It may support a board of education (5)
I believe the answer is:
easel
'board of education' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'it may support a' is the wordplay.
'it' becomes 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT').
'may' becomes 'sel' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'support' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters hold others up).
'sel' put after 'a' is 'asel'.
'e'+'asel'='EASEL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for easel that I've seen before include "supporter of the arts" , "A stand for blackboard or artist's canvas" , "the rest of the paintwork" , "Lease it out to the artist" , "dead-headed plant" .)