The following report presents the results of research on school boards and their members so as to provide parents, voters, policymakers, advocates, and educators with an informative look at the individuals and bodies charged with governing America's schools.

Education reformers must consider whether school districts are the best way to organize schooling, a question which has been too often ignored.

Education leaders often act lazily, blaming union contracts and federal regulation rather than confronting the problems they have the capacity to solve.

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What is the nature of school boards and what challenges do they face?

A coherent vision for federal education policy starts not by micromanaging schools, but by focusing on the four functions Washington alone can perform.

Pushing government decisions down to the lowest democratic level possible — while protecting basic civil rights — guarantees that more people will have a say in how they live their lives.

As school boards and superintendents have been forced to seek new efficiencies and ways to do better with less, many school leaders have found themselves particularly perplexed by the unique challenges of special education. But districts can do better to equip school leaders to better meet student needs while helping policymakers provide targeted support for cost-effective practices.