Relational trust and the politics of evidence use: School boards navigate policymaking and equity during and after the pandemic

ABSTRACT

This article examines how school boards in New Jersey navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, which also coincided with the national trauma and reactions related to the George Floyd murder and subsequent backlash. The politicization of issues during that first year of the pandemic foreshadowed profound changes in the world of many school boards in New Jersey over the ensuing 3 years. These changes have dramatically affected relational trust in school districts and the use of evidence in educational policymaking.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional resources

1. Henig, J., Jacobson, R., & Reckhow, S. (2019). Outside money in school board elections: The nationalization of education politics. Harvard Education Press.

This book is an analysis of the recent surge of external funding into local school board elections. The study documents school board elections in five large urban districts in the United States and examines what happens when national issues percolate downwards into local politics. The authors argue that the involvement of wealthy donors and national organizations have potential implications for equity and democracy.

2. Kitchens, K., Harris, S., & Miller, K. (2023). What matters in school reopening plans: an analysis of the impact of school board demographics. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 12(1), 186–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2023.2224765

This article explores how school board members’ race and gender influenced how districts implemented remote, in-person, or hybrid schooling. An analysis of over 11,000 school board members in 1,893 school districts found that board members’ race and partisanship were predictive of school re-opening plans and masking policies. Local- and state-level partisanship was also influential in determining the intensity of the safety measures.