national I REPORTS


On the Board W


HEN 17-YEAR-OLD ELENI Livingston was elected as the sole student member of


Massachusetts’ state board of educa- tion, she worried about entering a world of STEM whispers and politi- cal jargon. However, when she walked into one of the meetings, her fellow board members welcomed her with firm handshakes and encourage- ment to speak her mind. “On the board it can be intimidating


to go in, as a young woman, as a teenager, into an environment like that and jump right in and start advocating for my peers,” Livingston says. “But I think that’s what’s been amazing.” Like Livingston, Rana Banankhah


of California serves on her state’s board of education, acting as the voice of more than 6 million students. After making it through a process involving application questionnaires, extensive interviews and an appointment by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the 17-year-old now works with experi- enced and widely respected policy- makers ranging from professors to school district administrators. “I’ve seen that our state board truly


When teen girls have a voice in public education, it’s a game-changer


does respect you and treat you just as every other adult board member, which I really appreciate,” Banankhah says. “To be treated like an adult, even though I can’t even vote for [U.S.] president, was really eye-opening.” Banankhah and Livingston are two


of five teens in the country who are voting members of their states’ boards of education. They are helping decide high school graduation requirements, determine teacher qualifications and develop state student assessments. They also bridge the gender gap in education leadership, with women making up only 31 percent of school district chiefs. Having women in policymaking


positions “does incorporate into the dialogue a perspective and a set of is- sues and priorities that would other- wise be absent,” says Jennifer Lawless, the Commonwealth Profes- sor of Politics at the University of Virginia. “And for young women in particular, it’s vital because they’re the next generation.” Since July, Banankhah has focused


her attention on increasing teen COVID-19 vaccination rates. Cur- rently, 66 percent of Californians between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated. Her virtual out- reach efforts include a vaccine infor- mation and promotion webinar hosted by California State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond that reached more than 500,000 homes. She also is working with the California Association of Student Councils to draft and pass legislation to create an advisory group for current and future state student board members, allowing


3Rana Banankhah serves on California’s board of education.


12 | SPRING 2022


for more teen involvement. “Students have an extremely valu-


able perspective that none of the oth- er board members have, which is one in which they’ve actually lived the policies that the board is passing,” Banankhah points out. Livingston serves on the budget


committee and regularly promotes the funding of mental health-focused resources for students and profes- sional development aimed at educat- ing teachers on the signs of a student in distress. Having young people on state


boards promotes equity in education by allowing for direct student feed- back, said National Association of State Boards of Education President Robert Hull in an interview with Ms. State boards are increasingly priori- tizing student voices, and Hull pre- dicted that the number of states with student voting members will increase. Currently, Garren Hamby (Ten- nessee), Kevin Bokoum (Maryland) and Angelita Peña (Vermont) serve as the only other voting teens on state boards of education in the country. “We all have different back-


grounds,” Livingston says. “We all have different experiences. There’s never a perfect way to make sure that you’re including everybody, but it’s really important to try from an equity standpoint.”


—DELILAH BRUMER


Delilah Brumer is the online editor-in- chief of her high school newspaper, The Pearl Post. She is also a member of the Los Angeles Times High School Insid- er Student Advisory Board and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Youth Council. This sto- ry was made possible by a grant from Say It Forward in support of our teen jour- nalism project, The Future Is Ms.


www.feminist.org


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