This website provides summaries of school board meetings and school corporation documents in an effort to have a more informed community and reduce regulatory capture.
“There is so much going well. Where our schools get lower grades is the deteriorating work environment for teachers, large increase in class size, lack of transparency in school spending, and poor responses to community recommendations for improvement.”
-Dacia Mumford (Journal & Courier 2020-10-05)
What is regulatory capture?
It is common for elected school boards to favor the priorities of school administrators and teachers union leaders at the expense of the desires of students, parents, teachers, and other community members. Through effective public relations, the control of information, and heavy involvement in election politics, teachers union leaders work with school administrators to select school board members who see things their way. This is known as Regulatory Capture and it is pervasive in the United States.
Why does this matter?
“Common-sense reforms, like offering higher pay to attract teachers to underserved specialties such as math, science, and special education, can’t get traction, because the union says no.” – The Atlantic
Who does the school board represent?
As a community, do we want our school board to represent teachers union leaders and school administrators or do we want a school board that represents us? The public interest often coincides with the interest of union leaders and administrators. However, sometimes the best policy for the community is not the best policy for school administrators. Sometimes the best policy for students, parents, and teachers is not the best policy for union leaders. If we want our schools to improve, we need the school board to represent us. That will only happen if we are informed, speak up, and stay involved.
Dacia Mumford 