> Who are these "administrators" that always come up in the context of education in the US? "Administrators" is generally a generic term used to refer to non-t

> Who are these "administrators" that always come up in the context of education in the US? "Administrators" is generally a generic term used to refer to non-teaching individuals involved in the running of the education. Who those individuals are is highly varied though. Education is controlled at the state level in the United States, not the federal level[1]. So what you end up with are completely different ways of running/managing things. So state-level bureaucracy has it's say in things. Then there's a state-level department of education with a secretary or commissioner (possibly elected, possible appointed), which manages high level details like enforcing compliance with legislation and certification and whatnot. But they generally further cede control to a local entity which is in charge of the school system for that locality (could be as small as a special district inside of a single city or as large as multiple counties). This is the level that manages local infrastructure, school zoning, shared services like IT, etc. This can also be led by either an elected or appointed figure, depending on both local and state laws. As long as they're acting within the bounds of what the state level legislation and department of education has dictated, the local district can run things how they see fit. All of these layers are purely administrative, and performs no actual teaching (but likely and hopefully is staffed with people that come from teaching or education backgrounds). Then you get to the actual school level, where you'll have a few administrators that handle the management of that individual school, but is predominantly staffed by actual teachers. Administrators at this level are generally always hired, rather than elected individuals. [1] While the federal government has no direct control of education, it indirectly wields influence by dangling money in front of states[2]. Which is what it does with practically everything else it doesn't technically have any jurisdiction of. States are free to manage education however they want, but the federal government provides states with subsidies for education that are tied to particular regulations or policies. States that implement and meet the regulations get free federal money, states that don't implement or meet them give up the associated subsidy and have to make up the funding shortfall with more state or local taxes. This has a trickle down effect where teachers ultimately have very little say in what or how they teach, since they have so many different masters they have to please to ensure their school stays funded. [2] https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/education/k-12-education-subsidies https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/education/k-12-educatio...