Questions to Ask School Board Candidates
For parents, teachers and voters who get a minute with someone running for the school board, whether at a candidate forum, on the doorstep or through a local paper's questionnaire. The list follows the job: what a board actually controls, the budget and levies, hiring and overseeing the superintendent, what is taught and how students are doing, staffing and safety, and who is behind the campaign. The notes describe a solid answer and a worrying one, and where school law differs by state and district they say what to look up about yours before you ask.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The Board's Job
Why are you running for school board, and what do you want to be different by the end of your first term?
Why ask it
Every candidate has the first half rehearsed, so listen to the second. A solid answer names something you could check later, such as a reading result, a finished building or a shorter vacancy list. 'Putting students first' names nothing, so ask what that would look like in a vote.
What are the biggest challenges facing our schools right now, and which one would you take on first?
Why ask it
Expect a prepared list, because nearly every forum opens with some version of this. The lists will sound alike across the stage and the pick will not: a board gets through only so much in a year, and the first choice shows where a member's early votes would go. Hold it against what a board can vote on, since 'restoring trust' is not an agenda item.
What experience or skills would you bring to the board that it does not have now?
Why ask it
A board has to read a budget, a labor contract, a construction bid and a page of test results, and no single member is good at all four. Look at who already sits there, because a second accountant adds less than the first member who has taught a class. The stronger candidates also say what they would have to learn and who they would learn it from.
What does a school board member actually decide, and what belongs to the superintendent and the principals?
Why ask it
Boards commonly set policy, adopt the budget and employ the superintendent while staff run the schools day to day, but the exact split depends on your state and district, so look it up before you ask. Be wary of anyone who promises to personally fix a teacher, a bus route or the lunch menu.
How many board meetings have you attended or watched in the past year, and what surprised you?
Why ask it
Regular board meetings are open to the public and often recorded, so 'none' is hard to excuse. The surprise is the real test: people who have sat through a few tend to mention how much of the night is contracts, policy readings and routine approvals, and how little is the argument that made the news.
What is your connection to these schools right now: children enrolled, a job, volunteering, or none of those?
Why ask it
No answer here rules anyone out. A parent knows one or two buildings well, a former teacher knows the staff room, and a resident with no children pays the same taxes. Follow up by asking which schools in the district they have never set foot in.
Which vote by this board in the last two years would you have cast differently, and why?
Why ask it
Minutes and recorded votes are generally posted, so a prepared challenger can name the meeting. Unhappiness with 'the direction of the district' and no vote attached usually means the minutes went unread. With an incumbent, turn it around and ask which of their own votes they would take back.
A parent calls you about a problem with their child's teacher. What do you do?
Why ask it
Sooner or later every member gets this call. The sound answer points the parent up the chain, teacher, then principal, then district office, and offers to check that someone responded. A candidate who would phone the principal personally is describing a member acting alone, which board policies generally do not allow.
You would be one vote among several. How would you work with members who see the schools very differently from you?
Why ask it
Look for something practical, like finding the one item they agree on or asking a colleague what would change their mind. Open-meeting rules in many places limit what members may settle in private, so a candidate who plans to sort things out behind closed doors may not know them yet.
How many hours a week do you expect this seat to take, and where will those hours come from?
Why ask it
The meeting itself is the small part. There is a packet to read before each one, committee nights, school visits and calls from residents, and whether any of it is paid depends on the district. A candidate who has asked a sitting member about the hours will answer with a number.
Budget and Levies
How big is the district's budget, and roughly what share of it pays salaries and benefits?
Why ask it
Both figures sit in the published budget, and pay and benefits are usually the largest line by a wide margin. Someone who knows them understands why a promise to 'cut waste' rarely frees up much. If the candidate guesses, ask where they would look it up.
How much of the district's funding is local, how much comes from the state, and what does that leave the board able to change?
Why ask it
The mix of property tax, state aid and federal money differs widely from one place to the next, and it sets how much a board really controls. A good answer separates what the board decides from what arrives through a state formula. When the candidate is hazy, the district's finance office can tell you how it works where you live.
Would you vote to put a levy or a bond on the ballot, and what would have to be true first?
Why ask it
Each state writes its own rules on levies, bonds and referendums, so find out what your board may ask voters for and how often. A flat never should come with what gets cut as costs rise. An easy yes should come with what the money buys and when it runs out.
If voters turn down the next levy, what would you cut first and what would you protect to the end?
Why ask it
The order is the answer. Compare it with the reduction list the district published the last time money was short, if there was one. Be skeptical of a candidate who says nothing would have to go, since that means they have not looked or would rather not say.
Enrollment here is changing. Would you ever vote to close or merge a school, and how should that be decided?
Why ask it
Check the district's enrollment trend before you ask, because falling numbers and crowded buildings are opposite problems. 'Never' is popular and can be expensive. What you want is criteria named before any school is: building condition, travel time, what it saves, and how early families are told.
Where do you stand on charter schools, vouchers and open enrollment, and what do they mean for this district's budget?
Why ask it
Which of these exist where you live, and whether a local board has any say over them, is set by the state, so find out before the forum. In many places funding follows enrollment, which makes this a budget question as well as a belief. A candidate with a firm view either way should know roughly how many local children already go to school somewhere else, and why.
Which building in this district is in the worst shape, and how would you pay to fix it?
Why ask it
Many districts keep a facilities plan or a list of repairs put off. Naming the roof or the boiler suggests the candidate has read it or walked the halls. On the money, ask whether repairs and daily operations are paid from separate funds in your state, because in a lot of places they are.
How should teacher and staff pay be set, and where would the money for a raise come from?
Why ask it
Where staff bargain collectively the board approves a contract, and elsewhere it adopts a salary schedule, so ask which applies in your district. A raise recurs every year, which makes one-time money a weak answer. Candidates backed by the union and candidates opposed by it should both be able to do this arithmetic.
Superintendent
What do you think of the current superintendent's work, and what is that based on?
Why ask it
Choosing and evaluating the superintendent is commonly the largest power a board holds, so this is not a side question. Pay attention to the basis: budgets and results over several years, or one incident and what a neighbor said. A candidate running to replace the superintendent should say so plainly.
How should the board evaluate the superintendent, and what goals would you write into the next review?
Why ask it
Start by asking whether they have seen the current evaluation form or goals, which some districts publish and others keep private. Good goals are few and can be measured. It is a bad sign when the review is described as a formality, or as a chance to settle scores.
If the superintendent left next year, what would you look for in the next one, and how would the public be involved?
Why ask it
A new member may well end up voting in a search, so the question is less hypothetical than it sounds. The qualities should match this district's problems instead of describing a generic leader. On involvement, ask whether finalists would meet staff and families, and how much of a search your state lets a board keep confidential.
When would you vote against the superintendent's recommendation, and when would you defer to it?
Why ask it
Both extremes are worth worrying about. A rubber stamp never asks anything, and a member who second-guesses every item is trying to run the district from the dais. Ask for one item from a recent agenda where they would have pushed back, and what they would have wanted to see first.
What reports should the board be getting regularly that it does not get now?
Why ask it
Boards oversee through reports: enrollment, attendance, spending against the budget, vacancies, discipline, progress on goals. Only someone who has watched meetings can say what is presented and what is missing. A useful follow-up is whether the public would see the same report.
A staff member comes to you privately with a serious concern about an administrator. What happens next?
Why ask it
You are checking whether the candidate knows the district has a complaint procedure and would use it instead of promising an outcome. In some places the board later sits as the hearing body on staff matters, so a member who has already taken a side may have to step back. Ask how it works in your district.
Curriculum and Students
Who should choose curriculum and textbooks, and what part should the board play?
Why ask it
States generally set the standards and districts choose materials within them, often with a teacher committee recommending and the board adopting. Some states narrow the choice, so find out how it runs where you live. A candidate who wants to pick the lessons and one who would adopt anything unread have both misread the role. The board's part is to question the process and the evidence.
What should happen when a parent objects to a book in a school library or on a reading list?
Why ask it
Many districts have a written reconsideration policy with a form, a review committee and an appeal that can end at the board. Ask whether the candidate has read it and would follow it when they dislike the result. Naming a title that has been challenged locally gets a clearer answer than the general question.
Have you read any of the books or lessons that have been challenged here, start to finish?
Why ask it
A yes or no that shows how the candidate forms opinions. Someone who read the whole thing can talk about it in their own words, while someone working from excerpts will repeat the excerpts. If nothing has been challenged in your district, ask what they would want to read before voting on one.
How should the schools handle subjects some families object to, such as sex education or how history and race are taught?
Why ask it
State law decides a good deal here, in some places including what must be taught and whether a family may opt out, so check before the forum. Listen for a plain position plus a process: how parents see the materials, how opt-outs work, what teachers are told. Heat with no process means the same fight returns every year.
What rules should the district have for transgender students, on names, restrooms and sports teams?
Why ask it
State law, court rulings and athletic association rules settle much of this, and they differ from place to place and keep changing, so find out what is already decided where you live. That leaves two things for the candidate to answer: what they would vote for inside those limits, and how a school should look after the students involved while the adults argue. A candidate reciting a national script has not thought about this district's children yet.
How should parents be able to see what their children are taught, and what should a teacher be protected from?
Why ask it
Nearly every candidate says they are for parent involvement, so ask for the mechanics: what is posted, what is available on request, who has to answer and how fast. The second half matters as much. A complaint process with no limits can be turned on one teacher, and good candidates have thought about that.
How are students in this district doing in reading and math, and what can a board member do about it?
Why ask it
Most states publish a report card for every district, so the candidate should know roughly where this one stands and which schools or groups trail. The second half is harder because boards do not teach. Realistic levers are setting a goal, funding what staff say will meet it, and asking for results on a schedule.
How many students here miss so much school that they fall behind, and what would you want the district to try?
Why ask it
Many states report a chronic absence rate for each district and define it their own way, so look yours up first. Blaming families is the cheap answer. Better ones start with why children stay home, whether that is the bus, health, safety or boredom, and say which of those a board can put money toward.
How well does the district serve students with disabilities, and what have their families told you?
Why ask it
Special education takes a large part of many budgets and much of it is governed by law above the board, which is why vague answers are common. A candidate who has talked with these families will mention waits for evaluations, aides who keep leaving or meetings that felt like a fight. Having nothing to say suggests they have not met those families yet.
Which students in this district are served least well right now, and what tells you so?
Why ask it
The answer shows whose schools the candidate knows: students learning English, advanced students with nowhere to move up, the building with the most staff turnover, children with the longest bus rides. Notice whether the proof offered is a figure, a visit or something heard secondhand. Then ask what the board could actually vote on to change it.
What should the district offer students who are not headed to a four-year college?
Why ask it
Career and technical courses, apprenticeships and college credit earned in high school differ a great deal between districts. 'I support the trades' is a sentiment. Knowing which programs exist now, and how many students are turned away for lack of a seat, is preparation.
Where do you stand on phones in class, and on how students use AI tools for schoolwork?
Why ask it
Good answers begin with what the current policy says and what teachers report about enforcing it. Be cautious about a ban that comes with no plan for who collects the phones, or for exceptions such as a student who needs one for a health reason. On AI, ask what they would want teachers trained to do.
Staffing and Safety
Why do teachers leave this district, and what can the board do about the reasons you just gave?
Why ask it
Pay is the easy answer and only partly within the board's reach in a single year. Candidates who have talked with teachers bring up class sizes, backing on discipline, planning time or one particular building. Exit interviews are worth raising: does the district hold them, and does the board ever see what they say?
Which jobs is the district finding hardest to fill, whether teachers, bus drivers, aides or substitutes, and what would you try?
Why ask it
Shortages differ by district, and the missing bus driver or classroom aide can disrupt a family's week more than an open teaching post. Knowing which routes were combined or which classes have had a string of substitutes shows the candidate has been listening. Workable ideas tend to involve pay for that role, hours that carry benefits, or training local people into the job.
What is the largest class you would accept in an elementary school, and what would you trade to keep it there?
Why ask it
Asking for a number forces the arithmetic, because smaller classes need more teachers and more rooms. Some states and some contracts set limits, so ask what applies locally. Smaller classes, higher pay and no new taxes in one breath means the sums have not been done.
What would you change about student discipline, and what do teachers say about how it works now?
Why ask it
There are two losses to weigh: a student sent home misses school, and a class that keeps getting disrupted misses it too. A candidate who mentions only one has heard half the argument. What separates candidates is whether they know what help a teacher gets on the day a student comes back to the room.
Where is the district weakest on school safety, and what would you spend to fix it?
Why ask it
Details of security plans are often kept confidential for good reason, so do not expect specifics about doors and drills. Priorities are fair game: entrances, staff training, counselors, a way to report threats, officers. The telling part is how they weigh hardware against people, and how they would know the money had worked.
Should police or school resource officers work in the schools, and who should they answer to?
Why ask it
Where officers are assigned to schools there is usually a written agreement with the police department that spells out what they handle, and the board often approves it. Whichever side the candidate is on, they should know whether one exists here and what it says. The line to press on is where ordinary discipline ends and law enforcement begins, and who makes that call on the day.
What should a school do about bullying, including what happens online after hours?
Why ask it
Nobody runs in favor of bullying, so move straight to where the current policy fails. A common complaint from parents is silence after a report. A good answer includes a time limit for responding, telling the family what was done within privacy rules, and counting repeat reports by school.
What should the district provide for student mental health, and where does the school's job end?
Why ask it
Listen for the line the candidate draws between what a school should provide and what belongs to families and outside clinics, since both camps have voters. Counselors, school psychologists and partnerships with providers all cost money. A candidate who has looked into it knows how many counselors the district has and how much of their day goes to scheduling and testing.
Campaign and Trust
Who has given the most to your campaign, and what do you think they expect?
Why ask it
Contribution filings are usually open to anyone, and your county or state elections office can say where they are kept, so read them before the forum and compare. Outside groups, unions, parties and committees spend on school board races in some places. The answer to trust names the donors without being pushed and includes one point where candidate and donor disagree.
Which groups have endorsed you, and did you fill out a questionnaire or sign a pledge to get it?
Why ask it
Questionnaires and pledges are commitments made out of public view. Ask to see them, since plenty of candidates will share and some groups publish every response. An endorsement from a teachers' union, a parents' group, a party or a national organization tells you something, and none of them settles the matter alone.
Are you running as part of a slate or with a party's help, and would you ever vote against your running mates?
Why ask it
School board elections are officially nonpartisan in many places, so ask about yours, but the campaigns often are not. Running together is legitimate. What you need to know is whether this person would break with the group on a vote, and the way to find out is to ask for one issue where they already differ.
Do you, a relative or your employer work for the district or do business with it, and which votes would you sit out?
Why ask it
A spouse who teaches in the district or a firm that sells to it is common in a small community and not a scandal. Conflict-of-interest rules come from state law and board policy, so ask what they require where you live. The candidate who has already read the policy is ahead of the one who says it will not be a problem.
The room is packed and angry, and most speakers oppose a vote you think is right. What do you do?
Why ask it
Hope to hear three things: let people finish, explain the vote in plain words, and leave the public comment rules alone in the middle of a fight. Folding to the loudest room is one failure and dismissing the speakers as outsiders is the other. The follow-up that works is a time they held a position, or changed one, under that kind of pressure.
What will you do after you lose a vote on the board?
Why ask it
Once a majority decides, the decision belongs to the whole board. A mature answer is to state the disagreement in public once, help carry the decision out, and reopen it only with new information. Taking the fight online or repeating what was said in closed session is a different matter, and the second is restricted by board rules in many places.
How can residents reach you between meetings, and how will you report back on your votes?
Why ask it
Push for something specific: an email answered within a set number of days, an hour at the library each month, a short written summary after each meeting. Then ask whether they back recorded meetings and documents posted in advance. Candidates who campaign on transparency should want both when the votes being watched are their own.
By the end of your term, what result would make you say your time on the board had failed?
Why ask it
Asking about failure tends to produce something more concrete than asking about success, because nobody has a slogan ready for it. If everything in the answer depends on the state or the superintendent, ask which part the candidate would own. Keep the reply somewhere you will find it when they run again.
How to question the people running for your school board
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the forum or the doorstep
Find out what your board controls
A school board's powers come from state law and local policy, and they are narrower than campaign mailers suggest. The district website usually has the policy manual and a page on the board's role, and a state school boards association often publishes a plain summary. A short read is enough to see which promises a candidate could keep.
Skim one agenda and the budget summary
Read the agenda and minutes of one recent meeting and the short version of the budget that most districts post. You will see what the board really votes on, and you will be able to tell a candidate who has read them from one who has not.
Look up who is paying
School board campaigns usually have to report their donors to a county, state or city office, depending on where you live, and anyone can read the reports. Check the filing dates, since the last report before an election can arrive late. Bring what you find as a question, not an accusation.
Know how the seats work
Ask the elections office how many seats are open, whether members are elected by area or by the whole district, how long a term runs and whether a party appears on the ballot. The answers change which candidates you are comparing and how many you may vote for.
Sort your questions by who decides
Graduation requirements, state tests and much of the funding formula are usually set above the district, and a seating chart or a grade is settled inside one school. A board candidate can only be held to what the board votes on, so put each of your questions in one of those three piles first. When you cannot tell which pile it belongs in, that is a good question in itself.
Asking as a parent, a teacher or a neighbor
Name the school, the book or the levy
If you are asking about a closed school, a challenged book or a failed levy, name it. General questions invite the national version of the argument, and what you need is what this person would do with this district's version.
If you are a parent
Your own child's year is why you care, and it is also the one thing a board member cannot fix. Turn the story into the rule behind it: a bus that keeps arriving late becomes a question about the transport contract, and a long wait for an evaluation becomes one about special education staffing. The answer then covers the next family as well as yours.
If you work for the district
Staff see what a budget does once it reaches a classroom, which makes their questions some of the sharpest in the room. Districts and states often have rules about political activity on work time, with work email or in front of students, so check yours and ask as a resident on your own time. Class sizes, planning time and how the board hears from staff are the subjects only you can make specific.
If you have no children in the schools
School taxes are often a large part of a local tax bill, and you vote on the people who set them. The budget, building and levy questions are yours to ask, and so is one more: what would the candidate say to a resident like you the next time the district asks for money?
Same words for every candidate, then one follow-up
Pick two or three questions, put each to every candidate in the same words and note what each one said, because differences that vanish in a stump speech show up side by side. Hold one follow-up back for the slogan: 'Which school?', 'Which line of the budget?' or 'Which meeting was that?'. A canvassing candidate has a couple of minutes, so at the door it is one question and a request for an address to send the rest to.
Running a forum or a questionnaire
Same questions, same limits, same deadline
Whether you are a parent group, a neighborhood association or a local paper, give every candidate the same list, the same word limit and the same due date. Say in advance that answers will be published as written and that a missing answer will be shown as missing.
Fewer questions, tighter ones
A written questionnaire that runs long gets skimmed, and a forum gets through fewer rounds than organizers expect. Choose from across the groups on this page so the budget and the superintendent are not crowded out by the loudest topic of the season.
Set the rules before anyone arrives
Decide the speaking order, the time per answer, whether rebuttals are allowed and how audience questions are collected, and send all of it to the campaigns in writing. Written cards read out by a moderator keep speeches from the floor out of the evening.
Check what your group may do
Parent organizations, school staff and nonprofits often have their own rules about staying neutral in elections, and using school buildings or email lists can have limits. Ask your organization and the district before you send invitations.
Publish it and keep it
Post the answers or the recording where voters can find them, unedited. Keep a copy after the election as well. It is the record you will want when a vote comes up two years on.
Answers that should make you ask again
Promises outside the board's reach
One member cannot fire a teacher, rewrite state standards or lower a tax rate alone, and a whole board cannot do some of those either. When you hear such a promise, ask which vote would deliver it and who else must agree.
All slogan, no district
'Back to basics', 'parents' rights' and 'support our teachers' can each mean several things. If an answer would sound the same in any district in the country, ask what it means for one school here.
Staff named and blamed
Criticizing a decision is fair. A candidate who attacks a principal or a teacher by name from a stage is showing you how they would treat employees who are not free to answer back.
Nothing would ever need cutting
Every budget involves choosing. A platform of new programs, smaller classes, higher pay and lower taxes has left the choosing for after the election, and you are entitled to ask for the order now.
'I would have to study that'
Sometimes this is honest, since a first-time candidate cannot know everything. It becomes a pattern worth noting when it is the answer on the budget, on the superintendent and on the issue that filled the last year of meetings.