ABSTRACT
Americans have long disassociated school districts from other units of government. This chapter highlights that school districts have enjoyed this distinction because the public refuses to associate anything as fundamental as education with the 'muck and mire" of practical politics. It explains that schools are among the most reformed of American political institutions and that the election of minority school board members is an integral part of the process of improving educational access for minority children. The chapter explores the relationship between electoral structure and the ethnicity and socioeconomic characteristics of school board members. There are some distinctions among school board members based on electoral structure and ethnicity, although not as much as on the city councils. It examines differences based on ethnicity, again, both city council and school board respondents share some similarities, Mexican American council members and school board members are less well educated than Anglos and tend to have lived in their communities longer than Anglos.
