The responsibilities of school board members have increased in complexity since school boards were first established over 100 years ago. Members must keep track of many educational reforms and changes in the educational governance structure, the increasing number of "players" involved in educational policy, and the increased number and seriousness of legal issues. This document describes school board training programs in six southeastern states with emphasis on the training effort in Mississippi funded by the SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE). The information is designed to help school board members, superintendents, and policymakers better understand and be able to discuss the critical role of training for school board members. The introduction provides background on the need for school board member training and outlines findings from the subsequent descriptions of the six state training programs. The following section chronicles the development and evaluation of the Mississippi training program. The training programs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are also described. Given that the annual turnover rate of board members is approximately one-third and that it commonly takes 6 to 12 months of on-the-job training before new members can function effectively, training programs can enhance a school board's effectiveness significantly. (RT)