School Choice and the Political Power of the Teacher

Government employees vote at unusually high rates, but the sources and political consequences of their participation remain contested. We examine these questions using administrative data linking school employees to voter files in Ohio. Public education provides a useful setting for testing broader theories of public-sector political power because traditional public schools are governed through local elections, while charter schools are publicly funded but independently governed. Leveraging variation in the timing and nature of individuals’ transitions into education employment, we show that adults become significantly more likely to vote in low-turnout school board elections after entering traditional public schools, but not after beginning careers in charter schools. These mobilization effects also extend to employees’ household members. Yet voters with a direct employment stake in school board elections constitute a surprisingly modest share of the electorate, suggesting that turnout advantages alone cannot fully explain the political influence of organized public employees.