The Ideal School Board and 'Agency Capture'

I spent the weekend re-reading portions of the Edina School Board Policy Manual and documents put out by the State of MN on School Finances. I'm beginning to get inquiries through my website and in person and it helps to be able to respond with the proper resources to back me up.

Of course the main inquiry is "Why would you want to run for school board?" My response is simple, "That I want to represent ordinary parents and taxpayers." But it could use some expanding upon.

Any board from GM on down to the smallest nonprofit group is seeking to fill its board with people who are trustworthy, and bring a variety of outside perspectives. Boards are not meant to be dominated by insiders or experts. After all, Henry Kissenger isn't on the board of the Revlon Group because of his expertise in applying a good foundation. My background is almost entirely from the private sector, as with most of the parents in Edina. True, I taught Human Anatomy in graduate school, and did some tutoring on the side, but that's certainly not grounds to make me an expert in education. I'm a lot like most of you out there, juggling a job, keeping a marriage going and trying to raise three kids.

In addition, there is something that public entities struggle with that is known by various names as "agency capture." This is where the government regulator becomes too close to the industry they regulate. A good example would be the banks and the bank regulators. Part of the reason for the 2008 crash was the cozy relationship between financial companies, regulators and private rating agencies and auditors. My wife having been both a bank regulator and a banker, I have some inside information on this.

A school board can undergo agency capture if too many of its members come with an education background rather than as parents, who are the ultimate consumers and funders of the system. The pitfall public entities fall into has to do with the fact that the money is not really their own and comes from a more inelastic source. That is, customers of privately provided services are often more price sensitive than taxpayers, because the pool is larger and they may not directly notice when and how their property tax bill has increased.

So, what school board members may struggle with is that it costs them more, in personal terms, to say "no" to spending increases. Rather than suffer alienation from other board members and the ire of administrators and special interests, it's easier to take the side of the administration. After all, taxpayers are a large, amorphous group, and they rarely send out thank you notes, at least not in the same volume as angry mail.

Understand that I'm speaking generically. I will continue to study the budget and hear from parents as to what they think are appropriate spending priorities, but in general, I think the Edina Schools have been responsible with their spending. It's simply my intention to do my best to continue this tradition of fiscal responsibility as some of those responsible are now rotating off the Board.