Are Enrollment and Board Size Related?

The question of the "best" or "right" board size often arises during our governance consultations and training seminars. Almost as often, we field a follow-up question about whether board size correlates with school enrollment; that is, whether large schools tend to have larger boards.

The size correlation question is partially answerable using data on 1,088 private, independent school members of NAIS in the United States. A simple Pearson correlation co-efficient calculation reveals an r-value of .36 for enrollment and the number of board members, which is a weak, positive correlation. This suggests that school size is related to board size, but not in a compelling way, and correlation certainly does not imply causation. Put another way, school size only accounts for about 13% of the variance in board size.

So, while there is a relationship, other factors besides the size of an institution are at play in driving the number of members on a board. We will address some of these factors in future posts.