Why School Board Elections Matter More Than You Think
By: Nancy Mercante, Guest Contributor
School Board elections take place on May 12th this year. In recent years, as little as two percent of eligible voters have turned out to vote. A large part of those who vote come from special interest groups. If you’re not part of such a group, chances are you haven’t been voting in School Board elections! Our Republic depends on an informed and engaged citizenry, made up of people who pay attention to and follow important issues and vote. Educating children is an important issue.
Children are the future. Their success or failure in life is determined by good parenting and a good education. Delaware’s future depends on developing a highly skilled workforce at all levels to create and sustain a robust economy. When we fail in education, we fail our communities, our state and our nation.
Look at the role of a school board for what it is, a Board of Directors elected to oversee and steer our school districts to produce the highest possible outcomes. Many would agree that it is not happening. Our state trails the country in almost every phase of education.
The Board needs people with expertise in education, but as with any endeavor, it needs more than so-called experts. It also needs business and professional leaders, community representatives, and concerned parents to deal with diverse issues such as curriculum, security, discipline, public relations, budgets, facilities and human resources. All these functions are rolled up in an enormous responsibility to serve the needs of our children, our community and our taxpayers.
Whether a School Board succeeds or fails, its impact is widespread. Children, families, the future workforce, and even the criminal justice system are among the segments of society impacted. It is unconscionable for a community not to take an active interest in the performance of its school board as it bears so much power over the future.
Citizens for Delaware Schools (C4DS) was formed in recognition of the need to arouse public awareness of the plight of our public schools in three ways:
Highlight where the public school system is falling short.
Nationwide testing has repeatedly shown that Delaware students lag severely behind in core areas of reading, writing and math. Recently, Delaware Department of Education test scores have revealed similar underperformance.
Attract qualified and diverse citizens to run for school board.
Powerful special interest groups and in some cases the existing School Boards themselves
have exerted oversized influence over the selection of candidates on an ideological basis.
This control coupled with financial and vocal support has limited the ability to new candidates to gain the support needed to win elections leaving the majority of sitting School Board members to go unchallenged.
Publish a Voter Guide to help voters cast an informed vote.
Prior to the last three elections, C4DS has sought responses from all School Board candidates to questions regarding a variety of education issues. This information is compiled into a Voter Guide using unedited responses in the candidates’ own words. The Voter Guide is promoted through radio appearances, newsletters and articles in numerous publications to assist voters in choosing the candidates best suited to improve Delaware public schools on a non-partisan basis.
Importantly, C4DS and other well-intended organizations can do a lot to draw attention to our School Board elections, but the one thing we cannot do is to get out and cast your vote.
As a local broadcaster recently put it, “If you pass a school bus stop with ten children waiting for the bus, think to yourself that only three of them can read and do math at grade level”. Only you the voter can bring about change. For the information you need, visit Citizens4DelawareSchools.org and be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter.
Nancy Mercante had a career in corporate communications for major companies in the financial, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries. She founded Citizens for Delaware Schools, a nonpartisan nonprofit, two years ago to advocate for a better education for every student in Delaware.