Palo Alto 101: What Does the PAUSD School Board Do and Why Does it Matter?

 

It is a common misperception that public school boards are largely ceremonial entities, and that most of the work that “matters” for kids goes on inside of school buildings. While nothing is more important in education than the interaction between children and teachers, in Palo Alto, as in every school district in California, the school board has a tremendous influence over many key decisions that impact public schools.

 This influence is tied to the long-standing tradition of local control of public schools in America, where the ultimate responsibility for the quality and integrity of education rests with locally elected officials who are accountable to their communities.

 Specifically, the Palo Alto School Board has three key areas of responsibility:

 Policy Making: The Board sets policies to help guide the work of the superintendent and staff.

• The PAUSD Board is charged with the development of a long term vision for the district, which Palo Alto has integrated into its strategic plan.

 Administration: Perhaps the most important area for the Board, this role includes approving and monitoring the budget and district contracts, and hiring and evaluating the superintendent and appropriate staff.

• PAUSD has an operating budget of about $180 million for the 2014-15 school year and the Board is the entity charged with providing role in fiscal oversight for the district.
• The PAUSD Board also has to ensure strong leadership for the district by hiring and evaluating the Superintendent. After an extensive national search, the PAUSD Board hired Superintendent Dr. Max McGee to replace Kevin Skelly in May 2014.

 Judicial: The Board holds responsibility for hearing formal appeals brought forward by staff, students, or parents, which requires confidentiality, impartiality, and a full understanding of school law and regulations.

• This judicial role has particular significance in Palo Alto, because PAUSD has been named in at least seven investigations by the Federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) over the past two years.
• Although four of these cases were ultimately dismissed, the PAUSD Board has dedicated a large amount of time and resources (namely legal fees) to address these investigations.
• In June 2014, the PAUSD Board passed a resolution that criticized the OCR for numerous procedural errors and stating that the investigations have, “placed excessive and unfair burdens on District staff members and have been very costly to District resources and reputation.”

The current PAUSD School Board consists of the following five people:

• Melissa Baten Caswell (term expires 2016)
• Heidi Emberling (term expires 2016)
• Ken Dauber (term expires 2018)
• Terry Godfrey (term expires 2018)
• Camille Townsend (term expires 2016)

See Also:

• Palo Alto School Board Election Overview
• How to Choose a Palo Alto School Board Candidate

Resources used for this page include:

greatschools.org

American School Board Journal

South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District