Get on board: Examining news coverage of school board elections, 2021–2023

The 95,000 school board members in the United States represent the largest group of elected officials in the country. Yet, most local governmental systems do not provide formal oversight of these members, and it is ultimately up to citizens to hold members accountable via elections. Such an important responsibility relies on citizens having adequate access to information about these candidates, yet very little work has examined what information citizens have access to during elections. To address this matter, this study performed a quantitative content analysis of news coverage of school board elections across the United States, spanning 2021 to 2023. Results revealed (a) citizens are not uninformed based on available news coverage but may be underinformed, (b) coverage reflected the heavy involvement of conservative groups in anti-DEI, anti-CRT, and book-banning efforts, and (c) local and national news coverage of elections differed.