League of Women Voters of Centre County: Know the role of a school board director

Local government is the most accessible level of government. It makes communities strong and resilient through shared involvement. To understand the impact of local government, the League of Women Voters of Centre County (LWVCC) has provided a four-part series about local offices. This is the final installment and focuses on school board directors.

The League of Women Voters of Centre County thanks the PA School Board Association for the following information found at www.psba.org.

Public education is fundamentally a state responsibility and was established under the PA state constitution: “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education ...” and “recognizes that school districts have the status of a unit of local government.” The powers and duties of school board directors are outlined in the state’s Public School Code, written in 1949.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and State Board of Education oversee 500 public school districts, more than 170 public charter schools, public cyber charter schools, Career and Technology Centers/Vocational Technical schools, public Intermediate Units, the education of youth in State Juvenile Correctional Institutions, Head Starts and publicly funded preschools, community colleges and school libraries. The agencies administer the laws and regulations that control the state’s public education system.

There are school boards for each of the 500 public school districts. A school board is a legislative body of citizens called school directors, elected locally and who serve as the governing body of each public school district. School directors function as agents of the commonwealth. There are five school districts in Centre County: Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte Area, Penns Valley Area, Philipsburg-Osceola Area and State College Area. For the 2023 school year, there were 34 public schools in Centre County which served 14,283 students.

Requirements for school board directors are: U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old by election, resident of the school district for at least one year, registered voter and have no felony convictions. The Pennsylvania School Code requires nine school directors, elected for four-year terms with five elected in one municipal election and four elected in the next municipal election. This 5-4 rotation helps ensure continuity. There are no limits to the number of terms a member may serve. There is no financial compensation.

School districts may adopt one of three types of election plans: at large, by region, or by a combination of regional and at-large seats. At-large candidates must be residents of the school district, but may live anywhere in the district and are chosen by all the voters in the district. Regional candidates are elected by the voters of their respective regions, with each region electing an equal number. In combined plans, all regions elect an equal number of school directors who reside in each region and who are elected only by the voters of their region, and some directors are elected at large by voters districtwide. Vacancies are filled by an appointment process conducted by the remaining board directors. If less than two years remain before the former director’s term expires, a director appointed to fill that vacancy serves for the remainder of the term.

School board directors’ focus is to give children the best possible education at an affordable cost to the community. School boards have the duty to “establish, equip, furnish and maintain” the schools in their district. School directors work with the school district’s finances, approve policies including disciplinary policies, establish a strategic plan, set budgets and levy taxes for the district, establish curriculum requirements, set health and safety protocols, and hire or fire the superintendent and assistant superintendent. Despite the broad powers of school boards, the work is still highly regulated from the state and federal levels, involving numerous mandates, restrictions and technicalities with which school boards must comply. A school board’s authority is exercised through the collective decisions of the entire board.

The Municipal Election will be held on Nov. 7. Make sure your voter registration is current at www.centrecountyvotes.gov.

Sue Sargo is the presiding officer of the League of Women Voters of Centre County.