Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #167

By

Ballotpedia staff

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

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

  • On the issues: The debate over prenatal development education 
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • Here’s what to know about the candidates and issues in Seattle’s Aug. 5 school board primaries
  • School board authority across the 50 states series (Week 6): How statewide K-12 cellphone bans affect school board authority
  • Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey

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On the issues: The debate over prenatal development 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.

At least six states (Iowa, Indiana, Idaho, Tennessee, North Dakota, and Kansas) have enacted legislation requiring schools to teach prenatal development. The laws generally require students to view ultrasounds or other videos illustrating fetal development throughout the stages of pregnancy. Some states, like Tennessee, have mandated that students watch “Baby Olivia,” a fetal development video produced by Live Action. Live Action says its mission is “building a culture of life and advancing human rights.”

Should states require such instruction?

Addia Wuchner says students should have an understanding of gestational age and embryonic development. Wuchner says “Baby Olivia” accurately and scientifically portrays fetal development and enhances classroom instruction.

Sara Pequeño writes that the “Baby Olivia” video is political advocacy masquerading as science. Pequeño says laws requiring instruction on fetal development aim to misinform students and dissuade them from having abortions.

Baby Olivia Represents All Children in the Womb | Addia Wuchner, Live Action

“‘Baby Olivia,’ an animated portrayal of fetal development, stands as a beacon of biological education for all age groups, providing an understanding of gestational age and embryological milestones. Human development is an awe-inspiring journey, and today’s state-of-the-art technology are vital tools that provide a window into that world. … Baby Olivia embodies the spirit of scientific inquiry and ethical responsibility, fostering a deeper appreciation for the marvels of human life. Developed by Live Action, this animation offers students a captivating journey through fetal development, enhancing traditional classroom instruction.”

Have you heard about ‘Baby Olivia’? It’s how Republicans are lying to kids about abortion. | Sara Pequeño, USA Today

“Instead of getting information based in science, the ‘Baby Olivia’ video’s purpose is to dissuade viewers from choosing an option that is already heavily stigmatized. That will only hurt students. … Medical experts say the video’s timeline is about two weeks earlier than what doctors agree on. It’s also inaccurate in the way it depicts the range of movement for a fetus, showing Olivia moving much more than the average fetus would during the early stages of development. … It might feel like just another piece of disinformation, but the video is designed in a way to make teenagers feel guilty for something they should not feel guilty about.”

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

In 2025, Ballotpedia will cover elections for more than 30,000 school board seats. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on covering the country’s more than 80,000 school board seats.    

  • Aug. 5—Kansas, Washington
  • Aug. 12—Minnesota, Utah
  • Aug. 26—Alabama
  • Sept. 16—New Hampshire

Washington’s upcoming primaries 

Voters across Washington will decide school board primary elections on Aug. 5, including in Seattle, the state’s largest district. 

Washington holds school board primaries on the first Tuesday of August during odd-numbered years. Primaries are only held if more than two candidates run for each seat. In elections with only two candidates, the primary is cancelled and the candidates advance to the general election. This year, general elections will be held Nov. 4. 

Ballotpedia is covering every school board election in Washington this year. 

In 2025, Ballotpedia is covering elections for more than 30,000 school board seats. In 2024, we covered elections for more than 25,000 school board seats. Click here to learn more about our local election coverage in 2025.

Here’s what to know about the candidates and issues in Seattle’s Aug. 5 school board primaries

This story first ran in the July 22 edition of the Daily Brew, Ballotpedia’s daily politics newsletter. Click here for our top three stories—spanning state, local, and federal politics—each weekday morning. 

Four seats on the seven-member Seattle Public Schools school board are up for election this year. There will be nonpartisan primaries for Districts 2, 4, and 5 on Aug. 5. The District 7 primary was canceled, and Jen LaVallee and Carol Rava advanced to the Nov. 4 general election.

Primary voting occurs within each geographic district, but the November election is citywide.

The elections come after a wave of proposed school closures that were later rescinded. In September 2024, the district proposed multiple plans to close varying numbers of schools to address the district’s $94 million budget shortfall. The plan that would have closed the most schools proposed closing 21. On the proposed closures, then-school board President Liza Rankin said, “This is a hard decision. But it’s the one that has to be made in order to best serve our students today and sustain our district into the future.”

In October 2024, the district announced the names of four schools it planned to close. The list was reduced to four following community pushback led by a group called All Together for Seattle Schools, which calls itself a “parent-led coalition to ensure SPS schools remain open and amply funded.” In November, Superintendent Brent Jones announced that the district would not close any schools for the 2025-2026 school year and would seek financial help from the state. The board voted unanimously to approve the pause on closures the next day.

On Nov. 8, 2024, a group of parents filed a recall petition against Rankin over her treatment of the school closure process, stating, “Director Rankin acted arbitrarily and capriciously by advancing a knowingly flawed school closure process, without regard to the attending facts and circumstances.” After a judge dismissed the recall in December 2024, finding insufficient evidence, Rankin stated, “We still have a budget deficit that has to be dealt with. We are, by the numbers, operating a higher number of buildings than is efficient for the number of students we have.” The school board unanimously chose Gina Topp as its new president in December 2024 as part of its internal leadership selections.

The races in Districts 2 and 4 feature incumbents Sarah Clark and Joe Mizrahi, respectively. The school board appointed both of them to fill vacancies in April 2024. The vacancies resulted from two resignations over district residency issues. One of the resigned board members, Vivian Song from District 4, is running in 2025 for District 5.

In the races below, All Together for Seattle Schools, which opposed school closures, endorsed the following candidates: Sarah Clark (District 2), Joe Mizrahi (District 4), Vivian Song (District 5), and  Jen LaVallee (District 7). The group wrote, “We have an opportunity to elect four board members who will steer the district in a new and better direction. We can reject failed policies such as closing schools, taking away options, rejecting academic rigor, neglecting student safety, abandoning financial oversight, and refusing to treat families as partners in education.”

Here’s who is running:

District 2: Incumbent Sarah Clark, Eric Feeny, and Kathleen Smith.

District 4: Incumbent Joe Mizrahi, Bill Campbell, Harsimran Kaur, Gloria Suella Menchaca, and Laura Marie Rivera.

District 5: Landon Labosky, Julissa Sanchez, Vivian Song, Allycea Weil, and Janis White are running. Incumbent Michelle Sarju is not running.

Check out our complete article on the race to learn more about each candidate. 

School board authority across the 50 states series (Week 6): How statewide K-12 cellphone bans affect school board authority

Welcome back to our series on the state laws constraining school board authority. Last week, we discussed how statewide curriculum prohibitions affect school board authority. This week, we dive into a topic much in the news these days—school cellphone bans. 

Historically, school boards or superintendents set policies around handheld technologies, such as cellphones and tablets. However, in 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) became the first governor to sign a law specifically restricting student cellphone use during class time, preempting local authority over the matter. More governors and lawmakers soon followed suit with their own school cellphone restrictions. 

Proponents of bans, like social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, argued cellphones were negatively affecting student learning and contributing to increases of anxiety, depression, and bullying among teens. Opponents argued against what they consider the one-size-fits-all nature of these state laws and said it was important that parents are able to contact their children during emergencies.  

Here’s a breakdown of statewide K-12 cellphone policies as of July 2025:

  • Twenty-six states have cellphone bans or limits for classrooms. 
  • Three states have laws requiring school district boards to adopt a policy on cellphones, but without specific requirements for those policies. 
  • Four other states have policies encouraging school districts to establish restrictions on cellphone use in the classroom.

Though most cellphone bans or limits have passed with bipartisan support, the majority have come from states with Republican trifectas. Here’s a breakdown at the time of enactment:

All state-level laws restricting cellphone use in schools provide exceptions for students with disabilities. Additionally, the laws in many states give districts some flexibility in how they enforce the restrictions. For example: 

  • School boards in Texas can either prohibit students from bringing cellphones to school or store students’ phones at school during the day. 
  • School boards in Indiana must establish policies that generally prohibit cellphone use during the school day but allow teachers to authorize phone use for instruction, during an emergency, or when managing student health care.

Read more about K-12 cellphone bans in each state here or by visiting our school board authority project hub page and selecting a state of interest! See you next week for more on how statewide laws regarding book bans, removals, and restrictions differ by state and how they affect school board authority.

Extracurricular: education news 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! 

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re looking at survey responses from two school board candidates running in Washington’s Aug. 5 primaries. 

Elizabeth Karkoski-Gardner and Zach Butala are two of the three candidates running for District 5 on the Tahoma School District school board. Kelsi Hays is also running, but had not completed the survey as of this writing. 

The Tahoma School District is the 25th largest in the state, with roughly 9,000 students. 

Here’s how Karkoski-Gardner answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”

“School Boards all over the nation are becoming more political. I am very passionate about keeping an open mind to all viewpoints in the community to build strong, trusting relationships between the district and the community to increase student, family, and community engagement. I believe as a school board director, in times of disagreement or differing of opinions, there is always a way to find middle ground with good communication and transparency. I hope that if I am elected as school board director that I will be given opportunities to help with community engagement and communication.”

Click here to read the rest of Karkoski-Gardner’s responses. 

Here’s how Butala answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”

“I’m passionate about mental health, student resilience, and creating classroom environments that support learning for all, including adequate space and appropriate student-to-teacher ratios. That includes protecting teachers’ time, advocating for paraeducator support and training, and expanding services for students with special needs. I believe in lifting up those who need help and challenging those who are ready for more so that every student can reach their potential. I also support future bond and levy efforts, including the possibility of a new school, and believe that restoring trust and unity in our community is essential.”

Click here to read the rest of Butala’s responses. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take 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 appear in your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.

And 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!