As a former educator, I have long been fascinated by the roles and responsibilities of American school boards. School boards have been around longer than America itself. According to Stanford’s Michael Kirst, local school boards are one of America’s earliest democratic institutions. Boards were first established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1647 to develop and oversee public schools in the colony. School boards are often more accessible to citizens than most state or federal agencies and agents. As a result, citizens generally have more direct influence over policies and practices that affect their public schools than they do in other political arenas. According to Kirst, the characteristics of a typical school board member have changed little over the past 50 years. Most are upper-middle class; about 45% are business professionals; about 25% are homemakers, and about 30% have a variety of backgrounds (including education). The ratio of male to female board members generally varies according to geography and state politics. Unlike most corporate executive boards that comprise people with business experience, school boards are particularly unique in that members are not required to have experience or expertise in the field of education. Fortunately, the American School Boards’ Association and its state affiliates provide a variety of training programs and resources to orient new board members to the various roles and responsibilities of their positions. In addition district superintendents work closely with their boards offering advice and support. Most school boards have a similar range of responsibilities: approving the annual district budget; setting school district policies; hiring and evaluating the superintendent, approving collective bargaining agreements in districts that are unionized, and overseeing the effective implementation of district policies and goals. However, school boards do not exercise operational control over their districts; the superintendent and local school administrators do. Board members often contend with citizens who don’t understand clearly the distinction between the policy making role of the school board (as a body) and the management roles of school administrators. Individual board members have no authority to make policy or management decisions on behalf of a school district. Finally, contemporary school boards are increasingly confronted with the localization of national political agendas (e.g., controversies over critical race theory, gender equity/identity issues, banning textbooks, religion in the schools, voucher systems, etc.). Notwithstanding the emerging debate over partisan affiliations, perhaps the most challenging issue facing American school boards in recent years has been growing federal intrusions into the local control of schools. The bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act (2001) exemplified this trend. Without question the responsibilities of school board members have never been more challenging nor more vital to the educational welfare of America’s children than they are today.