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As Hawaii voters consider whether to turn the state’s now-elected board of education into an appointed board, most of the nation’s school boards are elected.

At least 11,132 local school boards in the United States are elected, according to the Education Commission of the States, which is an authority on this kind of information. That is compared with at least 39 appointed local boards, and a few that are a combination of appointed and elected. The commission does not have data for the nation’s nearly 3,000 remaining school boards.

Those numbers don’t tell us anything about how effective the board types are, so the biggest question about the ballot issue is still how an appointed board of education would better promote student achievement.

To discuss an elected vs. an appointed board and to explore other education issues with our members, join in the Civil Beat education conversation.