Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #134

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 science of reading 
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • Election roundup: ballot measures and Chicago Public Schools board of education election
  • Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey

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On the issues: The debate over phonics instruction

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.

Phonics is an element of reading instruction that teaches children how to sound out words, allowing them to form connections to words they may already know. 

David Reinking, Peter Smagorinsky, and David Yaden write that efforts to promote phonics in reading instruction have overemphasized it at the expense of other components. They say phonics are already widely taught, that current reading achievement is sufficient, and that more phonics won’t raise achievement further. 

Natalie Wexler writes that phonics instruction is insufficient in many schools. Wexler says many teachers still use ineffective strategies to teach reading, such as prompting students to guess words based on context instead of sounding them out. She says achievement levels justify curriculum changes focusing on making existing phonics instruction more effective, not taking time or focus away from other reading skills.

On the latest obsession with phonics | David Reinking, Peter Smagorinsky, and David B. Yaden, Washington Post

“We believe phonics plays an important role in teaching children to read. But, we see no justifiable support for its overwhelming dominance within the current narrative, nor reason to regard phonics as a panacea for improving reading achievement. Specifically, we do not see convincing evidence for a reading crisis, and certainly none that points to phonics as the single cause or a solution. We are skeptical of any narrowly defined science that authoritatively dictates exactly how reading should be taught in every case. Most of all, we are concerned that ill-advised legislation will unnecessarily constrain teachers’ options for effective reading instruction. … But crisis or not, is there evidence that more phonics instruction is the elixir guaranteed to induce higher reading achievement? The answer isn’t just no. There are decades of empirical evidence that it hasn’t and won’t.”

Clearing Up Misconceptions About The ‘Science Of Reading’ | Natalie Wexler, Forbes

“They may feel phonics instruction is best done as an issue arises—for example, if a child is having trouble reading a particular word. At the same time, teachers routinely ask kids to read books with a lot of phonics patterns they haven’t yet learned, requiring them to guess at words they don’t know. And teachers have been trained to encourage kids to guess, using pictures or context. In the survey, 75% of teachers say they use that approach, often called ‘three-cueing.’ … SoR advocates aren’t necessarily asking for “more” phonics, but they are asking for more effective phonics instruction. They argue it should proceed systematically, ideally in a sequence determined by a curriculum. Children who are still learning phonics patterns should be asked to read books that consist mostly of words whose patterns they’ve already been taught.”

Election roundup: ballot measures and Chicago Public Schools board of education election

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Ballotpedia covered 4,435 school board elections in 29 states and 12 statewide education-related ballot measures. Today, we’ll look at results for five noteworthy measures, as well as the outcome of Chicago’s school board elections. Several of our school board battlegrounds in Arizona and California—including school board elections in Los Angeles and San Francisco—remain too close to call. We’ll return next week to look at those races.

We’ll begin with ballot measures. 

Ballot measures

The 12 education-related measures voters decided are the most in 18 years. Overall, voters rejected five of the 12 measures and approved seven. The measures addressed many topics, including taxpayer funding for private educational expenses, standardized testing, school board elections, school governance and funding, and more. 

Throughout this year, we’ve provided extensive coverage of many of those measures. 

Partisan school board elections

School board candidates in more than 90% of districts run in nonpartisan elections, including in Florida. And in Florida, it’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future. 

Amendment 1, which would have made school board elections partisan, failed to reach the 60% threshold required to take effect. Unofficial results show 55% in favor and 45% opposed. 

Florida had partisan school board elections until 1998, when voters approved Amendment 11 64-36%. 

Forty-one states have nonpartisan school board elections, four have partisan elections, and five have both. 

Private school choice

Voters in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska decided measures related to what proponents call school choice, which includes policies such as vouchers or education savings accounts (ESA), that provide taxpayer funding for private educational expenses. The term school choice has also been used to describe policies that allow students to enroll in charter schools or public schools or districts outside of the ones to which they’ve been assigned based on ZIP code.

Colorado and Kentucky’s measures would have added language to their respective state constitutions creating a constitutional right to school choice. Nebraska’s measure allowed voters to keep or overturn a 2023 law that established scholarships for use at private schools. A majority of voters in all three cases rejected private school choice as described in the ballot language, including repealing Nebraska’s Opportunity Scholarships Act.

  • Colorado Amendment 80: Voters rejected the measure 52-48%. Among other things, Amendment 80 would have added the phrase “each K-12 child has the right to school choice” to the state constitution. 
  • Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 2: Voters rejected the measure 65-35%. It would have amended the constitution to allow the Kentucky General Assembly to provide state funding to students outside of public schools.
  • Nebraska Referendum 435: This veto referendum asked voters to retain or repeal Legislative Bill 1402, which created the state’s Opportunity Scholarships program. The vote was 57-43% in favor of repealing the law. LB 1402 authorized up to $10 million each year in scholarships to eligible students in the 2024-25 school year to cover all or part of the cost of attending any private elementary or secondary school in the state that fulfilled all accreditation requirements. 

Voters in Nebraska (1972), Michigan (2000), California (2000), Utah (2007), Arizona (2018), and elsewhere have defeated private school choice policies on the ballot. 

Thirty-three states have implemented some form of private school choice program, while 17 states do not have such programs. This year, four states—Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Wyoming—created or expanded private school choice policies. In Alabama and Louisiana, all or nearly all students will be eligible to use taxpayer funding for private educational expenses in the coming years. Those states will join Florida, Iowa, Utah, West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, and North Carolina in permitting all or most students to use taxpayer funding on private education.

Standardized testing

Massachusetts residents approved Question 2 in a 59-41% vote, repealing the requirement that students achieve a certain competency level on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam in 10th grade to graduate high school. Lawmakers passed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) in 1993, creating the MCAS. The state began requiring students to score at a certain level to graduate in 2003.

The measure requires that students participate in the assessment program without achieving a certain competency level and complete all local or district graduation requirements (such as number of class credits, satisfactory grades, and regular attendance). If a student does not meet the minimum MCAS competency requirements in 10th grade, the measure requires them to retake the assessment in the 11th or 12th grade. It also allows former students who failed the MCAS and were prohibited from graduating to request a diploma if they fulfilled all other local or district requirements.

Critics of the MCAS said it was an unfair barrier to students with disabilities and English language learners and encouraged teachers to focus on tests at the expense of broader learning. According to the Boston Globe’s  Mandy McLaren and Ryan Huddle, “About 700 students, primarily from those two groups, fail annually to earn a diploma because of their MCAS scores, according to state data.” Proponents said doing away with the MCAS would lower academic standards in the state, make it harder to keep schools accountable, and leave students unprepared for the demands of college and the workforce. 

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) supported Question 2, while many business leaders opposed it. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also supported Question 2, while Gov. Mara Healey (D) opposed it. 

According to Fair Test: The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an organization that opposes standardized testing requirements, eight states required students to pass a statewide assessment to graduate high school in 2023. Those states are Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. 

Twenty-six states require students to take a civics assessment, ACT/SAT, college and career readiness assessment, and/or end-of-course exams for certain subjects, in order to graduate high school. Sixteen states have no statewide assessment requirements to graduate.

Click here to read more about this year’s education-related measures. 

School board elections

Chicago Public Schools

Thirty-five candidates ran for 10 seats in the city’s first ever school board elections. The current board has seven members, all appointed by the mayor. Because of a state law approved in 2021, the board will expand to 21 members in January, when new members take their seats. The 10 elected members will join 11 mayoral appointees.  

Click here and here to read our previous coverage of this election.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Nader Issa and Sarah Karp, “After a set of campaigns largely defined by opposing progressive and more conservative education movements, mixed election results Tuesday night gave neither the Chicago Teachers Union nor charter school advocates a major cause for celebration in the city’s first-ever school board elections.”

A major issue in the campaign was whether candidates supported traditional neighborhood schools or alternatives like charter and magnet schools. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and a partner organization, the Our Schools Coalition, endorsed candidates in the first category. The Illinois Network of Charter Schools and The Urban Center endorsed candidates in the second. Groups spent more than $7 million supporting or opposing candidates. 

Overall, CTU-backed candidates won four of the 10 seats. Candidates backed by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and/or The Urban Center won three. The winners in District 6, 9, and 10—Jessica Biggs, Therese Boyle, and Che Smith, respectively—were not endorsed by any of the four organizations. 

Some pro-charter advocates framed the election as a referendum on Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teacher and organizer with the CTU. CTU endorsed Johnson in his 2023 mayoral election. Juan Rangel, who co-founded The Urban Center with former CPS chief executive and 2023 mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, said, “Today, the voters have spoken loud and clear, and they reject the extremist policies and chaotic politics of the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Brandon Johnson.” 

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said, “Project 2025 aligned billionaires lost big in Chicago. Despite all they invested to block our union’s vision for public schools, they won’t be able to stop Chicago’s commitment to finally delivering for communities who have been told to go without for generations.” Referring to Johnson’s 11 forthcoming appointees to the board, Davis Gates said, “By my count, we might have — what? — 16 out of 21.”

On Oct. 4, following months of tension between the CPS board and Johnson over funding issues and the district CEO, all seven members of the board resigned. Johnson appointed a new board at the end of October to serve until January. Johnson has until Dec. 16 to name his 11 appointees to the CPS board. That could include some of the members Johnson appointed in October. 

Learn more about this race here.

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

This year, 564 school board candidates in 397 districts across the country completed our Candidate Connection survey. Throughout the year, we’ve featured many of these responses in this newsletter, giving you a look at the issues animating candidates and the themes around which these local elections have revolved.

Today, we’re highlighting surveys from two candidates who won in elections on Nov. 5.

Kim Ellison defeated Shayla Owodunni in the general election for Minneapolis Board of Education At-large, in Minnesota. Ellison received 60% of the vote to Owodunni’s 42%. Minneapolis Public Schools is the third-largest in the state, with an estimated 35,000 students. 

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

  • “We have to increase the proficiency rate for all students; provide engaging pre-school programs, have students reading by third grade, and ensure students graduate prepared for college or career.
  • Be a good steward of public funds — right-size the district while serving the whole child with strong academics, arts, and physical and mental health supports.
  • Expanding successful programs, like the Spanish dual-language immersion program.” 

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

Nekosi Nelson defeated Jim Sneeringer in the general election for Leander Independent School District Place 3, in Texas. Nelson received 51.2% of the vote to Sneeringer’s 48.8%. Leander is the twenty-ninth largest district in Texas, with an estimated student enrollment of 41,000. 

Here’s an excerpt from Nelson’s answer to the question, “What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?”

“I am running for the school board with three guiding commitments: servant leadership, a belief in the power of public education, and a vision for Leander ISD to lead by example across Texas. My leadership will always be values-driven and forward-thinking, focused on improving student outcomes, supporting families, building a strong community, and empowering teachers.”

Click here to read the rest of Nelson’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!