Truth Summary
Board members in thirty-six states plus Guam and the Northern Marianas elect their own chairs. Governors in eight other states appoint the board chair, and in Alabama the governor him- or herself serves as chair, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Three states – Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin – either have no state board, or a board that operates in a different capacity. For example, New Mexico has a “Public Education Committee,” which serves as an advisory board to the state’s secretary of education.
Right now, Indiana and Oklahoma are the only states in which the superintendent automatically assumes the position.
