School board tenures shrink amid partisanship, generational change
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The majority of Minnesota’s more than 300 public school districts will have school board seats up for election in November.
But, according to Kirk Schneidawind, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association, the people competing for those seats are less likely than in the past to hold their positions for multiple terms.
“We are seeing school board members’ terms shrink,” Schneidawind said.
In the past, he said, board members served an average of 12 to 16 years. That figure has fallen by about half, to one or two terms — eight years or less.
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“I always get concerned when I start talking about these statewide perspectives, but that’s about on average what we’re seeing,” Schneidawind said.
‘More partisan in nature’
The increase in turnover means a loss of experience in the people who hold positions with the power to make decisions on curriculum, staff contracts, and budgets that are sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars.
Schneidawind believes the increase in turnover is partly due to a generational difference. He also thinks the increase in partisan politics in school board elections is discouraging long-term involvement in running schools.
“It seems to be a little bit more partisan in nature that perhaps people, when they ran for the school board. weren't really prepared for,” said Schneidawind. “Perhaps (they) step aside or move on.”
Since the pandemic, school board races in Minnesota and across the country have seen a dramatic increase in competition, partisanship, outside spending and nationalized political influence.
Schneidawind isn’t sure whether the increased turnover in school board members is a net negative or positive. He just hopes board members will take their duties seriously.
“People have more things that they want to do in their lives, right? And I think most people will find out that serving on the school board isn't just showing up for two meetings a month. There's a lot of work on the committee level, community-relation level that require more time from our school board members.”
Competition in ‘kind of the normal range’
This election cycle, there are 316 open positions on Minnesota school boards. Nearly 200 of those seats have more than one candidate vying for positions. 24 seats have no candidates stepping up to run and the rest have just one person seeking to fill an open position.
Some districts, such as South St. Paul, Detroit Lakes and Ortonville have particularly competitive races. But Schneidawind said he believes school board elections aren’t as intensely contested as they were in the years directly following the pandemic.
“There are certainly going to be some nationalized issues,” Schneidawind said “I don’t think it’s as prevalent or as hot as it was during the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some national issues that do trickle into local school board governance.”
