Policy Solutions Should School Board Elections Be Partisan Jonathan

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 11:57 AM

policy solutions should school board elections be partisan jonathan

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? 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. 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. Julie Marsh, a professor of education at the University of Southern California and faculty director at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), said that in recent years, school board elections have seen higher spending...

Unpack the legal definitions and practical realities of partisanship in school board elections. Learn how state laws and subtle influences shape local races. School boards serve as the governing bodies for local public education systems, overseeing budgets, curriculum decisions, and leadership. These elected officials significantly shape the educational experience for students and communities. A common question is whether candidates are formally affiliated with political parties, and understanding this is important for civic engagement. Elections for public office are generally categorized as either partisan or non-partisan, based on how candidates’ political affiliations are presented to voters.

In a partisan election, a candidate’s political party affiliation, such as “Democrat” or “Republican,” is explicitly listed on the ballot next to their name. Candidates in partisan races often receive direct support, funding, and organizational backing from their respective political parties. Conversely, a non-partisan election does not include any political party labels on the ballot for the candidates. Candidates in these elections are expected to run based on their individual qualifications, their stances on local issues, and their personal merits, rather than on a party platform. The intent behind non-partisan elections was to remove national party politics from local governance and encourage a focus on community-specific concerns. Candidates may still hold personal political beliefs or affiliations, even if not displayed.

The legal designation of school board elections as partisan or non-partisan is determined at the state level, leading to considerable variation. The vast majority of school boards are elected through non-partisan processes, meaning no party labels appear on the ballot. This widespread practice reflects a historical effort to insulate local education from the direct influence of national party politics. Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy. Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas! In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board members deliberate when they set out to offer the best education possible in their district.

Missed an issue? Click here to see the previous education debates we’ve covered. Indiana Senate Bill 287 took effect July 1. The new law requires school board candidates to list a party affiliation—Republican, Democrat, Independent, or nonpartisan—on the general election ballot. We covered SB 287 in detail in the June 11 edition of Hall Pass. Indiana is the fifth state to require candidates for school board to run in partisan elections, along with Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania.

Five states—Georgia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee—allow for both partisan and nonpartisan elections, depending on the district. This November, Americans will cast their votes in thousands of local school board races. The stakes couldn’t be higher. These governing bodies will decide how public schools handle hot-button issues like masking requirements and critical race theory. They’ll also be overseeing efforts to ensure that kids get back on track academically, not to mention carrying out usual board responsibilities such as crafting budgets and adopting curricula. Given the important role of school boards, voters should have the information needed to select candidates that reflect their ideals.

In most elections, citizens can rely on the party labels that appear on ballots to help guide their choices—even if they don’t know much about particular candidates. Though imperfect, these partisan ballots facilitate more informed voting than asking citizens to do background research on every candidate seeking office. Yet school board elections, along with some other municipal races, do not follow this norm. Under Ohio law, for example, school boards are technically “nonpartisan” in the sense that party affiliations are omitted from the ballot. Only candidate names appear. For many voters, a nonpartisan ballot is of no help in the selection process.

The last time I voted in a school board race, I didn’t recognize any of the names, nor did I have a good sense of where they stood on education issues. Others have probably felt the same unease, as if voting in school board races is no more than guesswork. Beyond my own frustrations, a small body of research suggests concerning consequences of nonpartisan elections. Without the help of party labels, one study finds that voters were more likely to skip the nonpartisan races on a ballot, even though they cast votes in the elections with party labels—what scholars... Another analysis finds that nonpartisan elections depress voter turnout, which in the case of Ohio’s school board elections are already pitifully low due to their “off cycle” schedule that doesn’t align with national votes. Recognizing drawbacks such as these, groups on both sides of the political spectrum have advocated for partisan ballots in local elections.

Moreover, school board elections are also an important form of local accountability and oversight. When citizens are unhappy with the district, they can always voice their dissatisfaction at the ballot box. Yet nonpartisan elections likely weaken accountability because voters don’t know which party is in power and who deserves the boot for acting contrary to their interests. As political scientist Charles Adrian theorized many years ago, nonpartisan elections “tend to frustrate protest voting” as people cannot easily identify which candidates belong to the “in” or “out” group. In other words, it’s hard to shake up the status quo when you can’t figure out who’s part of it.

Policy Solutions Should School Board Elections Be Partisan Jonathan

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