Editor’s note: Four Durham school board seats are up for grabs in the upcoming March 3 election, with a trio of newcomers running strong campaigns in the District 3 race. Over the coming days, The 9th Street Journal is profiling all three candidates in the race.
Lauren Sartain is no stranger to the public schools system.
A self-described “policy wonk” and a professor of K-12 education policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, she is a familiar face — with her signature tortoise shell glasses — at many a school board meeting. She has long advocated for district accountability on issues ranging from last year’s chronic bus driver shortage to what she sees as a flawed budgeting process.
“Public schools are my everything,” Sartain said, gesturing broadly. “My kids are in public school. I went to public school. I study public schools…
“Having a public sector that works is critical. And we can see in this country what happens when our public sector isn’t working.”
In Peabody Hall, where UNC’s School of Education is housed, Sartain’s office is small, economical, and well-organized. An image of her smiling children brightens the monitor on her desk.
With a University of Chicago public policy Ph.D. focused on the economics of education, Sartain knows schools inside out. In an interview, she reeled off the numbers that inform her policy ideas about teacher retention and Durham schools’ declining enrollment: “One of every four school-aged youth in Durham is enrolled in charter school. That number is 8% in Wake County,” she said. And: “One in every five teachers [at DPS] leave every year.”
Before launching into a spiel about equity in education, she said, splaying her hands: “Now I’m going to go into real nerd weeds. So please stop me.”
Sartain has spent nearly 15 years consulting for Chicago Public Schools and researches teacher retention for Wake County’s school district. This work, which she conducts as part of her professorship, comes at no cost to the districts. And it has given her knowledge and connections that she hopes to bring to Durham.
“As an economist and a researcher of policy, I can look at data…and understand what other places have done to fill some of the gaps that we’re facing in Durham…,” she said. “Being able to use that evidence-based lens to try and bring a balanced, critical view to the board, I think, is something that’s been missing.”
Key to Sartain’s campaign is the notion of “operational excellence.” Her website details various issues battering the district, from money woes to run-down school buildings. She also provides bullet-pointed policy proposals on how to remedy budget shortfalls and bureaucratic inefficiencies.
To Sartain, modernizing and reforming the school system’s finances, human resources, and operations are paramount. She also suggests simplifying the district’s extensive strategic plan so that a few high-priority goals can be achieved in full.
“We keep under-projecting the budget and having to go back to the county during the year asking for more and more,” she said. The solution? “Zero-based budgeting. And essentially that means starting from zero. So throwing out the old budget and building a new budget.”
While this may sound drastic, Sartain thinks change is necessary. She knows all too well the knock-on effects that come with a weakened public school system, especially in Durham County, where school enrollment has dropped much more than in neighboring Wake County, despite facing the same state and federal pressures.
“As our enrollment declines, that’s fewer dollars, less [teaching] positions coming from the state. And if we want to maintain our current levels of staffing, that has to come from the county…,” Sartain said. “And the primary way…of raising revenue is through property taxes. And so as property taxes go up, housing becomes more expensive, et cetera.”
“The way to win families back is by fixing these central office systems so that the district works like it’s supposed to,” she said.
Sartain’s commitment to student success extends beyond her role as an academic researcher. The product of public schools and the mother of two children with learning disabilities, she believes her empathy and her expertise make her uniquely qualified for the District 3 position.
As the former PTA president at E.K. Powe Elementary School, Sartain discovered that no reading specialists were available for students. So she stepped forward to organize a partnership between the school and the Hill Learning Center and train community volunteers who helped students develop reading and writing skills.
“I started to notice that different schools had different levels of resources allocated to them and…it felt kind of haphazard,” Sartain said. “And I started emailing people in Central Office just saying, ‘Hey, I’m just trying to understand how you guys decide what teachers or support staff to assign to different schools.’ Six years later, I still don’t really know the answer to that question.”
In both her research and more public-facing advocacy, Sartain has focused on bolstering equity within school systems. Her academic work also covers topics including teacher retention, educator effectiveness, school choice, and school culture.
“Any child should be able to walk into any DPS school, and no matter what they look like or what they need, they should be able to get a high-quality education. I think we know that that is not happening,” she said.
Crucially, Sartain wants to ensure that families, teachers, and staff feel heard in their struggles with the school district. She hopes to reform public comment at school board meetings such that board members address community concerns and set forth next steps. When problems like poor building maintenance go unaddressed and roofs remain leaky for years, she said, “that sends teachers and students a signal that they’re not valued.”
By her account, Sartain will “talk schools with anybody in Durham.” In an email to The Ninth Street Journal, she wrote: “Students, parents, teachers, and workers – I see you…Your experiences with the district are valid, and they have shaped my top priorities.”
With four of seven school board seats up for election and just one incumbent running, a shake-up is imminent. To Sartain, this is both exciting and scary.
“It’s really important that we elect people in these races who have the knowledge and skills to be able to walk into that room and be effective on day one,” said Sartain. “We need people who can take [our problems] on right away…So go vote, March 3rd, down the ballot.”
Above: Photo courtesy of the candidate.
Tanya Wan
