Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #124

Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving school board politics and governance.

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

• On the issues: The debate over the U.S. Department of Education
• School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
• A look at the results of Florida’s school board races with dueling candidate endorsements
• Recall effort against four members of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board will not go to a vote
• Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web
• Candidate Connection survey

Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over the U.S. Department of Education

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.

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) began operations in May 1980, after Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act in October of the previous year. Is the DOE good or bad for schools and students?

Brandy Shufutinsky writes that federal oversight from the DOE is good for students. Shufutinsky says the department helps limit negative influences from activists, unions, and policymakers and can help poorer students through national curriculum standards.

Robert Holland writes that the DOE cannot efficiently run 100,000 schools across the country. Holland says schools and students have diverse needs that a centralized agency cannot help fill. He also says the federal government’s influence on education is unconstitutional.

Dismantling the Department of Education Would Be a Gift to Critical Social Justice Activists | Opinion | Brandy Shufutinsky, Newsweek

“The status quo is indeed unsustainable, and will only ensure the continuing decline in academic achievement, and yet, eliminating the DOE will see students at the mercy of their local and state education leaders, many of whom fully embrace programs that are actively fueling our educational decline. What our children deserve is a Department of Education that serves students by actually being committed to its mission of promoting ‘student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.’ Currently, the DOE is falling far short of its stated goal. … If we dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, we leave more children vulnerable to the influence of activist teachers, unions, and policy makers. We are experiencing civic illiteracy. In order for our democratic republic to survive, we must find a solution. We need reform and oversight. Dismantling the DOE will only make things worse.”

Should we shutter the Department of Education? | Robert Holland, Washington Examiner

“‘Complex and persistent’ is how Congress’ spending watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, described the agency’s mismanagement of data, oversight, and evaluation. It’s not surprising a colossal central bureaucracy cannot efficiently run 100,000 schools attended by 50 million children in 50 gloriously variegated states. The U.S. is a richly diverse country, and its families have widely different educational interests and needs. The founders of our constitutional republic anticipated the pitfalls posed by big, intrusive government. They did not include education among the powers granted to the federal government. In fact, under the Bill of Rights (the often-overlooked 10th Amendment), they left authority over matters such as education expressly with the states and the people — where it rightfully belongs.”

School board update: filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications

This year, Ballotpedia will cover elections for over 11,000 school board seats across more than 30 states. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on the country’s more than 80,000 school board seats.

Election results from the past week

Oklahoma

Ballotpedia covered a special general election runoff in Oklahoma on Aug. 27 for a seat on the Sequoyah Public Schools school board. The election results will be certified no earlier than Friday, Aug. 30. As of Aug. 28, Greg Perry received 301 votes and Lyndsey Young received 293.

Perry and Young ran in the April 2 special general election, but a lawsuit over voting irregularities resulted in a new election date. Preliminary vote tallies showed Perry with 225 votes to Young’s 222.

After reviewing the voter registries, Young challenged the results, which revealed 10 irregular votes due to a mixture of out-of-district voters and one person voting twice.

On April 11, District Court Judge Lara Russell upheld Young’s challenge. Election officials sent a letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) the following day requesting a new election be held on Aug. 27.

In her order, Russell cited a 1991 Oklahoma Supreme Court case, Jackson v. Maley, which established that a court may order a redo election if the number of irregular votes is larger than the margin of victory. Click here to read about noteworthy redo elections.

Sequoyah Public Schools is located northeast of Tulsa and has an estimated student population of 1,300 students.

Colorado

On Aug. 27, voters in the Garfield School District RE-2 recalled school board member Tony May, with 58% of voters voting in favor of recall per unofficial results. Voters also elected Scott Bolitho as May’s replacement.

The recall effort began while the board deliberated on a new social studies curriculum. May supported adopting the American Birthright social studies standards. Civics Alliance, which says civics education should teach students “the founding principles of the United States, the structure of our self-governing republic, the functions of government at all levels, and how our key institutions work,” developed the standards.

The board voted 3-1 on Oct. 25, 2023, to adopt Colorado’s 2022 state-approved standards. May was the dissenting vote.

May was the school board’s president when the recall effort got underway. He stepped down from that leadership position on Dec. 13, 2023, citing the political climate on the board.

Voters answered two questions in the recall election. First, voters decided whether to recall May. Voters also decided on a successor candidate. Bolitho was the only candidate who filed to run.

Upcoming school board elections

Idaho

Voters in the Boise School District were set to decide three elections on Sept. 3: one regular election and two special elections. Only one of the three, the special election between Krista Hasler and Matthew Shapiro for an at-large district, will take place. The other two, a regular election for three at-large districts and a special election for another at-large district, were canceled. Incumbents Paul Bennion, Maria Greeley, and Elizabeth Langley were the only candidates who filed to run for the regular election and incumbent Debbie Donovan was the only candidate to file for the special election.

Canceling elections isn’t uncommon. While not an exhaustive list, states like Colorado, Idaho, Oklahoma, and South Dakota will cancel school board elections if not enough candidates file to run.

The Boise School District is the second-largest district in Idaho, with around 23,000 students.

A look at the results of Florida’s school board races with dueling candidate endorsements

In our July 31 issue, we looked into Florida’s Aug. 20 nonpartisan school board primaries. Of particular interest were Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Florida Democratic Party’s dueling school board candidate endorsements.

In three districts—Duval County Public Schools, Hillsborough County Public Schools, and Miami-Dade County Public Schools—DeSantis and the Florida Democratic Party backed competing candidates.

One of DeSantis’ endorsed candidates and two Florida Democratic Party-endorsed candidates won their primaries outright. Incumbent Mary Blanco (DeSantis-endorsed) and Max Tuchman (Florida Democratic Party-endorsed) both advanced from the primary to the general election. As a refresher, in Florida, a candidate who gets a simple majority of votes (50% + 1 vote) in the primary is elected outright, provided no write-in candidate qualifies for the general election. If no candidate gets a majority, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a general election.

Looking only at endorsed incumbents, all three (two Florida Democratic Party-endorsed and one DeSantis-endorsed) either won their primary outright or advanced to the general election.

The big picture

DeSantis endorsed 23 candidates in 14 districts overall, saying the candidates had “pledged to serve with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.” The Florida Democratic Party backed 11 candidates in seven districts. Chair Nikki Fried said, “We are not going to let Ron DeSantis and his allies take over our school boards with far-right, Moms for Liberty candidates.”

Eleven of DeSantis’ 23 endorsed candidates lost their primaries, six won their primaries outright, and six advanced to the general election. Politico’s Andrew Atterbury wrote, “That is a notable downturn from 2022, when DeSantis saw a runaway success: Of the 30 he endorsed two years ago, just five lost. … That his preferred school board candidates didn’t win Tuesday could be a sign of his decreasing influence in the wake of his failed presidential bid.”

AP’s Kate Payne said, “DeSantis-endorsed candidates did notch some wins in Democratic-leaning Duval County, home to Jacksonville, where conservatives will have a majority on the board when new members are sworn in come November. The governor’s picks also held down other races in reliably conservative parts of the state.”

DeSantis said of the results, “If you look at where we were four or five years ago versus where we are now, there’s much more interest on these school boards in protecting the rights of parents.”

Of the 11 candidates the Florida Democratic Party endorsed, seven won their primaries outright, two advanced to the general election, and two lost election. Fried said, “Our freedom starts in our schools, and we’re proud to have supported candidates who will fight for our students’ rights to see themselves represented in a book, to feel safe at school, and ensure every student has access to a high-quality education where they can learn and grow.”

DeSantis said of the Democratic-endorsed wins, “You’re now in a situation where someone’s celebrating on the Dem side that they held an area — a school board — in a blue district? Usually that would just be a fait accompli.”

What others are saying

Payne said, “DeSantis built his national profile by leveraging culture wars and limiting what Florida schools can teach about systemic racism and gender identity. … During the 2022 elections, 83% of DeSantis’ preferred candidates advanced, helping reinforce the state’s rightward turn in education. That’s compared to a 52% success rate for this election … Tuesday’s results may be a sign that the parental rights movement is losing steam among primary voters in the state.”

For Jeremy Redfern, a DeSantis spokesperson, that wasn’t the case. His post on X said, “There were A LOT of uphill battles in historically blue districts today, but you don’t shift the culture by only supporting winnable races. Flipping the Duval County School Board is a win for students and parents in a historically blue county.”

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It has become more common in recent years for governors and other state executive officials to wade into local school board elections. In 2023, Ballotpedia identified 31 state executive officials or candidates for those offices in nine states who made 111 school board endorsements.

Recall effort against four members of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board will not go to a vote

A version of this story appeared in the Aug. 23 edition of the Daily Brew, Ballotpedia’s daily politics newsletter where we deliver the news with national and historical context like only Ballotpedia can. Subscribe here!

The Milwaukee Election Commission announced on Aug. 15 and 19 that the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative did not collect enough signatures to recall Milwaukee Public Schools Board of School Directors At-Large Representative Missy Zombor, District 1 Representative Marva Herndon, District 2 Representative Erika Siemsen, and District 5 Representative Jilly Gokalgandhi. Herndon is the president of the board and Gokalgandhi is the vice president.

According to the collaborative’s website, the group launched the recall effort because it was “increasingly frustrated with the persistent issues plaguing the school system: budget mismanagement, lack of transparency, and ineffective leadership.”

The targeted officials said they understood the community’s frustration, welcomed the Democratic process of recall, and would continue fighting for Milwaukee’s public schools.

Background

Between May and June, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction sent two letters to the school board and superintendent, saying the state was temporarily withholding the district’s $16.6 million June 2024 Special Education Aid payment because of overdue financial reports. At the time, some data was over eight months overdue. The department ultimately released the June payment after the board agreed to follow a corrective action plan from the department. In light of the department’s letters, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for two audits of the school district.

Path to the ballot

To get the recall on the ballot, the collaborative had 60 days to collect signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election for each jurisdiction. The collaborative needed to gather 5,137 signatures for Herndon, 6,809 for Siemsen, 7,759 for Gokalgandhi, and 44,177 for Zombor. According to the commission, the group submitted 1,741 signatures for Herndon, 215 for Siemsen, 300 for Gokalgandhi, and 27,531 for Zombor.

Beyond Wisconsin

Twenty-three states allow voters to recall school board members. We’ve tracked 33 school board recall efforts nationwide against 72 board members this year. Recall elections against six of those board members are scheduled to be held on Oct. 1 and Nov. 5. Earlier recall elections in 2024 removed eight members from office and retained five.

Between 2009 and 2023, we tracked an average of 35 recall efforts against an average of 81 school board members each year. A total of 19.28% of the school board members included in those efforts faced recall elections, and 10.21% of school board members were removed from office.

Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web

This section contains links to recent education-related articles from around the internet. If you know of a story we should be reading, reply to this email to share it with us!

• Nonpartisan school board races in Florida seeing more influence from political parties — What do candidates say? | 10 Tampa Bay
• Harris and Trump have starkly different ideas about education policy | The Dallas Morning News
• WATCH: 5 Key Education Moments From the Democratic National Convention | Education Week
• Florida Department of Education announces model policy for volunteer school chaplains program | News 4 Jax
• Iowa Department of Education Launches AI-Powered Reading Tutor Program | The 74
• About 25% of NYC high schools have newspapers. City Council wants to see more. | Chalkbeat New York

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re looking at survey responses from Vincent Smith and Melinda Rogers, two candidates running in the Nov. 5 general election for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, District 5, in Virginia.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools is the fourth-largest district in the state, with an estimated enrollment of around 65,000 students.

Here’s an excerpt from Smith’s answer to the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

• “While VBCPS’ reading scores are higher than the national average I do not think we should rest on shriveling laurels saying, ‘We’re not as bad as others’. We should be striving to do much better. By VBCPS’ own statistics, 30% of our 3rd graders are not reading at 3rd grade level. Written communication is a cornerstone of human civilization. Children who can’t read at grade level will struggle to learn at grade level. Frustration leads to discontent and acting out disrupting classrooms thus affecting others’ access to education. We should be prioritizing resources to get that number much, much lower.
• Our teachers need more support and we need to ensure that Virginia Beach is the pinnacle of the area’s teaching experience. We can do that by ensuring our teachers have full support of administration. We also must free them from the non-teaching responsibilities that take their focus away from teaching. We can also create a system that fosters orderly classrooms. That will relieve teachers’ stress and give all students easy access to a solid education.”

Here’s an excerpt from Rogers’ answer to the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

• “I commit to advocate for school policies that cater to the needs of every student in the district, ensuring equal access to the high-quality and free public education they rightfully deserve. Emphasizing a problem-solving approach, I aim to address current shortcomings so we can meet the specific needs of Virginia Beach students. By keeping the focus squarely on our community, we can ensure that the concerns of our students, staff, and families take precedence over outside influences.
• To guarantee the highest quality of education for our community’s students, emphasis in the school budget should be on staff retention and commitment to being a responsible steward of the funds entrusted to us by the community. Recognizing the nationwide staffing crisis in education, my goal is to motivate Virginia Beach City Public Schools employees to remain dedicated to our institution.”

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. If you’re not running for school board, but there is an election in your community this year, share the link with the candidates and urge them to take the survey!

In the 2022 election cycle, 6,087 candidates completed the survey.

The survey contains more than 30 questions, and you can choose the ones you feel will best represent your views to voters. If you complete the survey, a box with your answers will display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.