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Partisan School Board Races May Make Members And Schools More

Leo Migdal
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partisan school board races may make members and schools more

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... As education issues play a more prominent role in political debates, some state lawmakers have joined a new push to make school board elections partisan.

Bills proposed in six states this spring would require or allow local school board candidates to declare a party affiliation on the ballot. Forty-one states currently require nonpartisan local school board races, the product of historical efforts to separate education governance from divisive politics. Supporters of such efforts say party labels would give voters one more piece of useful information about candidates and improve voter participation in races that have typically received less attention than those higher on... “You’ll have counties in southwest Florida that voted for me by like 40 points, and yet they’re electing people to school board who are totally the opposite philosophy,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in January as he announced his education priorities. “We want transparency.

We want people to do what they think is best in educating voters to the maximum degree.” June 3 (UPI) -- 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...

More candidates signal their political leanings Hannah Gross, Education and Child Welfare Writer | November 14, 2024 | NJ Decides 2024, Education With school board races in 500 districts lining up with the presidential election, races saw an increase in voter turnout — and politicization in what are supposed to be nonpartisan elections. In an average year, most voters are not paying close attention to politics and may not come out to vote in local and school board elections. But the election for the president of the United States drives more people to the polls, where they are given a chance to also vote in lower-profile elections that have a big impact on... Some candidates used this momentum to aid their campaigns by linking themselves to better-known presidential and gubernatorial candidates through slogans, lawn signs and social media posts.

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? To help journalists contextualize coverage of school board elections, we spotlight research on who votes in these elections, the role of teachers unions and how new board members can influence school segregation, funding and... This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You are free to republish this piece both online and in print, and we encourage you to do so with the embed code provided below. We only ask that you follow a few basic guidelines. by Denise-Marie Ordway, The Journalist's Resource May 28, 2024

School board elections have grown increasingly politicized in recent years as conservative politicians and advocacy organizations push to restrict how public schools address issues related to race, gender and sexuality. 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. 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.”

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