Grassroots Democracy: Putting the Public Back into Public Education

Abstract

Even though decisions regarding a child's education are best placed as close to the school, home, and community as possible, today's schools tend to be governed by school boards that are far removed from their communities. Mr. Cunningham calls for a fundamental change in the educational governance system -- one that restores the traditions of grassroots democracy and local control. BALANCING public interests is a long-standing and contentious issue in American politics. Indeed, it dates back to the founding of the republic. Legitimate disputes exist between political parties, socioeconomic groups, races, cultures, value and belief systems, regions, and so on. And these disputes have typically played themselves out in the United States by means of grassroots democracy -- a cherished tradition -- in which every citizen is invited to participate and play a role in influencing decisions. One of the foundational beliefs regarding democracy is that, through widespread participation and representation, decisions will be made that best represent the interests of diverse groups. Grassroots democracy and local control depend on the freedom to participate and to have input into decisions that influence the institutions that serve the community. The further you remove decision making from the locality, the more you endanger the interests and sense of responsibility of individual citizens. These concepts of grassroots participation can be found in the writings of Rousseau, Jefferson, de Tocqueville, Dewey, and many others who have argued for the importance of a participatory society. Loss of Public Confidence Today, the very delicate balance between order and liberty that our modern democracy has sought to maintain is being threatened by the growing influence of politically powerful interest groups in American education. Citizens are becoming increasingly alienated as they see their government increasingly dominated by special-interest groups. Indeed, the rise of these powerful interest groups has weakened the sense of localism and led to feelings of discontent, frustration, disaffection, and ultimately cynicism regarding schooling and educators. These negative attitudes lead to diminished citizen participation and so become self-fulfilling prophecies when organized interest groups step in to fill the void. This pattern runs counter to our tradition of grassroots democracy and breeds inequality in political representation. Education today suffers from an undue responsiveness to private interest groups rather than a focus on the idea of the public good. As a result, private interests, politicians, and bureaucrats dominate policy making to the detriment of the wider public interest. Since the publication of A Nation at Risk, businesspeople and politicians have played an unprecedented role in setting policy for and reforming American education. Beyond the obvious education summits, political and business leaders work to influence education through such organizations as the National Governors' Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Alliance of Business, the Committee for Economic Development, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Business Roundtable, to name but a few. Such interest groups have produced hundreds of reports highly critical of American education and educators, and many of their recommendations are now being adopted. In 1932 there were approximately 128,000 school districts. This number has shrunk to perhaps 15,000, even though the population has almost doubled. Approximately 80% of these are very small districts with under 2,000 students. That means that the vast majority of America's children attend schools that are governed by school boards that are far removed from their local schools and communities. School board candidates in some cities have spent more than $10,000 in campaign funds and work to secure political allies and make use of political consultants. …