Chapter 3: Uncharted Territory: Latinas as Elected School Board Members

The job of school board members is important. A Latina being a school board member is even more important. School board members “make critical decisions regarding the distribution of resources through adopting annual school budgets, curriculum design regarding interpretation of state and national standards, disciplinary policies, negotiation of teacher contracts, and relations with parent teacher associations” (Neiman et al., 2010, p. 18). In addition, school board members are accountable for the performance of the district (National School Boards Association [NSBA], 2018). Finally, school board members are the bridge between the district they represent and their community. In other words, their job is to both represent community interest (Usdan, 2010) but also to invite communities to become more involved in the democratic decision-making of public schools (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). These responsibilities and connections are especially important for Latinx communities as school districts often exclude Latinx¹ communities from participating in the decision-making process of educating students of color (Zarate, 2007).