Norwood: Santa Clara County school board trustees get no respect

Experienced and effective school board members don’t get the respect they’ve earned. The problems they govern don’t even bother to introduce themselves, they just show up on the agenda, the grocery store, nail salon or during public comment.

Folks pushing school board term limits do so like it’s the miracle cure for everything wrong in public education. “Fresh ideas!” they say. “New voices!” they say. Yeah, sure, because nothing screams stability like constantly replacing the people who actually know and care about what’s going on.

Governing a school district isn’t about the stipend. It’s definitely not like changing your socks. You don’t just swap people in and expect everything to work. This isn’t a game show, “Congratulations! You’ve been elected! Now figure out a complicated budget, union negotiations, student achievement gaps and state mandates by Tuesday!”

School Board term limits sound great as a headline or social media clickbait. In real life, they create chaos. You finally get someone who understands funding formulas, special education law and policy, and just when they get it, out they go. Why? Because the calendar said so.

That’s not reform, that’s predesigned self-sabotage.

And here’s another thing, school board members aren’t just disrespected, they’re invisible. At public events, the host thanks everybody — the mayor, the superintendent, the person who brought the sandwiches…. The school board? Nothing.

But when something goes wrong? Let’s go to the school board meeting and bring the media

Test scores drop? Budget cuts? “What’s the board doing?”

I had a guy blame me for the weather once. I told him, “If I could control the weather, do you think I’d still be getting yelled at about something from before I was even born?”

School board members jump on a moving train shaped by federal, state and county decisions. They are automagically expected to make it all work locally. Funding formulas, mandates and regulations come from everywhere. Are school boards consulted before those laws and policies are written?

As often as I’m invited to hang out with association leaders when the state Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) is under 3%.

No respect.

School board members already have term limits. They’re called elections or recalls. Every few years, or by petition, voters decide (sometimes incorrectly) who stays or not. That’s accountability. That’s democracy.

School systems are getting hit from every direction — federal uncertainty, state budget cuts and local safety stressors. Districts are asked to do more with less, address mental health, prepare students for AI wit a workforce changing faster than my blood pressure at tax time.

And the solution is — less experience?

It’s like saying, “You know what the airlines need? All brand-new pilots who’ve never flown in a storm before. Fresh perspective!”

In some elections in Santa Clara County, only 20% to 30% of voters show up. Shouldn’t we be  increasing engagement?

When someone is effective at building partnerships, improving outcomes and navigating complexity, why term them out?

That’s like firing your best employee for being too experienced. “Sorry, we’re going in a different direction, our business deserves inexperience now.”

Public education needs sound leadership and stability. It needs institutional knowledge. It needs leaders who understand that progress and trust take time.

Before school board term limits, maybe ask, are we solving a real problem or creating a new one?

When we trade wisdom for turnover, our students, community and local economies are paying the price. In the end the strength of our schools depends not just on who serves, but on who participates.

Chris Norwood is the Legislative Action Committee chair of the Santa Clara County School Boards Association. He is also the president of the Milpitas Unified School District Governing Board of Trustees where he has served for 12 years.