
With the start of a new term for many school board members across the state, monthly meetings are getting underway to oversee and guide local education. It’s time for a candid discussion about what truly happens in those monthly meetings supposedly guiding children’s education.
The monthly ritual unfolds like clockwork. Board members file in, take their seats, and prepare for another evening of what can only be described as passive performative leadership. The evening begins with recognitions to set the tone. Everyone celebrates a student or employee individual achievement, or maybe the marching band’s recent statewide competition win.
Next comes the administrative minutia (during which half the audience leaves). The facilities director then updates everyone about a new HVAC system. The superintendent presents a new initiative or new curriculum the district is purchasing. Board members nod approvingly then vote to approve a few contracts. A couple hours later, everyone goes home feeling productive.
Meanwhile, a crisis lurks beneath this carefully choreographed performance: Only one-third of American fourth-graders read at grade level. Math proficiency has plummeted to decades-low levels. But you wouldn’t know it from most board meetings, where student achievement data often receives less attention than the new locker room decor.
This disconnect is the result of a gradual but profound shift in how school board members view their role – from ensuring student success to merely observing administrative processes.
Education governance expert AJ Crabill succinctly states, “School boards exist for one reason and one reason only: to ensure students succeed.” Not to rubber-stamp administrative agendas. Not to debate peripheral issues like locker room decor or lunch vendor choice. To ensure students succeed. Period.
When Good Intentions Meet Hard Reality
Let’s address the elephant in the school board room: the massive gap between intentions and outcomes in public education. This isn’t about questioning anyone’s heart or commitment—it’s about facing an uncomfortable truth that’s holding us back from real progress.
Every educator I’ve ever met wants students to succeed. Every school board member runs for office wanting to make a positive difference. I promise you that your superintendent has students in mind in everything they do. The intentions are all pure gold.
Yet the results tell a different story. In 2023, only 38.7% of Georgia students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency or above in mathematics. For English Language Arts (ELA), just 39.5% of Georgia students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency or above in 2023. These aren’t accusations—they’re facts. Cold, hard, uncomfortable facts.
This disconnect manifests regularly in school board meetings. A dedicated administrator presents an innovative new literacy program they\re eager to adopt. The intentions are commendable: help struggling readers achieve grade-level proficiency. Board members praise the teachers and administrators’ dedication. Everyone leaves feeling optimistic.
But what happens three months later? Six months? A year? Does anyone return to ask the crucial question: Did more students actually learn to read as a result?
Rarely.
Somehow, in our current educational culture, inquiring about outcomes has become tantamount to questioning intentions. It’s as if measuring results implies doubt about effort or commitment. This is fundamentally flawed reasoning.
When a doctor inquires whether a treatment improved a patient’s condition, they’re not questioning their colleague’s intentions or expertise. They’re focused on the essential question: Did the patient’s health improve?
The Innovation Paradox
Here’s a dirty little secret about our current educational system: In trying to protect educators from failure, we’ve actually prevented them from succeeding.
In most districts today, every year brings a new program, a new framework, a new buzzword-laden approach that’s supposed to revolutionize learning. Teachers and administrators aren’t evaluated on whether their students actually learn more, but on how faithfully they implement these top-down initiatives.
The result? A culture of compliance rather than innovation. Educators become masters of going through the motions, checking boxes, and playing it safe. Who can blame them? When success is measured by adherence to process rather than student outcomes, experimentation becomes dangerous.
“But wait,” you might say, “wouldn’t setting strict achievement goals make educators even more risk-averse?”
Actually, the opposite is true. When we establish clear outcome goals but give educators freedom, we give them autonomy in reaching them, we create the conditions for genuine innovation.
This is exactly what our educators need—clear goals with the freedom to innovate in achieving them. Imagine a school where the board has set a clear target: “70% of students will reach grade-level reading proficiency by 2026.” Now the conversation changes to “Are your students making progress toward reading proficiency and how can we help?”
Let’s be honest about why this shift is so hard. Our current system offers a perverse kind of safety: If you follow all the prescribed rules and procedures and students still don’t learn, well… at least you followed the process and procedures. No one gets fired for faithfully implementing the district’s chosen program.
But when we shift to clear outcome goals, suddenly there’s nowhere to hide. Either students are learning or they’re not. This transparency can be terrifying—at first. Yet it’s precisely this clarity that empowers educators to innovate and excel.
A Call to Action
As new board members assume their positions, they face a critical choice: continue the comfortable tradition of passive governance or reclaim their essential role as guardians of student success. This transformation requires:
- Board Courage: Setting clear, measurable goals and maintaining high expectations even when progress is uncomfortable
- Administrative Support: Superintendents who protect and encourage innovation rather than mandating uniformity
- Teacher Trust: Believing in educators’ professional judgment and giving them room to experiment
- Community Patience: Understanding that sustainable improvement involves some trial and error
- Relentless Focus: Keeping student achievement at the center of every discussion and decision
Want to assess your local school board’s effectiveness? Ask them these simple questions:
- What percentage of third-graders in our district read at grade level?
- What’s our specific goal for improvement?
- What’s our timeline for reaching it?
- What consequences exist if we don’t meet these targets?
- How frequently do we monitor progress?
If your board members can’t answer these basic questions (spoiler alert: most can’t), they’re not fulfilling their fundamental responsibility to ensure student success.
The next time you attend a school board meeting, listen. Are they discussing specific student achievement goals, or are they lost in administrative minutiae? Are they asking probing questions about academic progress, or are they simply going through prescribed motions? Better yet, make your voice heard. Remind them of their fundamental purpose.
The lost role of school boards isn’t merely a problem—it’s an educational crisis. However, with courage, honesty, and commitment to genuine accountability, we can restore these vital institutions to their proper role: ensuring every child receives the education they deserve.
Our students merit more than performative leadership. They need leaders who aren’t afraid to set high standards, demand results, and hold themselves and the school district accountable for achieving them.
The time for transformation is now.
Elliot Pierce is a political columnist and lifelong resident of Northwest Georgia. Follow him on his website at ElliotPierce.net, on Twitter at @ElliotPierce_ and on Facebook at facebook.com/elliot.pierce, or reach him by email at .