiency primarily because it underutilizes the market’s human capital. In this emerging third paradigm, government will regulate the public education market but will no longer be a monopoly provider. … Apparently, U.S. public education is more fiercely resistant to change than the scientific communities Kuhn studied, but I am hopeful public education’s current paradigm shift will be completed within the next 30 to 40 years.”

School Is for Everyone | Anya Kamenetz, New York Times

“School closures threw our country back into the educational atomization that characterized the pre-Mann era. Wealthy parents hired tutors for their children; others opted for private and religious schools that reopened sooner; some had no choice but to leave their children alone in the house all day or send them to work for wages while the schoolhouse doors were closed. Students left public schools at a record rate and are still leaving, particularly in the blue states and cities that kept schools closed longer. … Meanwhile, a well-funded, decades-old movement that wants to do away with public school as we know it is in ascendance. This movement rejects Mann’s vision that schools should be the common ground where a diverse society discovers how to live together. Instead, it believes families should educate their children however they wish, or however they can. It sees no problem with Republican schools for Republican students, Black schools for Black students, Christian schools for Christian students and so on, as long as those schools are freely chosen. … Our democracy sprouts in the nursery of public schools — where students grapple together with our messy history and learn to negotiate differences of race, class, gender and sexual orientation.”

In your district: Reducing chronic absenteeism

We want to hear what’s happening in your school district. Please complete the very brief survey below—anonymously, if you prefer—and we may share your response with fellow subscribers in an upcoming newsletter.

Studies find that the rate of chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10% or more of the school year—among K-12 public school students increased following the pandemic. Stanford University Prof. Thomas Dee estimated that student absenteeism nearly doubled between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years, rising from an average of 14.8% to 28.3%. That translates to roughly 13.5 million students who were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year.

Data suggests most states saw modest declines in chronic absenteeism during the 2022-23 school year.

How does your district address absenteeism? If it’s an issue, what strategies involving the school board, educators, and parents could improve attendance?

Click here to respond!

School board update: filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications

This year, Ballotpedia will cover elections for over 11,000 school board seats across more than 30 states. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on the country’s more 80,000 school board seats.  

Upcoming school board elections

As we draw closer to November, we will periodically bring you previews of our Nov. 5 school board battleground elections—the ones we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power or to be particularly competitive or compelling. We begin with a look at the upcoming election for three seats on the Detroit Public Schools Community District school board.

Twenty-two candidates are running in the Nov. 5 general election for Detroit Public Schools Community District school board. Three of the board’s seven seats are up for election. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo is the only incumbent running for re-election. Misha Stallworth and Sonya Mays are not. The Michigan Chronicle’s Donald James wrote that Stallworth and Mays didn’t run for personal reasons.

This is the largest number of school board candidates since 2016, when 63 candidates ran. There are 7.3 candidates per seat up for election. Between 2016 and 2022, there was an average of 5.7 candidates per seat up for election.

Chalkbeat‘s Alex Klaus wrote, “New members could determine whether Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s direction for improving student achievement, school climate and culture, and increasing teacher pay will move forward, or be stalled by board division. Members have strongly supported Vitti since his hiring in May 2017, just a few months after the first DPSCD board was seated, and nearly a year after a historic legislative initiative created the district as part of a broad effort to address mounting debt.”

On March 20, 2024, the board voted 6-1 to renew Vitti’s contract through 2028. Gay-Dagnogo was the only dissenting vote. Gay-Dagnogo said she took issue with the timing of the vote, and that the board should have waited until after the election to consider Vitti’s contract. 

Detroit Public Radio’s Jerome Vaughn wrote that district staff and community members mentioned “insufficient staffing and classroom materials, poor maintenance of school buildings, and toxic work environments for educators” during the public comment period of the March 20 meeting. 

Vitti was hired in 2017, one year after the board regained control of the district from a state-appointed emergency manager. The state of Michigan appointed the emergency manager to oversee the district’s operations and resolve $305 million in lingering debt in 2009. 

On July 1, 2016, a state law divided Detroit Public Schools (DPS) into two districts: DPS and the Detroit Public Schools Community District. DPS was transitioned into a legal entity to pay down more than $400 million in debt. The Detroit Public Schools Community District managed day-to-day operations for public schools in conjunction with the state-appointed Detroit Financial Review Commission.

Among the candidates running this year are two former Detroit school board members: Ida Carol Short and Tawanna Simpson. Both Short and Simpson lost in 2016. Simpson completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey in 2020, when she ran in the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 4. Click here to read her responses. 

Ballotpedia is covering all school board elections in Michigan this year. Detroit Public Schools Community District is the largest district in the state, with around 48,500 students.

Recall election in Alaska

On Oct. 1, Ballotpedia will cover recall elections against Emil Mackey and Deedie Sorensen, members of the Juneau Borough School District school board. Sorensen is the president of the board, while Mackey is the vice president. 

So far this year, 10 school board recall efforts have gone to the ballot—voters recalled six members and rejected efforts to remove four. In even-numbered years between 2014 and 2022, an average of 16 school board members were in recall efforts that made it to the ballot. Click here to listen to our recent On the Ballot podcast breaking down this year’s state and local recall efforts. 

The recall effort started after the district’s finance consultant informed the board in early 2024 that the district faced a $9.5 million budget shortfall (with nearly $2 million carried over from the previous fiscal year). In the spring of 2023, the board unanimously approved the district’s budget through June 30, 2024. After the budget shortfall was discovered, the board approved a modified budget, which included a $4 million interest-free loan from the city of Juneau.

Recall supporters said Mackey and Sorensen failed “to understand the FY24 budget and accounting errors resulting in $7.9M deficit and taxpayer loan from CBJ [City and Borough of Alaska]”. 

Both board members said they voted to approve a budget in the spring of 2023 based on information the district’s administration and financial staff gave them. Sorensen said: “While people keep acting as though maybe we should have hired someone to do a deep dive into our budget, that’s exactly what we did. We gave the superintendent in, I believe it was November, the authority to find someone who could basically forensically crawl through our budget after the audit and figure out what was going on.”

Click here to learn more about school board recall efforts. Click here to read our 2024 mid-year recall report.


SCOTUS rejects U.S. Department of Justice request to allow new Title IX regulations to go into partial effect in some states 

Here’s a story you might have missed from a recent issue of a different Ballotpedia newsletter—Checks and Balances. Each issue delivers news and information about the pivotal actions at the federal and state levels related to the separation of powers, due process, and the rule of law. New issues come out monthly. Click here to subscribe. 

On Aug. 16 in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rejected the U.S. Justice Department’s request to allow updated Title IX regulations to go into partial effect in states where lower courts have blocked enforcement. The Department of Education (DOE) announced an update to Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 on April 19, 2024, expanding bans on sex-based discrimination in schools to include gender identity and sexual orientation.

Republican attorneys general in 26 states and conservative advocacy groups joined plaintiffs in filing eight lawsuits against the parts of the updated regulations dealing with transgender issues. 

Two cases from Louisiana and Tennessee reached SCOTUS challenging three provisions of the rule related to transgender issues. The plaintiffs argued the DOE lacks the statutory authority to update the rule. They also argued the rule would violate government employees’—such as teachers—First Amendment rights. The U.S. Justice Department had asked SCOTUS to allow other portions of the updated regulations that hadn’t been challenged in lawsuits—such as protections for pregnant students—to go into effect. 

The high court’s decision means K-12 public schools and universities in at least 26 states (and some schools in other states) cannot enforce the updated regulations while litigation continues. 

You can read our previous Hall Pass coverage of the DOE’s updated Title IX regulations here and here. 

The regulations were scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1. The regulations, among other things, expand regulations prohibiting sex-based discrimination to also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. They also require schools to use students’ preferred pronouns and allow students to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identities instead of their biological sex.

According to the DOE, “The rule prohibits discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics in federally funded education programs applying the reasoning of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County.”

In Bostock, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in 2020 that employers cannot fire an employee for being gay or transgender under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, among other things. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito argued that Congress in 1964 did not intend for “sex” to include sexual orientation or gender identity.

While all nine justices agreed in August that lower courts were correct in blocking the Title IX provisions having to do with transgender issues while litigation continues, they differed on whether the rest of the new regulations could go into effect. 

A five-justice majority ruled in an unsigned order to maintain blocks on the entirety of the regulations, stating the Biden administration did not argue other parts were independent of the challenged provisions: “On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the Government has not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts’ interim conclusions that the three provisions found likely to be unlawful are intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, arguing the groups challenging Title IX “had not explained why the entire rule should be put on hold.” 

The cases will return to the lower appeals courts, though they could eventually end up once again before SCOTUS. 

Extracurricular: education news from around the web

This section contains links to recent education-related articles from around the internet. If you know of a story we should be reading, reply to this email to share it with us! 

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Last week, we looked at survey responses from the two candidates running in the Nov. 5 general election for Granite School District Precinct II. Today, we’re looking at another upcoming school board race, in California, in which all candidates completed the survey. 

Tim Dougherty and Devesh Vashishtha are running in the Nov. 5 general election for Poway Unified Board of Education Trustee Area A, in California. 

Two of the five seats are up for election this year. Poway Unified is the 18th-largest district in the state, with an estimated enrollment of around 36,000 students. It is located in Poway, California, northeast of San Diego. 

Here’s how Dougherty answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

  • “Academic Focus: I am dedicated to ensuring that every student in PUSD has access to a high-quality education that emphasizes rigorous academics, critical thinking, and creativity. This includes not only strong performance in traditional subjects like math, science, and language arts, but also the integration of arts, technology, and extracurricular activities. I believe that a well-rounded education, supported by passionate and skilled educators, is key to preparing our students for success in college, careers, and life.
  • Safety and Wellness: The safety and well-being of our students and teachers are top priorities for me. I will advocate for comprehensive policies that ensure a secure learning environment, focusing on physical safety measures as well as mental and emotional health support. This includes addressing issues such as bullying, online safety, physical fitness, and access to counseling services. By promoting sports and physical activities, we can enhance students’ wellness, helping them thrive both academically and personally.
  • Fiscal Responsibility and Community Engagement: Managing the district’s finances with transparency, accountability, and efficiency is essential to me. I will ensure that every dollar spent is maximized for the benefit of our students and classrooms. This includes careful budgeting and reallocating resources to impactful programs. My experience with the PTA has shown me the power of community engagement, and I am committed to involving parents, businesses, and local organizations to support our schools and ensure that financial decisions are made with the community’s best interests in mind.” 

Click here to read the rest of Dougherty’s responses. 

Here’s how Vashishtha answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

  • “Build policy that prioritizes the mental and emotional health of PUSD students, especially around social media and screen time.
  • Incorporate data to improve educational outcomes, so that our PUSD graduates are ready to take center stage in a global economy.
  • Manage our budget through a meticulous approach of decreasing administrative waste and maximizing resources for our students.”

Click here to read the rest of Vashishtha’s responses. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. If you’re not running for school board, but there is an election in your community this year, share the link with the candidates and urge them to take the survey!

Other school board races with 100% survey completion this week include the general election for Indianapolis Public Schools school board District 1, in Indiana.

In the 2022 election cycle, 6,087 candidates completed the survey. 
The survey contains more than 30 questions, and you can choose the ones you feel will best represent your views to voters. If you complete the survey, a box with your answers will display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.