School boards, long locally focused and nonpartisan, get dragged into the national political culture wars

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 governs itself. 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 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...