Jonathan Collins On Linkedin Should School Board Elections Be Partisan

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 11:58 AM

jonathan collins on linkedin should school board elections be partisan

Within the 2024 Presidential Election, something very important happened under the radar. Voters in Florida rejected a constitutional amendment change that would have converted their school board elections from non-partisan to partisan contests. They would've joined a short list of other states that allow this (AL, CT, LA, PA, RI, TN, NC, SC, and GA). With partisan school board elections quietly becoming a wider practice, I used my latest Phi Delta Kappan (PDK International) column to dive into the implications. Should school board elections be partisan? I break it down here (and take the liberty to talk about my favorite Kendrick Lamar album): https://lnkd.in/eEbWDYHE

By Jonathan E. Collins | Dec 2, 2024 | Policy Solutions Kendrick Lamar released the album “To Pimp a Butterfly” in 2015. It was the project that I never knew I had always been waiting for. The album cover was a surrealist provocation of unapologetic Black joy parading in front of the White House. Jazz and funk sounds formed around messages meant to make us question the sanctity of American politics.

“Ain’t nothin’ new but a flu of new Demo-Crips and Re-Blood-icans/ Red state versus a blue state — which one you governin’?” laments Lamar on the song “Hood Politics.” Comparing the two major parties... The concern that partisan politics has a propensity to cover over bi-partisan neglect should be part of our conversation on the politics of school boards. Currently, four states require that school board members be elected through a partisan primary process. Another five allow districts the choice to opt in. This slight deviation from the nonpartisan norm hasn’t meant much. However, recent growth in the influence of partisan politics in school board elections has turned an outlier into a coal miner’s canary.

So, I raise the question: Are partisan elections good for school boards? It’s worth mentioning that, while education hasn’t been completely immune to partisan politics, party labels haven’t dominated. Some of the main education policy debates — testing accountability, school choice, curriculum standards — don’t fit neatly across partisan divides (Shapiro et al., 2021). We see, for example, the Democratic Party being home to both teachers unions and their sometimes-foes, the progressive reformers. Republicans oscillate between focusing on more efficient fiscal management of school districts and seeking more pathways for families to opt out of the school system for private options. Public education has been impressively immune to hyper-partisan politics.

So, why disrupt this with partisan elections? School boards greatly influence how schools operate, what and how kids learn, and other issues that families must contend with. We spoke with Jonathan Collins, Associate Professor of Politics and Education, whose research focuses on school-based democratic innovation. Collins is also the Associate Director of TC’s Center for Educational Equity, and the Director of the new School Board and Youth Engagement Lab. Tags: K-12 Education Education Leadership Education Policy K-12 Education Departments: Education Policy & Social Analysis

Voters will be asked in the upcoming general election to weigh in on whether school board member elections should be switched from nonpartisan to partisan. Official ballot language: Amendment #1: Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to require members of a district school board to be elected in a partisan election rather than a nonpartisan election and to specify... However, partisan primary elections may occur before the 2026 general election for purposes of nominating political party candidates to that office for placement on the 2026 general election ballot. Since 1998, school board member elections in Florida have been non-partisan, like most states in the U.S. Whether an election is non-partisan or partisan will not only determine the information a voter receives about a candidate; it also will determine who may vote in the primary elections. In a non-partisan election, all voters of any political party can participate in the primaries to elect school board members.

In a partisan primary election, generally, only voters who are members of a particular political party may vote for candidates of that party. Many school board elections are resolved in a primary election, as was the Collier County school board election in August of 2024. When the 1998 amendment was adopted and elections switched from partisan to non-partisan, advertising a candidate’s political party was prohibited. After a challenge in 2022, it was ruled that such a restriction was unconstitutional, and thereafter, advertising could promote a candidate’s party, but the ballot would still not indicate a party affiliation. Members of the Florida Legislature, led by State Representative Spencer Roach (R76) voted to place this amendment on the ballot, to take effect in 2026. Roach and supporters argue that the race has already become partisan, since the local parties now openly promote their candidates.

Said Jen Mitchell, former Collier County School Board chairman, “The horse has left the barn and since COVID, the atmosphere has been very political.” If voters choose YES, party affiliation would be marked on... Others also say that with a partisan race, school boards will better align with the other local partisan races like county commissioners. Supporters of this amendment include a majority of Florida state legislators and the Florida Republican Party. The presidential election is getting a lot of discussion, and rightfully so, but for education folks, what didn't happen in Florida is a big deal as well. Here's an Education Week piece on the failed constitutional amendment in Florida that we should be talking more about. I had the honor of being quoted.

Check it out. https://lnkd.in/ecC4jydC Kids are learning on TikTok. Leaders also should be learning from it—not from the content but from how it engages students. School board politics could benefit from being a more vibrant space, but we should be careful with empowering political parties. We, as a society, need to see the true urgency of civics education.

We take it for granted that students will gain this knowledge somehow, but when it comes to making it part of the curriculum, we treat it as an outdated luxury feature. The Brown v. Board ruling may be America’s greatest underachievement. Why have we underachieved? The racial injustices we see in our education system don’t persist because of a lack of effort. Polarizing views on controversial issues are at the center of the conversation about education and the election in 2024.

As the presidential election heats up heading into the fall, experts say local school board races are becoming more politicized and partisan, eliciting various responses from states and districts. In Indiana, for example, a district ruled that a school board candidate who wanted to appear on the ballot with a Trump-themed nickname is disqualified. In Florida, however, voters are faced with an amendment that, if passed, would allow school board candidates to appear on the ballot with their party affiliation. Julie Marsh, a professor of education at the University of Southern California, said that in recent years, school board elections have seen higher spending and are “more politicized…more partisan, more nationally oriented, more contested.” Marsh said that in 2023, high-profile politicians in 31 states issued endorsements for school board members. “Parties are seeing the strategic value of boards in terms of building a base and advancing their agenda,” said Marsh.

“It’s [the Florida amendment] clearly coming from the Republican Party in Florida, and DeSantis has pushed for this amendment.”

Jonathan Collins On Linkedin Should School Board Elections Be Partisan

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