Do school boards govern, or are they rubber stamps?

​​Governing schools has become far more difficult since the pandemic. Many school boards have, for example, become mired in partisan political controversies that have little to do with their core function: educating students. Several features of this polarized era stand out: cultural fights about sex and gender, disagreement about how schools should teach about race and racism, and the extent to which parents or education professionals should drive decision-making.The Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government is hosting seven one-hour virtual sessions with the nation’s leading policymakers, scholars, and experts on school boards and K–12 governance. The purpose of this virtual series is to examine current challenges facing school boards and to weigh the merits of alternative approaches to governing schools. On May 4, the first session begins with a keynote address. Subsequent sessions are described below.