Exiting Gracefully? Lessons on De-Implementing State-Appointed Governance from Literature and Stakeholder Perspectives in Missouri

By: Evan Rhinesmith, Ph.D.; Olivia Marcucci, Ph.D.; Kelly M. Harris, Ph.D. CCC-SLP; Aaron Park, Kathryn Coleman, Tory Christian, & Gary W. Ritter, Ph.D.

The state of Missouri will soon consider transitioning back from state-appointed governance to locally elected boards in two districts in the St. Louis metropolitan area, having already done so in another. The PRiME Center reviewed the literature to find evidence-based strategies for successful transitions to local governance, as well as conducted an empirical study investigating stakeholders’ perspectives on appropriate strategies to exit state-appointed governance in Missouri school districts. The data were collected via interviews and focus groups from diverse stakeholder groups, including appointed and elected board members, administrators, educators, and parents (n=33). Thematic, emergent analysis revealed several main takeaways.

We find:

-       Our deep review of the existing evidence uncovered no clear guidelines from research or practice on how to successfully exit a state intervention.

-       State intervention has often led to improved financial stability in affected districts but has rarely led to sustained academic improvement in these districts.

-       Setting reasonable expectations for exit conditions, ideally aligned with the rationale for entry, can ease the transition back to local governance (ideally aligned with the rationale for entry).

-       More generally, early outreach and robust community engagement with clear and consistent communication between state officials and local community members is necessary for a smooth transition back to local governance.

-       Sudden transitions between appointed to elected boards are problematic.

-       There is a need for targeted and on-going training of board members.

Cultivating a culture of high-quality candidates for school boards may ease exit strategy concerns and may prevent future intervention.

This work was supported by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.