Navigating Education: An Overview of State Board of Education Responsibilities

State Boards of Education play a crucial role in shaping the educational landscape. These bodies, diverse in composition and authority, operate at the intersection of policy, community needs, and educational excellence. This article explores the multifaceted responsibilities of State Boards of Education, examining their powers, duties, and the frameworks within which they operate.

The Diverse Landscape of State Boards

State Boards of Education are not monolithic entities. They reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, with members representing various races, ethnicities, and genders. These boards function within diverse governance models and have varied terms of office. Members are actively engaged in their communities and share a commitment to advancing education. They are sometimes elected, sometimes appointed. In many states, the state board selects the state education chief. In others, it is the governor.

Core Powers and Responsibilities

Regardless of their specific structure or level of authority, all State Boards share three fundamental powers:

Policy Adoption and Revision: State Boards possess the authority to adopt and revise policies that promote educational excellence and equity. This includes setting standards for student achievement and ensuring that all students have access to high-quality education. In 45 states, the state board adopts learning standards that all students are expected to achieve.
Convening Experts and Stakeholders: State Boards serve as a bridge between policymakers and citizens by convening experts and stakeholders. This allows for a collaborative approach to addressing educational challenges and developing effective solutions.

Read also: Investing in the Future
Raising Questions and Representing Citizens: State Boards act as the citizens' voice in education, raising important questions and advocating for the needs of students, families, and communities.

Specific Powers of State Board of Education

The State Board of Education is the chief implementing and coordinating body of public education. It has authority to adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the provisions of law conferring duties upon it for the improvement of the state system of public education except for the State University System. Except as otherwise provided herein, it may, as it finds appropriate, delegate its general powers to the Commissioner of Education or the directors of the divisions of the department.

The State Board of Education has the following duties:

To adopt comprehensive educational objectives for public education except for the State University System.
To adopt comprehensive long-range plans and short-range programs for the development of the state system of public education except for the State University System.
To exercise general supervision over the divisions of the Department of Education as necessary to ensure coordination of educational plans and programs and resolve controversies and to minimize problems of articulation and student transfers, to ensure that students moving from one level of education to the next have acquired competencies necessary for satisfactory performance at that level, and to ensure maximum utilization of facilities.
To adopt, in consultation with the Board of Governors, and from time to time modify, minimum and uniform standards of college-level communication and computation skills generally associated with successful performance and progression through the baccalaureate level and to identify college-preparatory high school coursework and postsecondary-level coursework that prepares students with the academic skills necessary to succeed in postsecondary education.
To adopt and submit to the Governor and Legislature, as provided in s. 216.023, a coordinated Early Learning-20 education budget that estimates the expenditure requirements for the Board of Governors, as provided in s. 1001.706, the State Board of Education, including the Department of Education and the Commissioner of Education, and all of the boards, institutions, agencies, and services under the general supervision of the Board of Governors, as provided in s. 1001.706, or the State Board of Education for the ensuing fiscal year. The State Board of Education may not amend the budget request submitted by the Board of Governors. Any program recommended by the Board of Governors or the State Board of Education which will require increases in state funding for more than 1 year must be presented in a multiyear budget plan.
To hold meetings, transact business, keep records, adopt a seal, and, except as otherwise provided by law, perform such other duties as may be necessary for the enforcement of laws and rules relating to the state system of public education.
To approve plans for cooperating with the Federal Government.
To approve plans for cooperating with other public agencies in the development of rules and in the enforcement of laws for which the state board and such agencies are jointly responsible.
To review plans for cooperating with appropriate nonpublic agencies for the improvement of conditions relating to the welfare of schools.
To create such subordinate advisory bodies as are required by law or as it finds necessary for the improvement of education.
To constitute any education bodies or other structures as required by federal law.
To assist in the economic development of the state by developing a state-level planning process to identify future training needs for industry, especially high-technology industry.
To assist in the planning and economic development of the state by establishing a clearinghouse for information on educational programs of value to economic development.
To adopt cohesive rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54, within statutory authority.
To authorize the allocation of resources in accordance with law and rule.
To contract with independent institutions accredited by an agency whose standards are comparable to the minimum standards required to operate a postsecondary educational institution at that level in the state. The purpose of the contract is to provide those educational programs and facilities which will meet needs unfulfilled by the state system of public postsecondary education.
To recommend that a district school board take action consistent with the state board’s decision relating to an appeal of a charter school application.
To enforce systemwide education goals and policies except as otherwise provided by law.
To establish a detailed procedure for the implementation and operation of a systemwide technology plan that is based on a common set of data definitions.
To establish accountability standards for existing legislative performance goals, standards, and measures, and order the development of mechanisms to implement new legislative goals, standards, and measures.
To adopt criteria and implementation plans for future growth issues, such as new Florida College System institutions and Florida College System institution campus mergers, and to provide for cooperative agreements between and within public and private education sectors.
To develop, in conjunction with the Board of Governors, and periodically review for adjustment, a coordinated 5-year plan for postsecondary enrollment, identifying enrollment and graduation expectations by baccalaureate degree program, and annually submit the plan to the Legislature as part of its legislative budget request.
Beginning in the 2014-2015 academic year and annually thereafter, to require each Florida College System institution prior to registration to provide each enrolled student electronic access to the economic security report of employment and earning outcomes prepared by the Department of Commerce pursuant to s. 445.07.

State Board of Education Strategic Planning

The State Board of Education shall adopt a strategic plan that specifies goals and objectives for the state’s public schools and Florida College System institutions. The plan shall be formulated in conjunction with plans of the Board of Governors in order to provide for the roles of the universities and Florida College System institutions to be coordinated to best meet state needs and reflect cost-effective use of state resources.

The strategic plan must clarify the mission statements of each Florida College System institution and the system as a whole and identify degree programs, including baccalaureate degree programs, to be offered at each Florida College System institution in accordance with the objectives provided in this subsection and the coordinated 5-year plan pursuant to paragraph (2)(v). The strategic plan must cover a period of 5 years, with modification of the program lists after 2 years. Development of each 5-year plan must be coordinated with and initiated after completion of the master plan.

The strategic plans must specifically include programs and procedures for responding to the educational needs of teachers and students in the public schools of this state and consider reports and recommendations of the Office of Reimagining Education and Career Help and the Articulation Coordinating Committee pursuant to s. 1007.01. The state board shall submit a report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives upon modification of the plan and as part of its legislative budget request.

The State Board of Education and the Board of Governors shall jointly develop long-range plans and annual reports for financial aid in this state. The long-range plans shall establish goals and objectives for a comprehensive program of financial aid for Florida students and shall be updated every 5 years. The annual report shall include programs administered by the department as well as awards made from financial aid fee revenues, any other funds appropriated by the Legislature for financial assistance, and the value of tuition and fees waived for students enrolled in a dual enrollment course at a public postsecondary educational institution. The annual report shall include an assessment of progress made in achieving goals and objectives established in the long-range plans and recommendations for repealing or modifying existing financial aid programs or establishing new programs. A long-range plan shall be submitted by January 1, 2004, and every 5 years thereafter. An annual report shall be submitted on January 1, 2004, and in each successive year that a long-range plan is not submitted, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Oversight of Florida College System Institutions

The State Board of Education shall:

Provide for each Florida College System institution to offer educational training and service programs designed to meet the needs of both students and the communities served.
Specify, by rule, procedures to be used by the Florida College System institution boards of trustees in the annual evaluations of presidents and review the evaluations of presidents by the boards of trustees, including the extent to which presidents serve both institutional and system goals.
Establish, in conjunction with the Board of Governors, an effective information system that will provide composite data concerning the Florida College System institutions and state universities and ensure that special analyses and studies concerning the institutions are conducted, as necessary, for provision of accurate and cost-effective information concerning the institutions.
Establish criteria for making recommendations for modifying district boundary lines for Florida College System institutions, including criteria for service delivery areas of Florida College System institutions authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees.
Establish criteria for making recommendations concerning all proposals for the establishment of additional centers or campuses for Florida College System institutions.
Examine the annual administrative review of each Florida College System institution.
Adopt and submit to the Legislature a 3-year list of priorities for fixed-capital-outlay projects. The State Board of Education may not amend the 3-year list of priorities of the Board of Governors.
The State Board of Education is responsible for reviewing and administering the state program of support for the Florida College System institutions.

Minimum Standards for Florida College System Institutions

The State Board of Education shall prescribe minimum standards, definitions, and guidelines for Florida College System institutions that will ensure the quality of education, coordination among the Florida College System institutions and state universities, and efficient progress toward accomplishing the Florida College System institution mission. At a minimum, these rules must address:

Personnel.
Contracting.
Program offerings and classification, including college-level communication and computation skills associated with successful performance in college and with tests and other assessment procedures that measure student achievement of those skills. The performance measures must provide that students moving from one level of education to the next acquire the necessary competencies for that level.
Provisions for curriculum development, graduation requirements, college calendars, and program service areas. These provisions must include rules that:
- Provide for the award of an associate in arts degree to a student who successfully completes 60 semester credit hours at the Florida College System institution.
- Require all of the credits accepted for the associate in arts degree to be in the statewide course numbering system as credits toward a baccalaureate degree offered by a state university or a Florida College System institution.
- Require no more than 36 semester credit hours in general education courses in the subject areas of communication, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.
- The rules should encourage Florida College System institutions to enter into agreements with state universities that allow Florida College System institution students to complete upper-division-level courses at a Florida College System institution. An agreement may provide for concurrent enrollment at the Florida College System institution and the state university and may authorize the Florida College System institution to offer an upper-division-level course or distance learning.
Student admissions, conduct and discipline, nonclassroom activities, and fees.
Budgeting.
Business and financial matters.
Student services.
Reports, surveys, and information systems, including forms and dates of submission.

Public K-12 Curricular Standards

The State Board of Education shall adopt and periodically review and revise the state academic standards in accordance with s. 1003.41.

Relationship with District School Boards

The Florida School Code is a comprehensive body of laws relating to public education and is in the nature of enabling legislation, rather than being prohibitory or restrictive in nature. Therefore, by operation of the 1983 amendment unless a provision of the school code or Constitution expressly prohibits a thing from being done, the school board would not be prevented from undertaking some action.

The district school system shall be considered as a part of the state system of public education. All actions of district school officials shall be consistent and in harmony with state laws and with rules and minimum standards of the state board [of education]. The actual operation and administration of all schools within the districts to be in conformity with regulations and minimum standards prescribed by the state.

The type of "home-rule" power granted to district school boards by the enactment of s. 7 of Ch. 83-324, Laws of Florida, can be analogized to the grant of home rule powers to municipalities for purposes of analyzing the powers, duties and functions of district school boards. The Municipal Home Rule Powers Act, Ch. 166, F.S., granted to municipalities broad home rule powers.

Duties and Responsibilities of District School Superintendent

The district school superintendent shall exercise all powers and perform all duties listed below and elsewhere in the law, provided that, in so doing, he or she shall advise and counsel with the district school board. The district school superintendent shall perform all tasks necessary to make sound recommendations, nominations, proposals, and reports required by law to be acted upon by the district school board. It shall be presumed that, in the absence of the record required in this section, the recommendations, nominations, and proposals required of the district school superintendent were not contrary to the action taken by the district school board in such matters.

ASSIST IN ORGANIZATION OF DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.-Preside at the organization meeting of the district school board and transmit to the Department of Education, within 2 weeks following such meeting, a certified copy of the proceedings of organization, including the schedule of regular meetings, and the names and addresses of district school officials.
REGULAR AND SPECIAL MEETINGS OF THE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.-Attend all regular meetings of the district school board, call special meetings when emergencies arise, and advise, but not vote, on questions under consideration.
RECORDS FOR THE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.-Keep minutes of all official actions and proceedings of the district school board and keep such other records, including records of property held or disposed of by the district school board, as may be necessary to provide complete information regarding the district school system.
SCHOOL PROPERTY.-Act for the district school board as custodian of school property.
SCHOOL PROGRAM; PREPARE PLANS.-Supervise the assembling of data and sponsor studies and surveys essential to the development of a planned school program for the entire district and prepare and recommend such a program to the district school board as the basis for operating the district school system.
ESTABLISHMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND OPERATION OF SCHOOLS, CLASSES, AND SERVICES.-Recommend the establishment, organization, and operation of such schools, classes, and services as are needed to provide adequate educational opportunities for all children in the district.
PERSONNEL.-Be responsible, as required herein, for directing the work of the personnel, subject to the requirements of chapter 1012.
COURSES OF STUDY AND OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL AIDS.-Recommend such plans for improving, providing, distributing, accounting for, and caring for textbooks and other instructional aids as will result in general improvement of the district school system, as prescribed in chapter 1006.
TRANSPORTATION OF STUDENTS.-Provide for student transportation as prescribed in s. 1006.21.
SCHOOL PLANT.-Recommend plans, and execute such plans as are approved, regarding all phases of the school plant program, as prescribed in chapter 1013.
FINANCE.-Recommend measures to the district school board to assure adequate educational facilities throughout the district, in accordance with the financial procedure authorized in chapters 1010 and 1011
RECORDS AND REPORTS.-Recommend such records as should be kept in addition to those prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education; prepare forms for keeping such records as are approved by the district school board; ensure that such records are properly kept; and make all reports that are needed or required
COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.-Cooperate with federal, state, county, and municipal agencies in the enforcement of laws and rules pertaining to all matters relating to education and child welfare
ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS AND RULES.-Require that all laws and rules of the State Board of Education, as well as supplementary rules of the district school board, are properly observed and report to the district school board any violation that the district school superintendent does not succeed in having corrected.
COOPERATE WITH DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.-Cooperate with the district school board in every manner practicable to the end that the district school system may continuously be improved.
VISITATION OF SCHOOLS.-Visit the schools; observe the management and instruction; give suggestions for improvement; and advise supervisors, principals, teachers, and other citizens with the view of promoting interest in education and improving the school conditions of the district.
CONFERENCES, INSTITUTES, AND STUDY COURSES.-Call and conduct institutes and conferences with employees of the district school board, school patrons, and other interested citizens; organize and direct study and extension courses for employees, advising them as to their professional studies; and assist patrons and people generally in acquiring knowledge of the aims, services, and needs of the schools.
PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL IMPROVEMENT.-Attend such conferences for district school superintendents as may be called or scheduled by the Department of Education and avail himself or herself of means of professional and general improvement so that he or she may function most efficiently.
RECOMMEND REVOKING CERTIFICATES.-Recommend in writing to the Department of Education the revoking of any certificate for good cause, including a full statement of the reason for the district school superintendent’s recommendation.
MAKE RECORDS AVAILABLE TO SUCCESSOR.-Leave with the district school board and make available to his or her successor, upon retiring from office, a complete inventory of school equipment and other property, together with all official records and such other records as may be needed in supervising instruction and in administering the district school system.
RECOMMEND PROCEDURES FOR INFORMING GENERAL PUBLIC.-Recommend to the district school board procedures whereby the general public can be adequately informed of the educational programs, needs, and objectives of public education within the district.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.-Recommend procedures for implementing and maintaining a system of school improvement and education accountability as provided by statute and State Board of Education rule.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.-Fully support and cooperate in the implementation of s. 1002.23.
ORDERLY CLASSROOMS AND SCHOOL BUSES.-Fully support the authority of each teacher and school bus driver to remove disobedient, disrespectful, violent, abusive, uncontrollable, or disruptive students from the classroom and the school bus and the authority of the school principal to place such students in an alternative educational setting, when appropriate and available.
OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.-Perform such other duties as are assigned to the district school superintendent by law or by rules of the State Board of Education.

State Board of Education: Equity Framework

The State Board believes all students deserve access to high-quality instruction and necessary support to meet their full potential according to a range of academic and 21st-century learning standards. By utilizing an Equity Framework, the State Board aims to provide a common vocabulary and protocol for evaluating and filtering policies, proposals, and decisions. By adopting such a framework, the State Board acknowledges these areas as priority on a perpetual basis. The Equity Framework stands to serve as an institutional guiding force for the State Board’s work through changes in its leadership from year to year or the numerous issues that arise any given year. The Equity Framework’s focus areas are intentionally broad so as to not overly limit the State Board’s actions. The D.C. State Board of Education will advocate for and take action to expand access to culturally relevant pedagogy within D.C. schools and anti-racist professional development opportunities for D.C. teachers.

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