The Education Exchange: The Illusion of Local Control of Schools

School boards churn despite uncontested elections, with politics largely detached from student outcomes

Photo of Vladimir KoganVladimir Kogan, a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new report which finds that half of school board election races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80 percent of the time when they run.

The report, “High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States,” co-written with Stéphane Lavertu and Zachary Peskowitz, is available here.

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