The general election for Birmingham City Schools in Alabama is on Aug. 24. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the general runoff election scheduled for Oct. 5. The filing deadline to run passed on July 10.
Candidates filed for all nine seats on the Birmingham Board of Education. The District 7 race was canceled, and incumbent Walter Wilson was declared re-elected without appearing on the ballot. Wilson won election to the seat in a special election earlier this year. All eight remaining districts will appear on the ballot.
Three incumbents did not file for re-election, meaning one-third of the school board seats are guaranteed to go to newcomers. Four seats will not go to a runoff election because two candidates filed, meaning one candidate will receive a majority of the vote in the general election. Of the remaining four seats, three have three candidates competing, and one has four candidates on the ballot.
By comparison, five incumbents did not seek re-election when the board was last up for election in 2017. After one incumbent was defeated, six seats, or two-thirds of the board, went to newcomers. Five races were decided in runoff elections.
Birmingham City Schools served 23,777 students during the 2017-2018 school year.
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