Campus Talk: Three Questions With Dr. Tony Prothro

Editor’s note: Talk Business Arkansas contributor Steve Brawner today offers another installment of “Three Questions,” a recurring feature for our education and public policy readers.

Dr. Tony Prothro recently became executive director of the Arkansas School Boards Association after serving a year as assistant executive director. Earlier, he served as superintendent of the Benton School District.

Brawner: In the past couple of decades, more and more decision-making authority has been transferred from school boards to state and federal government. What is the school board’s role now?

Prothro: Although some school board authority has been removed due to federal and state legislation, the school board is still ultimately in control of the destiny of the school district. The school board employs and evaluates the CEO (school superintendent) of the district. The school board still approves financials and district budgets. The school board votes to approve new facility projects and curriculum for the school district. As you can see, the school board plays a vital role in the business of school districts. It is unfortunate that there are many good school boards who go unnoticed for the wonderful role they play in school governance.

Brawner: School board members are among the few elected officeholders that aren’t paid. Should they be?

Prothro: School board members are one of the few entities who are elected, unpaid volunteers. This hopefully places them outside of at least some of the political pressures faced by other elected officials. Also, as unpaid volunteers, school board members are able to focus strictly on what is good for their district’s students and not have their actions misperceived as being for their personal gain. Board members and superintendents report that it is becoming increasingly difficult to sway many of our citizenry to run for school boards. However, I would advocate that board members remaining as unpaid volunteers will hopefully continue to place good people in office who want to serve their communities and children. This allows board members to work as servant-leader volunteers rather than employees performing a job function.

Brawner: Voter turnout in September school elections is now down to the low single digits in some cases. Some in the Legislature believe school elections should be moved to November. Would you give the reasons ASBA is opposed to that?

Prothro: Much of the answer lies in the response to question 2. Moving board member elections to the November election would first of all be burdensome and time consuming to the county clerks’ offices. Due to Arkansas’s constitutional constraints on the expenditure of school district funds, voters’ ballots would become longer and/or more complicated. School district boundary lines, depending on the district, may at times cross numerous county lines. Voter confusion on where to vote and coordination between counties as to polling places and ballot issues would be cumbersome.

Even if those issues would be resolved, there would still be the politicizing of the board race if it were moved to the November election. The September election is well-publicized, and in many school districts the voter turnout is based on the satisfaction of the community in how well the district is being run. Moving elections to November might move the election of the board members into the partisanship realm. Board members in medium to large school districts could be elected on the amount of TV air time or the size and number of billboards rather than the issues at hand.

Currently, it takes much less financially to run for school board member than for most of the other political offices. Moving to November elections would most probably eliminate many board member candidates due to the time and financial backing required to run for election. The answer to this would be for political parties to back candidates; however, this might transfer the focus from the welfare of the students to political agendas. Also, board members running in the November election would encourage “single issue” candidates, and there is so much more to board service.

Editor’s Note: Steve Brawner has an ongoing professional relationship with ASBA, including publishing the association’s magazine, Report Card.