All five school board recall elections held on November 5, 2024, were approved by voters. The recalls were held in California, Idaho, and Michigan school districts.
The recalls in California were held in the Reef-Sunset Unified School District. The names of three school board members were on the ballot: Area 1 representative Claudia Cazares, Area 2 representative Lilia Rizo, and Area 3 representative Lissette Padilla. Two of those members—Cazares and Padilla—resigned from the board before the recall elections were held. However, they remained on the ballot because they resigned after the petitions were submitted. All three recalls were approved with over 70% of the vote, according to election results released on November 8, 2024.
In Idaho, voters in the Marsh Valley Joint School District voted to approve the recall of Kathy Egan with 71% of the vote, according to unofficial results. The reasons for recall listed on the ballot were “poor performance of the school district, declining enrollment, poor financial oversight.” In response, Egan said the financial issues facing the district were common for rural school districts in the state and said she “always felt like the best interest of the students was my goal.”
In Michigan, Onaway Area Community School District Board of Education member John Palmer faced candidate Lain Veihl. Veihl won the election with 53% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Palmer’s behavior as a board member was listed as a reason for recall on the petition, including a comment he made in reference to LGBTQ+ people. Before the recall election, Palmer said, “I want to remain on this school board so that I may represent the voice of this district and keep our school going in a positive direction.”
Ballotpedia has tracked 37 school board recall efforts against 78 board members in 2024. One more recall election is scheduled to be held this year on December 17, 2024. School board recall elections have so far removed 11 members from office and retained seven members in office.
Ballotpedia had tracked a total of 223 recall efforts against 345 officials across all office types as of November 11, 2024. At that time, 66 of the officials targeted for recall had been removed from office in a recall election, which is a success rate of 19%.
Additional reading: