What Does a School Board Member Do?

A school board member has three jobs. First, we hire, fire, and manage the Superintendent. Second, we provide financial oversight, and third, we set the policy that governs school operations.

During my time on the school board, I’m proud that we have maintained steady budgets, despite inflation and all manner of challenges from the pandemic to the elimination of school fees. We have also done huge work to fix the problems in our pay scale. That work is ongoing. We know there is more to do, but we have taken huge steps forward to make our schools more competitive and attractive in the labor market.

The biggest responsibility we have lies with our relationship with the Superintendent. We took great care in selecting the right person for Vigo County. We surveyed the community. We conducted focus groups. We met with leaders and we considered a wide range of candidates.

When we found the right person, we brought a contract forward to the community for consideration. We discussed it openly, outlining the complete package from benefits to take home pay.

When that was vetted, we voted on it publicly and we began working toward goals with the Superintendent. There is near constant communication on all manner of school business – from real time updates on issues as they arise to long term plans to improve our schools.

After the first year was completed, we performed our first evaluation. We used the Indiana School Board Association rubric to evaluate every one of the standards identified by the State Department of Education. With the results in hand, we reported to the community and passed the required resolution to release the full amount of the contract that was publicly vetted the year before.

All of this is done publicly and communicated intentionally because there is a fourth job for a school board member, and that is to be accountable to the people.   

A school board member is not an administrator. There is no work for us to do in the day-to-day operations of the schools. Our role is one of governance over the superintendent, the finances, and the policy.