Alabama voters will decide Tuesday whether to keep electing state school board members or let the governor appoint them.
A yes vote puts Alabama in line with states across the Southeast and a no vote keeps Alabama standing apart.
Opponents of Amendment One argue the people shouldn’t give up their vote. Supporters say it’s time to get in line with other states where state school board members are appointed.
There’s no question that Alabama lags behind other states in education rankings nationwide, and while who sits on the school board and how they got there isn’t the only thing that matters, it does impact the direction of education initiatives and the resources states allocate for education.
AL.com has looked at what Amendment One calls for, whether there’s any chance an appointed state school board could raise Alabama’s national standing in education, and how we got the elected board we currently have. Now we’ll look at how other states choose their state school board.
Alabama is one of seven states that elects its state school board members.
The shift toward more centralized control
Since 1969, Alabama voters have elected eight state school board members by district. There were eight Congressional districts until 1970, when the number dropped to seven. The loss of the Congressional district did not affect the number of school board members.
From 1854 until 1969, we had either no school board or an appointed one.
Over the past 50 years, states have increasingly moved away from electing state school boards and toward more centralized control over public education, giving the governor more control over who sits on the state school board.
A few states have dropped their state school board altogether.
In a review of available historical documents, the farthest back and closest to Alabama’s 1969 change we could find was a review conducted in 1974 entitled “State Policy Making for the Public Schools: A Comparative Analysis,” posted on the U.S. Department of Education website.
Then and now
In 1972, in 31 states, the governor appointed all of part of the state school board. In 2019, it’s up to 36.
In 1972, 12 states voted to elect their entire state school board, but the number now is seven. Six hold partisan elections, one holds a nonpartisan election.
These are the states that elect state school board members in partisan elections.
There are currently three states that have a combination of elected and appointed state school board members, where there were none in 1972.
In 1972, there were five states whose state school boards were composed of people either selected by someone other than the governor or who were elected to some other position which in turn gave them a seat on the board. In 2019, there are none.
The number of states without a governing state school board was two in 1972, and it’s doubled to four in 2019.
Now it’s up to Alabama voters.
Will Alabama remain an island in a sea of appointed state school boards? Or will Alabama trust the governor to choose those who will pave the path for education?
Regardless of what voters choose on Tuesday, Alabama’s children will still depend on those at the top of the rung to set the stage for their success, and Alabama will still compete for business and industries to locate here.
Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.
Alabama Amendment One coverage
Alabama to vote on whether to fire the state school board. Here are the facts.
Can appointed state school board raise Alabama’s national standing in education?
How Alabama got an elected school board
Alabama school board member threatens lawsuit if Amendment One passes
Some big Alabama businesses back appointed state school board