Where Are the Good School Boards?

At a recent conference, an attendee asked a simple but important question: “What school boards are doing a good job?”

It’s easy for those of us who care about parental rights and academic excellence to rattle off examples of bad school boards—those captured by political ideology, pushing indoctrination instead of education. But there are good stories out there, and we should be shouting them from the rooftops.

So, where can we look for examples of school boards doing the right thing? Here are three (among many) worth recognizing.

Chino Valley Unified School District – California

Across the country, 1,215 school districts serving more than 12 million students have adopted “parental exclusion policies.” These policies instruct school staff to keep a student’s gender identity secret from parents, effectively cutting parents out of crucial decisions about their own children.

Chino Valley Unified School Board refused to go along with that trend. Instead, they passed a policy requiring schools to inform parents if their child is using a different name, pronouns, or restroom at school. In short, the board stood up for the principle that parents have the right to know what’s happening with their own children.

Of course, this act of common sense didn’t sit well with California’s political leadership. The state’s Attorney General sued the district, calling it “forced outing” of transgender students. But the Chino Valley board held firm.

Parents everywhere should applaud their courage—and urge their own school boards to do the same.

Kennewick School District – Washington

Protecting girls’ sports shouldn’t be controversial. Yet in states that refuse to uphold Title IX—the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination—it takes real courage for local leaders to stand up for fairness.

That’s exactly what the Kennewick School District did. In March 2025, the board filed a civil rights complaint against their own state officials, including the state superintendent and the interscholastic athletics association, for allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports.

Kennewick’s leaders explained that the district was being squeezed between two conflicting demands: risk losing state funds by following federal Title IX standards, or lose federal funds by following the state’s transgender sports guidelines. Rather than cave, the board chose (rightly) to defend girls’ sports.

Polling shows nearly 80% of parents oppose allowing biological males to compete on girls’ teams. In this case, Kennewick has parents, the law, and basic fairness on its side.

Steubenville City Schools – Ohio

Culture war issues get most of the headlines, but school boards deserve recognition when they succeed at their core mission: educating children.

In 2022, fresh off the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steubenville City Schools posted a 97% reading proficiency rate for its 3rd grade students. Not only did these results span different student groups, it included its substantial population of low-income students. 

And literacy success is a constant theme for Steubenville, “for the past two decades, 93 percent or more of students in Steubenville’s public schools have scored proficient on state reading tests by the time they’re in third grade.”

District leaders credit the success to consistency in its reading approach, using the same Success For All reading program for 25 years, having students practice reading constantly, and teacher buy-in to its literacy initiatives. In other words: they focused on reading, not ideology.

When schools invest in proven teaching methods instead of trendy programs, students thrive. Steubenville’s results are proof.

These three districts show what’s possible when school boards put students, parents, and teachers first.

Yes, there are still far too many districts prioritizing politics over learning. But there are also bright spots—communities proving that courage, focus, and academic excellence still matter.

Parents looking for inspiration don’t need to reinvent the wheel. They just need to look to Chino Valley, Kennewick, and Steubenville—places where local leaders are showing how to put excellence over ideology. 

So, where are the good school boards? They’re leading quietly, and they deserve to be heard loudly.