Forty-one states hold nonpartisan school board elections— here’s where lawmakers are considering changes

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Monday, May 5, 2025, Brew. 

By: Lara Bonatesta

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Forty-one states hold nonpartisan school board elections, four hold partisan elections, and five allow both. Here’s where lawmakers are considering changes
  2. Here’s a roundup of state supreme court vacancy news from April 
  3. Did you know that Congress has voted to override presidential vetoes 112 times?

Forty-one states hold nonpartisan school board elections— here’s where lawmakers are considering changes

One state has enacted legislation codifying the nonpartisan election of school board members, and one governor has vetoed a bill that would have required partisan labels on school board election ballots so far in 2025.

Today, as part of our continuing coverage of school board elections and education policy, we’ll look at the landscape of partisanship in school board elections and where lawmakers are considering changes.

On April 10, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed HB1724, which adds school board members to the list of offices elected in nonpartisan elections. School board elections in Arkansas were already nonpartisan, but the bill also made changes to school board election dates, among other things. 

On April 18, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed SB1441, which would have required school board candidates to have their party affiliation listed on the ballot based on their voter registration 150 days before a primary election instead of appearing without a party designation. School board elections are currently nonpartisan in Arizona. 

So far this year, legislators in 11 states have introduced 13 bills on candidates using party labels in school board elections. Other than the bill that became law in Arkansas, all the other bills would make school board elections in their respective states partisan. Republicans sponsored all 13 bills. Eleven bills are in states with Republican trifectas, and the remaining two are in states with divided governments. Legislators introduced seven bills on party labels in school board elections 2024 and three in 2023.

Three other bills have passed one or both chambers of their respective legislatures. 

  • On April 24, the Indiana Senate passed SB0287 26-24, which would require school board candidates to list their political party affiliation when they file to run, with these affiliations appearing on the ballot. Currently, Indiana holds nonpartisan school board elections. The bill passed the House in March and now awaits a decision from Gov. Mike Braun (R).
  • On March 27, the New Hampshire House passed HB356 which would allow school districts to choose between nonpartisan and partisan election systems. The bill now awaits consideration in the Senate. Currently, New Hampshire holds nonpartisan school board elections.

On Feb. 6, the Wyoming Senate passed SF0098, which would require school board candidates’ party affiliations to appear on the ballot. On Feb. 25, the Wyoming House voted 38-23 against it. 

Nationally, there are 13,187 public school districts and 83,183 school board members. 

Forty-one states containing 11,761 school districts, or about 90% of these school boards, require nonpartisan school board elections. 

The four states with partisan school board elections are Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. These states have 878 school districts (or about 6.65% of the national total).

Five other states allow both partisan and nonpartisan school board elections. Click on each state’s name to learn more. 

We wrote about the debate over partisan school board elections a year ago in Hall Pass, Ballotpedia’s newsletter on school board politics and education policy. Click here to sign up. 

Click here to see all legislation related to school board elections in 2025. To learn more about the rules governing party labels in school board elections in every state, click here.

Here’s a roundup of state supreme court vacancy news from April 

In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, let’s look at who retired, was nominated, appointed, confirmed, and sworn in April.

Here’s a quick summary:

  • Four justices announced their retirements
  • Three candidates were appointed members of their respective state supreme courts
  • Two justices retired

Announced retirements:

  1. On April 9, Vermont Supreme Court Justice Karen R. Carroll announced that she will retire in August. Gov. Phil Scott (R) appointed Carroll in March 2017. Scott will choose her successor through the assisted appointment selection method. Carroll’s successor, Scott’s fourth nominee to the court, will join three other Republican-appointed justices and one Democrat-appointed justice.
  2. Also, on April 9, Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd announced he will retire later this year. As of April 30, his retirement date had not been set. Former Gov. Rick Perry (R) appointed Boyd in 2012. Boyd’s replacement will be Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) eighth appointment to the nine-member Texas Supreme Court.
  3. On April 15, New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice James Bassett announced he would retire effective Aug. 31, a year before he reaches the state’s mandatory retirement age of 70. Governor John H. Lynch (D) appointed Bassett in 2012. Former Gov. Chris Sununu (R) appointed the other four justices. The vacancy will give Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) her first opportunity to appoint a justice to the court.
  4. On April 21, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Justice Beth Walker announced she will retire effective June 27. Walker joined the court through a nonpartisan election in 2016, winning a twelve-year term originally scheduled to conclude in late 2028. Walker’s retirement gives Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) his first opportunity to appoint a justice to the court.

Candidates nominated, appointed, and confirmed:

  1. Governor Mark Gordon (R) appointed Bridget Hill to the Wyoming Supreme Court on April 11. Hill has served as the state’s Attorney General since 2019. She replaces Kate M. Fox, who is retiring effective May 27. Former Gov. Matt Mead (R) appointed Fox in 2013, and she was retained in 2016 and 2024. When Hill assumes office on May 28, she will join a court composed of two Mead and two Gordon appointees.
  2. On April 14, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) appointed Travis Jett to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Jett will join three other Stitt appointments, three justices appointed by former Gov. Brad Henry (D), and one appointed by former Gov. Mary Fallin (R). Jett will fill the vacancy created when former justice Yvonne Kauger retired. Governor George Nigh (D) appointed Kauger in 1984, and she retired in December 2024, before the end of her term and after losing the November 2024 retention election. This was the first time in state history that a supreme court justice lost a retention election. As of April 30, Jett’s swearing-in date had not been announced.
  3. Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) appointed Noah Hood to the Michigan Supreme Court. Hood is currently an appellate judge in Michigan’s First Judicial District, a position he has held since Whitmer appointed him in 2022. Hood replaces Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement (R), who was originally appointed by former Gov. Rick Snyder (R) in 2017. As of April 30, Hood’s swearing-in date had not been announced. When sworn in, Hood will sit on a court with six Democratic justices and one Republican justice.

Justices sworn in/out:

  1. Georgia Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Boggs retired on March 31. Former Gov. Nathan Deal (R) first appointed Boggs in 2016, and he was re-elected in 2018 and 2024. Boggs was elected chief justice through a chamber vote in July 2022 and served in the role until his retirement. Boggs’ retirement gives Gov. Brian Kemp (R) his fifth opportunity to appoint a justice to the nine-member court. As of April 30, Kemp had not announced Boggs’ successor.
  2. On April 15, Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement (R) retired. In a statement on Feb. 19, Clement stated she was leaving the court to accept a position as the president of the National Center for State Courts. Former Gov. Rick Snyder (R) appointed Clement in 2017, and she won re-election in 2018. Following Clement’s retirement, Justice Brian Zahra is the only remaining Republican on the court. 

To learn more about state supreme court vacancies or to see our previous updates, click here.

Did you know that Congress has voted to override presidential vetoes 112 times?

In the Feb. 21 edition of the Brew, we looked into presidential vetoes, finding that Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) sent the highest number of bills in U.S. history back to Congress. 

When a president vetoes a bill, Congress can override it with a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

Congress rarely overrides presidential vetoes. President Andrew Johnson (D) had the largest number of his vetoes overridden at 15, representing just over half of his 29 vetoes. But Franklin Pierce (D) had the largest percentage of his vetoes overridden. During his presidency, Pierce issued nine vetoes, five of which were overridden (56%). Apart from Johnson, only two other presidents had more than 10 veto overrides: Harry Truman (D) and Gerald Ford (R), who had 12 veto overrides each.

Click here to learn more about presidential veto overrides.