High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Vladimir Kogan, Ohio State University; Stéphane Lavertu, Ohio State University; Zachary Peskowitz, Emory University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
Figure1.R text/x-rsrc 18.3 KB 12/07/2023 07:15:AM
Main Replication.do text/plain 8.9 KB 05/10/2025 10:14:AM
ReadMe.pdf application/pdf 70.4 KB 05/10/2025 10:10:AM
Replication_Data.dta application/x-stata-dta 6.8 MB 05/10/2025 10:30:AM
congruence.dta application/x-stata-dta 320.3 KB 05/10/2025 10:37:AM
seda_cov_geodist_poolyr_4.1.dta application/x-stata-dta 17.9 MB 05/10/2025 09:32:AM
seda_geodist_pool_cs_4.1.dta application/x-stata-dta 1.6 MB 10/31/2023 01:40:PM

Project Citation: 

Kogan, Vladimir, Lavertu, Stéphane , and Peskowitz, Zachary. High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-05-10. https://doi.org/10.3886/E229162V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We analyze the most comprehensive dataset on U.S. school board elections. We find that nearly half of races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80 percent of the time when they run. Because many incumbents retire instead of running for another term, however, turnover is high (with 53 percent of incumbents replaced in a typical election cycle). School board turnover is also only weakly related to student learning rates. These dynamics--high turnover disconnected from school performance challenges--occur across both urban and non-urban districts, regardless of student demographics and local media environments. Together, these results suggest that local democracy produces high leadership churn and minimal incentives to improve student learning, two findings that can inform debates regarding the benefits and costs of local democratic governance.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms School boards; education governance; local elections
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Election contest

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-05-10]

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