Shirley Hershey Showalter is right in her May 2 LNP | LancasterOnline column “As Warwick book dispute demonstrates, we need to bring back nonpartisan school boards.”

Partisan school board governance has eroded the public nature of public education. But this will not be fixed by appeals to civility. It requires structural change.

Pennsylvania should mandate nonpartisan school board elections.

Partisan ballots distort the role from the start. They reward candidates who mobilize a base, not those prepared to steward a community. Once elected, the logic follows: “Our community” becomes those who agree with me, and governance becomes delivery to a faction. That is how we end up debating isolated passages in books while larger responsibilities — student learning, fiscal stability, teacher retention — slip out of focus.

This is not a failure of individuals. It is a failure of design.

After decades in education in Lancaster County, I have seen that strong systems depend on clear roles: Boards set direction and ensure accountability; educators do the teaching. When boards cross that line, trust erodes, talent leaves and schools become battlegrounds instead of places of learning.

Nonpartisan elections would not eliminate disagreement, but they would change incentives. Candidates would need to appeal broadly, govern with judgment and serve the whole — not a political slice.

The General Assembly should act now. Restore school boards to their proper role as stewards of the public good, not instruments of partisan conflict.

Thomas Neuville

East Earl

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