What the heck does this office do? School Board
When most people think about elections, they think about the President, Congress, or maybe the Governor.
But most of the decisions that impact your life happen much closer to home.
Some of the most important decisions in the general election are located towards the bottom of your ballot. These “down ballot” races, like state legislators, school board, city councilors, and county commissioners will determine the future of our healthcare, education, public lands, housing, and lots more.
In this series of articles, Better Wyoming will go over some of the important work each of these offices do, and how they will impact your life and community.
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Check out the other articles in this series
Wyoming State Legislators
County Commissioners
Secretary of State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
School Board
WHY SCHOOL BOARDS MATTER
School boards have been getting more attention lately. As groups like Moms for Liberty seek to enact their far-right agenda in Wyoming’s public schools, these bodies have found themselves uncomfortably at the front lines of some major political battles. School board members are everyday people from the community who are elected to represent the community's values. As such, they are one of the strongest examples of local control that we have in our government.
Wyoming’s school boards...
- determine what can be taught and read in our schools.
- make key decisions on which schools are open or closed.
- control one of the largest employers in the community, and determine rates of pay for teachers and other employees.
- decide on policies that impact students’ wellbeing.
- oversee the district superintendent, who manages the district.
- approve school district budgets and spending.
FOR EXAMPLE…
- Recently, school districts have expressed concern over the state’s recalibration (school funding) plan, including in Natrona County and Albany County.
- The Laramie County School District #1 board recently met controversy over plans to shutter eight elementary schools in town.
- In Campbell County, a school board was a site of discussion over cell phone bans.
- Albany County school board partnered with the city of Laramie on an affordable housing project on an elementary school that closed.