Monday, May 19, 2025
On Long Island and across New York state, incumbent trustees and new candidates for school district boards of education have submitted their petitions and are now on the ballot on May 20, when residents go to the polls to vote on their school budgets and capital improvement referendums, and elect their trustees.
For the next two and a half weeks, the candidates will hold forums with residents and plant lawn signs across their communities in an effort to keep their names in voters’ minds, as well as their stances on the districts’ spending plans.
While elected positions from village trustee to state legislator might appear more important and larger in scope, the decisions that shape our daily lives are frequently made on those school boards. And, from voters’ perspective, life-impacting decisions about where they choose to live are more often than not made based on where their children will go to school.
Quality public education not only prepares our children for bright futures, but also increases communities’ property values, attracts new residents, reduces crime and promotes social mobility.
For the 125 school districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties, boards of education, typically consisting of five to nine people, play a critical role in overseeing and shaping the educational system. Their responsibilities include creating a vision for the district, setting goals and establishing policies, overseeing multi-million-dollar budgets, and collaborating with administrators to help ensure the schools’ smooth operations. They must be accountable to the community, and offer regular, constructive public engagement.
Though trustees are volunteers, they are entrusted to guide the district and have a duty to represent their constituencies during their three-year terms. That includes being aware of, and understanding, the influence they wield.
All of the above are great reasons why you should care about your local school board: because its members represent the beating heart of civic responsibility, and because our schools deserve leadership that is not only competent and informed, but also reflective of and responsive to the communities they serve. Board trustees may have none of the glamour of state or national office holders, but the impact they have is often more immediate, and more personal. Their decisions don’t just affect students — they affect entire neighborhoods, in so many ways.
Residents have a responsibility to know who represents them and what those representatives stand for. That means researching school board candidates, attending their town halls, asking tough questions — making sure community concerns are heard — and judging the results with your vote. You can learn more about candidates before elections, and then their effectiveness as trustees, each week in the Herald.
And anyone can run for their local school board. You don’t need a background in teaching, or a master’s in education policy, or to be working in a profession that has anything to do with either one. What you do need is a commitment to fairness, a willingness to listen and a passion for serving your community by providing its children with the highest-quality education possible.
Public education needs leaders who understand the complexities of modern classrooms and the myriad challenges faced by working families who have kids in school, and public servants who put the needs of students above special interests. That leadership doesn’t have to come from somewhere else. It can come from you. We need more residents to step forward — not for the prestige of being a trustee, but for the purpose.
At a time when trust in institutions is fragile and divisions run deep, school boards offer a rare opportunity to focus on unity and progress, where politics can — and certainly should — take a backseat to the shared goal of improving children’s lives.
So let this be a call not only to vote, but also to get involved. Attend meetings. Volunteer to help with a school activity. Speak up — ask questions. And if you’re ready to lead, step up. Our children are depending on us.
