Once Non Partisan School Boards Are Getting Mired In Culture Wars

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 8:01 AM

once non partisan school boards are getting mired in culture wars

July 13, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries. But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community... (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); At present, nine states have passed legislation that enables school board races to be partisan. Four states provide for board elections that have partisan affiliations listed on the ballot; another five states permit districts to choose nonpartisan or partisan races.

Bills introduced in six states in 2023 would require or permit school board candidates to declare party affiliations on the ballot. In 2024, lawmakers in Iowa, New Hampshire and Arizona introduced similar bills. Neither Iowa’s nor New Hampshire’s bill has yet been voted on, and Arizona’s bill was vetoed by the governor. Floridians will decide on partisan school board elections at the ballot box in November 2024. The sponsor of the 2023 bill in Ohio, which has not yet passed, said partisan elections provide voters with better “information about candidate platforms.” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); As a former school board... Sponsors of bills proposing partisan school board elections argue that these changes will result in more voter interest and informed participation in board elections.

But research indicates the real effect may be less about public participation and more about partisan conflict. Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University Kathleen Knight Abowitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic... Miami University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US. In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries.

But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community... At present, nine states have passed legislation that enables school board races to be partisan. Four states provide for board elections that have partisan affiliations listed on the ballot; another five states permit districts to choose nonpartisan or partisan races. Bills introduced in six states in 2023 would require or permit school board candidates to declare party affiliations on the ballot. The former school board member and scholar of educational leadership sees this shift having the potential to disrupt the important work of nonpartisan school boards in communities across the nation In more than 90% of U.S.

public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries, Kathleen Knight Abowitz, professor of Educational Leadership, writes. “But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community... As a former school board member in Ohio and a scholar of educational leadership, Knight Abowitz sees this shift having the potential to disrupt the important work of nonpartisan school boards in communities across... Read her article “School boards, long locally focused and nonpartisan, get dragged into the national political culture wars” in The Conversation (June 3). Despite the epic tribalism that has divided the nation, school board elections have been, until recently, relatively safe from partisan politics. Nearly half of American school boards are still nonpartisan.

Now, the nationalization of American politics, which has so polarized the country, is also infecting school boards. During the last two years, mask mandates and mostly unfounded fears of “critical race theory” infiltrating classroom curricula have made school boards the latest culture-war battlegrounds. Some state legislatures also want to ratchet up partisanship in school-board elections. In October, Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature approved a bill that could turn school board races across the state into partisan contests. Beginning next year, when half of Tennessee’s school board races will be held, local political parties may put forward slates of school board candidates. Currently, in Tennessee and over 3/4ths of the states, school board candidates run without a party affiliation.

In Florida, Republicans are laying the groundwork for a referendum next November that would require school board candidates to run as either Democrats or Republicans. A similar bill has recently been put forward in Arizona. At the same time, what the University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew has termed the “White Power Movement” is targeting school boards, bringing its “brand of menacing politics to the local level.” Extremist groups,... Last year also saw over 90 school board recall efforts against 235 board members -- nearly three times higher than any other year in a decade. A particularly contentious recall and school board election in the Mequon-Thiensville suburban district outside of Milwaukee was backed by well-funded conservatives (of course, not all are spearheaded by right-wing groups). Diversity and inclusion programs, book bans, censorship, debates over school curricula are all signs that America’s culture wars have moved into a new combat zone: school boards.

School board races, which many voters will decide on Tuesday, have become increasingly partisan and polarized, despite boards’ statuses as nonpartisan institutions. In some districts, civil liberties are at stake as board members and candidates promote “wedge issues” that can divide voters and their communities. USC experts are available to comment on these issues. Contact: Nina Raffio, raffio@usc.edu or (213) 442-8464 Anna Saavedra is an expert in applied education with specialization in the areas of teaching and learning and civics education. She recently published a study on American attitudes toward controversial topics in schools.

Saavedra is a behavioral scientist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) and co-director of the USC Center for Applied Research in Education (CARE). Morgan Polikoff is an expert in K-12 education policy, curriculum, standards and accountability who previously researched American attitudes toward controversial topics in schools. He is an associate professor of education at USC Rossier. Volunteers campaign for Tammy Shamburger for a district school board office during an NAACP voter drive on Nov. 1, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. Octavio Jones/Getty Images

by Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Miami University In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries. But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community... At present, nine states have passed legislation that enables school board races to be partisan. Four states provide for board elections that have partisan affiliations listed on the ballot; another five states permit districts to choose nonpartisan or partisan races.

Bills introduced in six states in 2023 would require or permit school board candidates to declare party affiliations on the ballot. The Ann Arbor Public Schools board discusses a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on Jan. 17, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. AP Photo/Joey Cappelletti In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries.

But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community... At present, nine states have passed legislation that enables school board races to be partisan. Four states provide for board elections that have partisan affiliations listed on the ballot; another five states permit districts to choose nonpartisan or partisan races. Bills introduced in six states in 2023 would require or permit school board candidates to declare party affiliations on the ballot. In 2024, lawmakers in Iowa, New Hampshire and Arizona introduced similar bills. Neither Iowa’s nor New Hampshire’s bill has yet been voted on, and Arizona’s bill was vetoed by the governor.

Floridians will decide on partisan school board elections at the ballot box in November 2024. The sponsor of the 2023 bill in Ohio, which has not yet passed, said partisan elections provide voters with better “information about candidate platforms.” As a former school board member in Ohio and a scholar of educational leadership, I see this shift having the potential to disrupt the important work of nonpartisan school boards in communities across the...

Once Non Partisan School Boards Are Getting Mired In Culture Wars

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