School boards: These topics were more in focus in 2024

What are your colleagues’ school boards talking about? Is your board in the mainstream or an outlier when it comes to their priorities?

A new analysis details the big topics that school boards focused on in fall 2024, compared to fall 2023. Leading the discussions are two concepts at opposite ends of the K12 spectrum, signaling that K12 leaders are focused on giving students a strong start and preparing them for success after graduation, according to the school data tracking firm Burbio.

The company analyzed meeting minutes of over 2,000 school boards that serve more than 60% of the K12 population. Career and technical education (CTE) and pre-K landed at the top of the list of terms mentioned at least once each fall—and both got more attention in 2024.

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For example, CTE was mentioned in 30.6% of the meetings this fall compared to 28.3% during the same period last year. Early childhood/pre-K increased to 31.2% from 27.7%.

Here’s the rest of Burbio’s list, ranked by rate of increase in appearance:

1. Mental health
2. Equity
3. HVAC
4. Tutoring
5. English language learners
6. SEL
7. Newcomers/migrants
8. Chronic absenteeism

Artificial intelligence is perhaps the biggest buzzword not on this list. Earlier this year, Burbio found the phrase “artificial intelligence” in the minutes of more than 20% of board meetings. “AI policy,” on the other hand, appeared in around 2% of the meetings.

That aligns with recent District Administration reporting that has found educators are eager to adopt AI but want more guidance and training.

More coverage of school boards

Check out District Administration‘s recent coverage of hot board topics:

School boards are now spending more time on these 5 topics 

Four keywords keep coming up in the biggest districts 

4 superintendents share keys to working effectively with their boards