Samuel Wonacott

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

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

• On the issues: The debate over automatic deductions for teacher’s union dues
• In your district: partisan elections
• Share candidate endorsements with us!  
• School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
• A comprehensive analysis of Wisconsin’s April 4 school board elections
• Extracurricular: education news from around the web
• Candidate Connection survey

Email us at editor@ballotpedia.org to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over automatic deductions for teacher’s union dues

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.

Whether unions should be able to automatically deduct dues from teacher paychecks has been a recent topic of debate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill May 9 increasing regulations on teacher’s unions and prohibiting automatic dues deductions.

Bonita Osowsky writes that unions were already weak in Florida and the new law further impedes the ability of unions to negotiate and bargain with the state. Osowsky says unions are stronger when they are less regulated and can automatically deduct dues. She also says strong unions improve teacher quality and retention.

Skylar Zander writes that teacher’s unions are not as important today as they were 100 years ago but still have many of the same powers and privileges that make it hard for teachers to leave the union. Zander says the increased regulation and the end of automatic paycheck deductions will increase transparency and allow teachers to decide whether union membership and regular payments make sense for them.  

Florida teachers are not ‘shackled’ to unions | Bonita Osowsky, South Florida Sun Sentinel

“It was appalling to read Skylar Zander’s disgusting opinion piece (Feb. 27) pretending to support teachers. Nothing could be further from the truth. … The last thing teachers need is the death of unions, which are notoriously weak in this “right to work” state. I was a member of four teacher associations in New Jersey. I began in 1968 earning $6,100 a year and retired in 2004 at nearly six figures. Our union got us full family insurance coverage, eyeglass and dental benefits, longevity, protected us from unfair allegations and provided legal services when needed. It negotiated fair compensation for extra duties and payment for class coverage. In 1977, I was turned down for a sabbatical and the union secured my leave the following year to complete the requirements for my certification as a school psychologist. I always had dues deducted from my salary. Zander wants to disallow automatic deductions to discourage union membership to bust unions. I’ve read of a shortage of 10,000 teachers in Florida. It will get worse if teachers can’t join unions, with our governor interfering with what can be taught in schools.”

Give Florida teachers the freedom to not assemble | Skylar Zander, South Florida Sun Sentinel

“But more recently, a growing number of workers have found themselves shackled to labor unions, seeing money yanked out of their paychecks for membership in unions they want nothing to do with. That’s why Gov. Ron DeSantis is exactly on target with his proposed Teacher’s Bill of Rights, an unprecedented legislative proposal to establish greater accountability for teachers’ unions and other public sector unions. [T]eachers unions in Florida will no longer enjoy the privilege of automatically deducting dues from paychecks and would need to obtain specific permission from teachers each year to keep them on their membership roster. The unions would have to be the choice of at least 60% of employees eligible for representation, rather than the current 50% requirement, and would be subject to stricter scrutiny to prevent fraud, waste and abuse. For too long, teachers’ unions have held too much sway over the education of Florida’s children, gradually but unmistakably supplanting the role of parents and dedicated educators. The governor’s proposal would return a proper balance to the equation.”

In your district: partisan elections

School districts face diverse issues and challenges. We want to hear what’s happening in your school district. Please complete the very brief survey below—anonymously, if you prefer—and we may share your response with fellow subscribers in an upcoming newsletter.

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Share candidate endorsements with us! 

As part of our goal to solve the ballot information problem, Ballotpedia is gathering information about school board candidate endorsements. The ballot information gap widens the further down the ballot you go, and is worst for the more than 500,000 local offices nationwide, such as school boards or special districts. Endorsements can help voters know more about their candidates and what they stand for. 

Do you know of an individual or group that has endorsed a candidate in your district? 

Click here to let us know.

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

Ballotpedia has historically covered school board elections in about 500 of the country’s largest districts. This year, Ballotpedia is covering elections for approximately 8,750 seats in 3,211 school districts across 28 states—or about 36% of all school board elections this year. Click here to read more about our 2023 school board coverage.

Upcoming school board elections

We covered school board general elections in Texas on May 22. In Texas, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top-two vote-getters in the general advance to a runoff. 

We’re covering runoff elections for the following districts on June 10:

• Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees District 2
• Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees District 6
• Fort Worth Independent School District school board District 5
• El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees District 2
• El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees District 6

Washington

Washington is holding school board primary elections on Aug. 1. We’re covering elections in the following districts:

• Cheney School District
• Lake Washington School District
• Seattle Public Schools
• Spokane Public Schools

A comprehensive analysis of Wisconsin’s April 4 school board elections

We’ve mentioned before that this year, in addition to school board elections in the 200 largest school districts and any overlapping the 100 largest cities, we’re comprehensively covering all elections in 10 states: Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. You can find out more about this project here. 

Today, we’re bringing you our full analysis of Wisconsin’s April 4 school board elections. A version of this analysis ran last week in our Daily Brew newsletter. Next week, we’ll look at the next part—a comprehensive look at Oklahoma’s April 4 elections. 

All 421 school districts in Wisconsin held at least one election on April 4. In total, 954 of the state’s 2,794 school board seats, around 35%, were on the ballot. 

We’ll begin our analysis by looking at how incumbents performed in the elections. Lastly, we’ll look at the state and national organizations that endorsed candidates—and how those candidates fared. Here’s a summary of what we found:

• Open seats and incumbent defeats mirrored historical averages.
• Top liberal endorsers had 73% win rate compared to 48% for top conservative groups

Open seats and incumbents

Of the 954 school board seats up for election in Wisconsin, 690 incumbents (72%) ran for re-election, leaving 264 seats (28%) open. Open seats are guaranteed to newcomers. 

Of the 690 incumbents who ran for re-election, 615 (89%) won, and 75 (11%) lost. Three incumbents lost in primaries held on Feb. 21, and the remaining 72 incumbents lost in the general election. Wisconsin’s 11% incumbent loss rate was below the five-year average of 16% we’ve observed nationwide.

The number of open seat races in Wisconsin was similar to what we’ve noted in our nationwide school board election coverage. The difference in Wisconsin is that slightly more incumbents ran for re-election than we’ve seen nationally. Between 2018 and 2022, an average of 71% of incumbents ran for re-election, leaving 29% of seats open.

One reason so many incumbents won re-election is that 60% ran unopposed, guaranteeing their victory. This is almost double the 36% rate of unopposed incumbents we typically see nationwide for school board elections.

Only 278 incumbents faced challengers. When looking only at contested elections, the loss rate increases from 11% to 27%, mirroring the historical average of 26%.

Endorsements

Most school board elections are nonpartisan, but that hasn’t stopped local, state, and national organizations, many of which are explicitly ideological or aligned with political parties, from endorsing school board candidates. As part of our school board coverage, we are gathering descriptive endorsements, those that help describe the stances or policy positions of a candidate. This is based on the assumption that endorsers tend to endorse candidates with whom they align. 

Our endorsements research process starts with analyzing news stories, conducting outreach, and talking with candidates. When we find an endorsement, we tag it as either liberal or conservative based on whether it comes from an organization affiliated with a major party or one that supports education policies associated with a major party.

The top liberal endorsers in Wisconsin were:

• Local affiliates of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, a teacher’s union;
• The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and its affiliates;
• The Democratic Party of Wisconsin and its affiliates;
• Blue Sky Waukesha, a group in Waukesha County; and
• Fair Wisconsin, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

The top conservative endorsers in Wisconsin were:

• The Republican Party of Wisconsin and its affiliates;
• Moms for Liberty and its affiliates;
• Get Involved Wisconsin, a voter mobilization group;
• 1776 Project PAC; and,
• WisRed PAC, a group in Waukesha County.

Among the liberal endorsers, all but Blue Sky Waukesha had win rates greater than 50%. For conservative endorsers, only WisRed PAC had a win rate greater than 50%. 

All 10 endorsers made endorsements in uncontested races. For the state GOP and Moms for Liberty, those uncontested endorsements resulted in overall win rates greater than 50%.

While these 10 groups made a total of 627 endorsements, many of those endorsements crossed ideological lines. These endorsements all went to 286 candidates in 114 races, around 55% of all contested elections and 20% of all elections, overall. Of those 286 candidates, 166 (58%) received endorsements from more than one of the top 10 endorsers.

You can see more of this analysis here. We’ll be back next week with a look at Oklahoma’s school board elections. 

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! 

• Bill remaking Nash school board clears NC Senate | WRAL News
• The Role of School Boards and Superintendents in Crisis Management | Campus Safety
• Justice Dept asks Supreme Court not to hear North Carolina charter school case | K-12 Dive
• State eyes more restrictive student cellphone policies | Daily Hampshire Gazette
• Ed Dept. Releases First Ever Federal Report on AI in Education | MeriTalk
• Spatial abilities help explain the positive association between LEGO skills and mathematics performance | PsyPost
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declares ‘state of emergency’ for public education | The Hill

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Everyone deserves to know their candidates. However, we know it can be hard for voters to find information about their candidates, especially for local offices such as school boards. That’s why we created Candidate Connection—a survey designed to help candidates tell voters about their campaigns, their issues, and so much more. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. 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!

The survey contains over 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 display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our mobile app, My Vote Ballotpedia.

In the 2020 election cycle, 4,745 candidates completed the survey.

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

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

• On the issues: The debate over social and emotional learning in public schools 
• Share candidate endorsements with us! 
• School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
• Montana becomes the 46th state to authorize charter schools
• Extracurricular: education news from around the web
• Candidate Connection survey

Email us at editor@ballotpedia.org to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over social and emotional learning in public schools

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.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), social-emotional learning “refers to a wide range of skills, attitudes, and behaviors that can affect student success in school and life,” including “critical thinking, emotion management, conflict resolution, decision making, teamwork.” How SEL is used varies. Over the last few years, legislatures have considered bills that would prohibit or restrict SEL in schools. 

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela writes that the goal of SEL is helping students learn how to manage their moods and emotions, be happy, and become socially and academically self-sufficient. Petrelza says SEL shouldn’t be controversial and it could “be the beginning of an era of repair, in which children learn the critical thinking skills integral to understanding themselves and the world – and engage each other on the thornier curricular questions of race and sex that adults keep failing to figure out.”

Daniel Buck writes that SEL involves more than teaching children strategies for emotional regulation and managing their moods and social interactions. Buck says SEL demands student involvement with progressive advocacy and that the term has become a euphemism  justifying progressive educational policies. Buck writes that conservatives were not the first to politicize SEL in education and says progressives made the topic one of debate and controversy by injecting ideology into the approach.

SEL doesn’t have to be a classroom culture war | Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, CNN

“To understand why these fights are so intense, it is crucial to grasp a longer, messier history of progressive efforts to educate ‘the whole child’ and of conservative resistance to these programs that explicitly address children’s emotions, attitudes and values – especially when they challenge dominant ideas about power and identity. … As long as such programs have existed, the right has consistently attacked them, especially when they openly acknowledge the aim of addressing the needs of minority children ill served by public schools and society. … As a parent, a teacher, a scholar and a citizen, I am confident that most educators, parents and children agree that children deserve to be academically competent, kind, happy and self-sufficient and that the school should play a role in achieving those goals. Given our lamentably acrimonious environment, SEL could very well be our next educational classroom war, but it need not be. It could be the beginning of an era of repair, in which children learn the critical thinking skills integral to understanding themselves and the world – and engage each other on the thornier curricular questions of race and sex that adults keep failing to figure out.”

Conservatives Are Right to Be Skeptical of SEL | Daniel Buck, National Review

“In reality, SEL was once a questionably effective — albeit rather benign — educational fad, a sort of secular character education, but it has since become another means of injecting progressive politics into the classroom. And as always, it’s conservatives’ fault for noticing. … In short, this new iteration of SEL extends beyond mere emotional regulation into encouraging activism in the classroom. “Action research,” wherein students research social issues and advocate for change, is one recommended practical approach. All of this talk of community change and collective projects hearkens to a radical theory of education called critical pedagogy, first proposed by Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire. Within this theory, schools become not institutions of academic learning but of advocacy. And lest you think “action research” just means building a community garden, a set of webinar slides confirms that an “antiracist” mindset in both teachers and students is essential. Everything from mathematics to SEL becomes another means to leverage collective progressive social action. … In other words, SEL becomes a feel-good term that applies a stamp of approval to a host of progressive wish-list items. … And I return to my original question: How did SEL become controversial? Progressives made it so.”

Share candidate endorsements with us! 

As part of our goal to solve the ballot information problem, Ballotpedia is gathering information about school board candidate endorsements. The ballot information gap widens the further down the ballot you go, and is worst for the more than 500,000 local offices nationwide, such as school boards or special districts. Endorsements can help voters know more about their candidates and what they stand for. 

Do you know of an individual or group that has endorsed a candidate in your district? 

Click here to let us know.

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

Ballotpedia has historically covered school board elections in about 500 of the country’s largest districts. This year, Ballotpedia is covering elections for approximately 8,750 seats in 3,211 school districts across 28 states—or about 36% of all school board elections this year. Click here to read more about our 2023 school board coverage.

Upcoming school board elections

We covered school board general elections in Texas on May 22. In Texas, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top-two vote-getters in the general advance to a runoff. 

We’re covering runoff elections for the following districts on June 10:

• Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees District 2
• Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees District 6
• Fort Worth Independent School District school board District 5
• El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees District 2
• El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees District 6

Montana becomes the 46th state to authorize charter schools

On May 18, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed two bills authorizing the creation of charter schools. Previously, Montana was one of five states without laws allowing for charter schools.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a charter school is “a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract—a charter—with the state, district, or other entity. The charter exempts the school from certain state or local rules and regulations. In return for flexibility and autonomy, the charter school must meet the accountability standards outlined in its charter.”

Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs, and usually rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides special grants for charter schools.

Gianforte signed House Bill 549 (HB 549) and House Bill 562 (HB 562), both of which provide for charter schools but differ on which government bodies are authorized to submit and approve charter applications. HB 549 puts the authority in the hands of local school boards, which can submit applications for public charter schools to the Montana Board of Public Education. HB 562, on the other hand, creates a new, seven-member appointed commission with the authority to review applications and authorize qualified school districts to do the same. 

Additionally, under HB 549, charter schools would be subject to the same state and federal regulations as all other public schools in the state. Under HB 562, a different set of state rules would regulate charter schools.

According to the Montana Free Press’s Alex Sakariassen, “The simultaneous passage of HB 549 and HB 562 into law raises a number of questions, including whether the two systems will ultimately conflict. Advocates of both bills believe that they can coexist peacefully, as each sets out a distinct path for parents seeking establishment of a charter school to follow.”

Lance Melton, executive director of the Montana School Boards Association said HB 549 “embraces that accountability and provides a focused means by which school districts and other applicants can focus in on and provide innovative educational programing – something, again, that’s maybe different than the average.”

House Majority Leader Sue Vinton (R), who sponsored HB 562, said, “The one-size-fits-all approach of traditional public schools does not work for every student. This bill provides for independence – and likewise provides for ample oversight.”

Both bills passed the House but died in the Senate before being revived. Republicans hold a 68-32 majority in the House and a 34-16 majority in the Senate. 

In the first go-around on April 26, the Senate rejected HB 549 in an 8-42 vote and HB 562 in a 23-27 vote. One Democrat joined seven Republicans in supporting HB 549, while 11 Republicans joined 16 Democrats in opposing HB 562. However, a few days later, Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick (R) brought the bills back for a second vote. Referring specifically to HB 562, Fitzpatrick said, “We need to get these issues resolved. We should pass this bill and let the courts decide if it’s valid or not.” The Legislative Services Division, an agency within the state legislature, had earlier suggested parts of HB 562 could conflict with the state constitution. 

The second time, the Senate voted 27-23 to advance HB 549 and 28-22 to advance HB 562. 

Gianforte said, “We’re empowering Montana parents to choose what’s best for their family and their kids. We’re putting students and parents first in education.”

The Montana Quality Education Coalition, which includes the Montana School Boards Association, released a statement on May 19 promising litigation over HB 562: “Legislators from both parties recognized HB 562 and HB 393 as both unconstitutional and terrible policy. We’ll bring the necessary lawsuits to clean up these constitutional mistakes.” HB 393, which Gianforte also signed, establishes an education savings account (ESA) program for students with disabilities. 

Minnesota was the first state to pass a law authorizing charter schools in 1991. 

Nationally, charter school enrollment was estimated at 3,695,769 students—or about 7.5% of all public school students—in the 2020-2021 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, an organization that describes itself as the “the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement.” Charter school enrollment has grown steadily over time. In 2000, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated that 448,343 students were enrolled in charter schools. By the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent year for which data are available, that number had grown to more than 3.6 million.

Only Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont do not have laws authorizing charter schools. West Virginia became the 45th state to authorize charter schools in 2019, when Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed House Bill 206. The state’s first charter schools were approved in November 2021. 

Kentucky authorizes charter schools but does not currently have any in operation. 

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! 

• In N. Virginia, endorsement primaries point to increasingly politicized school boards | The Washington Post
• ‘Culture wars’ candidates for Oregon school boards mostly lost | The Oregonian 
• Primary results foreshadow hyper-partisan, competitive Pa. school board races in November | Penn Live
• Illinois lawmakers to hold hearing on revised draft map for Chicago elected school board ahead of possible vote | Chalkbeat Chicago 
• Florida Started A Race To Reshape Conservatism. Now It Has Some Catching Up To Do. | FiveThirtyEight
• NJ court halts Hanover school district policy to tell parents of students’ LGBTQ identity | NorthJersey.com
• School choice won big in states this year. Is the movement about to hit a wall? | The Hill 
• Several states look to roll back letter grading systems for schools | K-12 Dive

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Everyone deserves to know their candidates. However, we know it can be hard for voters to find information about their candidates, especially for local offices such as school boards. That’s why we created Candidate Connection—a survey designed to help candidates tell voters about their campaigns, their issues, and so much more. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. 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!

The survey contains over 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 display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our mobile app, My Vote Ballotpedia.

In the 2020 election cycle, 4,745 candidates completed the survey.

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

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

• On the issues:  The debate over the Biden administration’s transgender school sports rule 
• Share candidate endorsements with us! 
• School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
• As Texas’ legislative session ends, here’s where things stand with a bill that would implement a statewide education savings program   
• Extracurricular: education news from around the web
• Take our Candidate Connection survey! 

Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over the Biden administration’s transgender school sports rule 

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.

On April 6, the U.S. Department of Education released a proposed update to Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 regulating when schools may or may not ban transgender athletes from participating on sports teams that do not align with their sex. Title IX says: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The Education Department’s proposed rule would prohibit schools from imposing outright bans on transgender students wanting to compete in sports consistent with their gender identity but allow for some exceptions to achieve educational objectives or minimize harm to students.

Rich Lowry writes that the proposed rule is too vague and broadly redefines Title IX. Lowry says Title IX was enacted to promote women’s sports and that the proposed rule will promote competition between biological men identifying as women and biological females. He says regulators should not be able to change the intent of laws and argues Congress should have to draft new legislation to implement the Biden administration’s proposed changes. 

Doriane Coleman writes that Biden’s proposed rule properly balances the interests of both women and transgender people who identify as women. Coleman says the rule is specific enough to provide sufficient guidance for governments and school leaders on both sides of the issue, protect transgender individuals from discrimination, and protect girls and women from physical harm.

Biden trans-sports rule reverses the intent of the law it ‘enforces’ | Rich Lowry, New York Post

“If justice demands that Title IX encompass gender identity, then the solution is very simple — Congress should amend the statute. Why bother with such Schoolhouse Rock notions, though, when Title IX can be rendered infinitely malleable? First, the Biden administration last year redefined the law, without any warrant, so that ‘sex’ includes ‘stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.’ And now there’s going to be an entire new regulatory regime devoted to ensuring the participation of trans athletes in sports meets the Biden administration’s standards. Congress passes a law protecting and encouraging women’s sports, and lo and behold, 50 years later the law is being used to ensure as many males as possible are competing against females. Here the road to hell isn’t even paved with good intentions, but bad-faith interpretations of the law imposed by people who know they can’t win democratic assent for their cultural agenda. … The draft rule is an affront to Congress, an affront to federalism (it clearly targets the roughly 20 states that have bans on males competing against females) and an affront to girls and women who simply want to compete against one another when they play sports.”

Why Biden’s New School-Sports Rule Matters | Doriane Coleman, The Atlantic

“The loudest voices in the debate often seek either to ban transgender women and girls from participating on female teams altogether or, on the other side, to make sports blind to sex differences. This is a complicated issue, one that requires compassion for all the athletes involved, as well as precision, not broad strokes. The administration’s proposal is a welcome response to the partisan rancor and a sophisticated approach that mostly meets the challenge at hand. … If you understand that both sex and gender matter; if you care about the integrity of girls’ and women’s sports; and if you want schools to take care of all kids, including trans kids, this is a good proposal. … The administration’s rule doesn’t just address the practical question of how to accommodate transgender athletes; it also addresses a political question—how to negotiate the space between those on the left who deny the existence of sex or the relevance of sex differences to law and policy, and those on the right who deny the existence of transgender people and insist that their advocates are selling a dangerous ideology. President Joe Biden clearly cares about trans rights. He also cares about women’s rights.”

Share candidate endorsements with us! 

As part of our goal to solve the ballot information problem, Ballotpedia is gathering information about school board candidate endorsements. The ballot information gap widens the further down the ballot you go, and is worst for the more than 500,000 local offices nationwide, such as school boards or special districts. Endorsements can help voters know more about their candidates and what they stand for. 

Do you know of an individual or group that has endorsed a candidate in your district? 

Click here to let us know.

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

Ballotpedia has historically covered school board elections in about 500 of the country’s largest districts. We’re gradually expanding the number we cover with our eye on the more than 13,000 districts with elected school boards.

Election results from the past week

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania school districts held primaries on May 16. All districts in Pennsylvania held elections, with approximately half of the state’s 4,491 seats on the ballot. Pennsylvania holds school board elections every two years in odd-numbered years. Pennsylvania is one of four states that allow for partisan school board elections. Pennsylvania candidates can choose to run under a specific party’s label.

We’ll share results from these elections when we have them. 

South Dakota

We’re covering all school board elections in South Dakota this year. In South Dakota, school boards choose the timing of their elections within a certain range. This year, all 149 districts are holding elections. Approximately 33% of the state’s 853 seats are up for election this year. 

One notable race took place in Sioux Falls, the state’s largest city. 

Dawn Marie Johnson and Brian Mattson ran for an at-large seat on the Sioux Falls School Board on May 16. Johnson defeated Mattson 70.6% to 29%. Nick Zachariasen’s name appeared on the ballot, but he ended his campaign in April and backed Johnson. Zachariasen received 20 votes.

Cynthia Mickelson did not run for re-election. Her term ends June 30.

State Reps. Tyler Tordsen (R) and Kadyn Wittman (D), as well as the South Dakota District 11 Democrats, endorsed Johnson. The Sioux Falls Education Association, the local teachers union, also endorsed Johnson. Click here to see more Johnson endorsees. 

The Minnehaha County, S.D., Republican Party and the Patriot Ripple Effect endorsed Mattson. Click here to see more Mattson endorsees. 

Sioux Falls School District is South Dakota’s largest district with an estimated enrollment of around 25,000 students. The board consists of five members. 

Oregon

Districts in Oregon held general elections on May 16. We covered elections in the following districts:

• Beaverton School District
• Centennial School District 28J
• David Douglas School District
• Parkrose School District 3
• Portland Public Schools
• Reynolds School District 7
• Salem-Keizer Public Schools
• Scappoose School District 1J

As Texas’ legislative session ends, here’s where things stand with a bill that would implement a statewide education savings program  

This year, governors in four states—Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, and Florida—have signed legislation creating universal education savings account (ESA) programs. Additionally, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed a bill establishing a voucher program on May 4. Overall, more than 11 states have some kind of ESA program, though some are limited to low-income students or students with disabilities. In the Feb. 22 edition of this newsletter, we looked at proposed legislation in more than 10 states—including Texas—that would expand or implement ESA programs. 

And in Texas, as the legislative session draws to a close, lawmakers and the governor are wrangling over a bill that would establish an ESA program.

On May 14, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) pledged to veto a bill that would provide some families with ESAs for private school tuition or homeschooling because it didn’t apply to enough students. 

The legislation, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), passed the state Senate on April 6 in an 18-13 vote and has been before the House Public Education Committee since. The committee heard invited testimony on the bill on May 15.

Also on April 6, the House voted 86-52 to approve an amendment to an unrelated budget bill that prohibits using state funds for private education. Twenty-four Republicans voted with Democrats to approve the amendment. According to The Texas Tribune’s Brian Lopez and Alex Nguyen, House “Democrats and rural Republicans have banded together in the past to oppose voucher-like programs as they fear they could take away money from their local school districts.”

Republicans hold a 19-12 majority in the Senate and an 85-64 majority in the House (with one vacancy). 

The House’s version of the bill makes several changes to the Senate’s ESA eligibility requirements. While the Senate’s bill would give kindergartners and any private-school students who had attended public school access to $8,000 for education expenses, including private school tuition and homeschooling, the House version limits eligibility to low-income students, students with disabilities, and students enrolled in low-performing schools. Additionally, the House bill makes the amount each student receives in the account dependent on income and disability status and eliminates a provision prohibiting schools from providing “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade.”

The original Senate bill also includes a provision for giving rural districts $10,000 for every student that uses ESAs to leave the district. 

On April 6, the Senate also voted 22-9 to pass Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), a $1.6 billion package that includes a $4,000 raise for all teachers—as well as an additional $4,000 for those in rural districts—and funding for teacher childcare and apprenticeship programs. The House Public Education Committee is also considering SB 9. Some legislators opposed the bill, saying $2,000 isn’t enough. 

Abbott said, “This latest version does little to provide meaningful school choice, and legislators deserve to know that it would be vetoed if it reached my desk. Instead, the original House version of the Senate bill provides a more meaningful starting point to begin House-Senate negotiations.” This year’s legislative session in Texas is scheduled to end May 29. Abbott said he would consider calling a special session if the legislature did not send him a bill he likes.

The Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said, “The governor and the legislative majority are shortchanging educators and their students with an inadequate budget and trying to pass a voucher bill that would further endanger our public education system and threaten the futures of the millions of Texas school children who will remain in public schools.”

The House Public Education Committee has until Saturday to vote on SB 8 and SB 9 for the full House to consider the bills before the end of the session. 

Meanwhile, legislators in Oklahoma announced on May 15 they had agreed on a school funding package including teacher pay raises and a universal refundable tax-credit plan for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses. Households earning less than $75,000 annually would receive $7,500 per student. Households making more than $75,000 would receive less. All homeschooling families would receive $1,000 per student. 

The state House and Senate had been at a standstill the last few months as lawmakers tried to find common ground on school funding, teacher pay, and the tax-credit plan. The House passed House Bill 1934 (HB 1934), which establishes the tax-credit program, on May 2 in a 61-31 vote. However, House Speaker Charles McCall (R) used a procedure to indefinitely prevent the bill from going to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) until lawmakers in both chambers could agree on House Bill 2672 (HB 2672), which includes teacher raises and changes to the school funding formula. 

According to The Oklahoman’s Nura Martinez-Keel, officials in the House and Senate agreed on a $625 million funding package. McCall said he’d send the tax-credit bill to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) once HB 2672 had been voted on. 

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! 

• Schools stock Naloxone as student drug overdoses surge | ABC News
• Milk shake-up: High school student sues school district over dairy flap | The Washington Post
• Senate Confirms New Special Education Chief | Disability Scoop
• D.C. Public Schools Unlawfully Awarded $270 Million Worth Of Contracts | DCist
• How Using AI Optimizes Instruction and Learning in Secondary Writing | EdSurge
• School board races serve as culture war battlegrounds | Trib Live 
• Schools are the latest epicenter of the migrant crisis | Politico

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Everyone deserves to know their candidates. However, we know it can be hard for voters to find information about their candidates, especially for local offices such as school boards. That’s why we created Candidate Connection—a survey designed to help candidates tell voters about their campaigns, their issues, and so much more. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. 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!

The survey contains over 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 display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our mobile app, My Vote Ballotpedia.

In the 2020 election cycle, 4,745 candidates completed the survey. 

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

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

• On the issues: The debate over religious charter schools
• In your district: reader replies on district reading programs
• Share candidate endorsements with us! 
• School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
• Judge rules Pennsylvania district must permit After School Satan Club to use school facilities
• Extracurricular: education news from around the web
• Candidate Connection survey

Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over religious charter schools

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.

The Oklahoma Catholic Conference (OCC) applied in February 2023 for permission to start a religious online charter school. The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board rejected the application on April 11, saying it did not meet the state’s standards for approval and giving the OCC 30 days to fix the identified problems. 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board writes that religious charter schools, since they would receive public funding, would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Board says taxpayers should not have to fund religious charters and that the policy would violate the principle of church-state separation.

Andy Smarick writes that Supreme Court precedent since 2017, in its ruling in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, supports the idea that states cannot exclude certain schools from participating in government programs solely based on their religious nature. Smarick says religious charters would be beneficial for creating more options in the public school system.

Editorial: Taxpayers have no business funding religious instruction in public schools | The Editorial Board, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“But this isn’t just any ol’ charter school application. It proposes to cross the long-respected dividing line between church and state outlined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Religious conservatives insist the clause has been misinterpreted and that the Founding Fathers always intended America to be a Christian nation. … Regardless of the outcome in Oklahoma, it almost certainly won’t be the final attempt to impose Christian doctrine on public schools while demanding that taxpayers fund it. Other nations have tried state sponsorship of religion, and it doesn’t tend to go well. Once religion becomes interwoven in government, it becomes almost impossible to unweave it. And since the Constitution requires equal treatment, state funding would also have to extend to other religions, meaning taxpayers could be on the hook to pay for public schools teaching, say, Islamist doctrine. Oklahoma’s current charter regulations require schools to be nonsectarian in all instruction, admissions policies and operations — as it should be. Feeding souls are what churches, synagogues and mosques are all about. Public schools are for feeding brains, free of faith indoctrination. And they must stay that way.”

The extended case for faith-based charter schools | Andy Smarick, The Thomas Fordham Institute

“Addressing those charging that the Court was forcing states to fund religious groups, Chief Justice Roberts’s Espinoza decision explained that Montana didn’t have to create a program that funded nongovernmental organizations. But once the state did so, it couldn’t single out faith-based groups for exclusion. The same logic applies in Trinity Lutheran and Carson: States don’t have to create programs for nonprofits to resurface playgrounds or for students to attend out-of-district high schools, but once they do, they can’t single out faith-based groups for exclusion. We should expect a Roberts opinion ruling that states aren’t obligated to allow charter schools, but once they do, they can’t single out faith-based groups for exclusion. … The left’s strategy could be to simply vote “no” as this wave swells. An alternative is to support more school options and increased parental power inside a public system of transparency and accountability. That would mean sitting down at—not walking away from—the negotiating table on the issue of faith-based charters. When the Supreme Court eventually rules that states with charter school laws must permit faith-based charters, the left will be glad that they had a hand in crafting those programs instead of standing on the sidelines.”

In your district: reader replies on district reading programs

We recently asked readers the following question about the reading program in place in their local districts:

Do you think your district is using the best possible reading program?

Thank you to all who responded. Today, we’re sharing a handful of those responses. We’ll return next month with another reader question. If you have ideas for a question you’d like to see us ask, reply to this email to let us know!

A community member in Virginia wrote: 

Our reading program is touted as being aligned with “Science of Reading”, but the scores of our black and brown students and those who are economically disadvantaged prove it’s not working.

A school board candidate in Oregon wrote: 

Absolutely not! Our district, the Beaverton School District in Oregon, is still using Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study. This program has been thoroughly discredited/debunked dating back to at least 2020. Other neighboring districts, like Portland Public Schools, have removed/replaced this curriculum already given the poor outcomes it produces. However, the Beaverton School District has told the community that they will continue to use it through the 2023-24 school year. They are looking to augment it with some smaller phonics-based programs, but it is ridiculous they are still using such a terrible program and have been for years now.

Keep in mind this is not a small district that lacks resources. BSD is the 3rd largest district in Oregon and has many administrators and TOSAs (Teacher on Special Assignment) who focus on curriculum adoption, support, training, etc.

A community member from Pennsylvania wrote: 

Only if the district is using multiple tools of teaching, such as phonics, meanings in context, common word recognition, reading for pleasure, etc.

A school board member from Wisconsin wrote:

Test scores have been declining over the last decade. The administrator says we are using a phonics based approach to reading so why the decline is a mystery to me. I’m wondering if the hand off each year as children progress is consistent or if we are losing something in the transfer each year. 

 A teacher from Illinois wrote:

Absolutely NOT! With all the Science of Reading buzzing around, our new program is the total opposite of that!

A school board member from Michigan wrote:

No – I really wish they would explore other options such as EBLI – Evidence Based Literacy Instruction. The state needs to be putting resources directly into heavily staffing reading interventionists in elementary schools. Our elementary school children are either barely proficient or below standards.

Share candidate endorsements with us! 

As part of our goal to solve the ballot information problem, Ballotpedia is gathering information about school board candidate endorsements. The ballot information gap widens the further down the ballot you go, and is worst for the more than 500,000 local offices nationwide, such as school boards or special districts. Endorsements can help voters know more about their candidates and what they stand for. 

Do you know of an individual or group that has endorsed a candidate in your district? 

Click here to let us know.

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

Ballotpedia has historically covered school board elections in about 500 of the country’s largest districts. This year, Ballotpedia is covering elections for approximately 8,750 seats in 3,211 school districts across 28 states—or about 36% of all school boards elections this year. Click here to read more about our 2023 school board coverage. 

Election results from the past week

On May 6, we covered general elections in 58 Texas school districts, including in Dallas Independent School District, the state’s second largest district by enrollment. The largest district, Houston Independent School District, will hold general elections on Nov. 7, along with some others. 

Three seats were up for election in the Dallas Independent School District. Around 154,000 students are enrolled in the Dallas Independent School District. The board consists of nine members elected to three-year terms. 

In the race for District 6, Incumbent Joyce Foreman defeated challenger Stephen Poole 77% to 23%. Foreman was first elected in 2014. 

The race for District 2 will conclude in a June 10 runoff election between Jimmy Tran and Sarah Weinberg, who advanced from the May 6 general election because neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote. Tran received 39.6%, while Weinberg received 37.1%. Kevin Malonson received 23.3%. 

Current District 2 incumbent Dustin Marshall endorsed Weinberg. 

According to The Dallas Morning News’s Valaria Olivares, Weinberg raised around $312,000 and Trans raised around $124,000. 

The race for District 8 was canceled because incumbent Joe Carreon was the only candidate to file. 

See more election results in Texas here. 

Upcoming school board elections

Pennsylvania

As part of our expanded coverage in 10 states, we’re covering all school board primary races in Pennsylvania on May 16. All districts in Pennsylvania are holding elections this year, with approximately half of the state’s 4,491 seats on the ballot. Pennsylvania holds school board elections every two years in odd-numbered years. 

Oregon

Districts in Oregon are holding general elections on May 16. We’re covering elections in the following:

• Beaverton School District
• Centennial School District 28J
• David Douglas School District
• Parkrose School District 3
• Portland Public Schools
• Reynolds School District 7
• Salem-Keizer Public Schools
• Scappoose School District 1J

Judge rules Pennsylvania district must permit After School Satan Club to use school facilities

On May 1, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge John Gallagher ruled the Saucon Valley School District, in Pennsylvania, must allow the After School Satan Club to use school facilities for meetings while the case is argued in court.  

We looked at the debate over this case in the April 19 edition of this newsletter. In February, the school district initially approved but then later denied the After School Satan Club’s request to use school facilities for meetings. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing the Satanic Temple, sued the district on March 30. The Satanic Temple alleged the district violated the First Amendment in refusing to approve the club’s application while permitting other religious clubs to operate in schools.     

Saucon Valley School District is located in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, outside of Allentown. The district has approximately 2,100 students. 

The Satanic Temple describes itself as “a religious organization dedicated to the practice and promotion of individual rights. We do not subscribe to supernaturalism, so in that way we do not believe that Satan is a deity, being, or person.” According to the Satanic Temple, the organization only starts clubs if other religious groups are operating in schools. 

After School Satan Clubs exist in schools in several states, including Ohio, Illinois, and Colorado.

The district argued it rescinded its initial decision to approve the club’s application because the Satanic Temple violated its advertising policies when it put up social media posts that insinuated the district had sponsored the club: “TST’s [The Satanic Temple] actions misled community members and people across the country to think that the Club was being sponsored by the District, not just letting the Club meet in its building.” The district received calls from parents and community members, including an anonymous bomb threat on Feb. 21 that caused the district to close schools for a day.

On Feb. 24, the district announced the After School Satan Club would not be allowed to use school facilities. 

Gallagher ruled the district did not provide sufficient evidence that it rejected The Satanic Temple’s application because the group violated the district’s advertising policy. Gallagher concluded the district most likely rejected the application because of the organization’s viewpoint and the community reaction to the club: “The record does not support the District’s argument that the negative public backlash and criticism was caused by a mistaken belief ASSC [After School Satan Club] was District-sponsored. Rather, as the litany of e-mails from parents and community members to the District’s Superintendent reveal, the negative community backlash and criticism expressed a frustration with the District’s decision to permit ASSC meetings, not with a mistaken belief the District actually sponsored the ASSC.”

Gallagher’s ruling means the club will be able to meet for the remainder of the school year while litigation in the case continues. 

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! 

• Chicago Public Schools parents take issue with proposed elected school board map | Chicago Tribune
• Party affiliation can be misleading in local Pa. elections. Here’s why. | Spotlight PA
• Texas school board races see increase in PAC spending. Critics say donations are ‘unprecedented’ | Houston Public Media
• How a school board race in the blue state of Illinois became a nationally funded cage match | The Boston Globe
• Debate over holding back third graders roils state legislatures | Louisiana Illuminator
• Supporters, opponents reflect on passage of Arkansas education overhaul | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
• As Rail Profits Soar, Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School | ProPublica

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re looking at responses from Connie Clemens and Jeff Myers, who are running in May 16 elections for seats on the Beaverton School District school board in Oregon. Clemens is running in the general election for Zone 3 against Maham Ahmed and Melissa Potter, while Myers is running in the general election for Zone 6 against Justice Rajee. Neither Ahmed, Potter, nor Rajee completed the survey. 

Here’s how Clemens answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

• “I am very concerned about the reduction in curriculum over the years. We need to take a hard look at what’s been deleted and what’s been added and why.
• I also am concerned about the abysmal scores of our juniors on Oregon’s state tests. We need to put academics first in policy and do everything possible to ensure students are getting a truly exceptional education.
• Communication between the district and school board with parents and the community must be improved. One way to achieve that is to get volunteers back into the buildings. BSD has an abundance of talented and experienced people who can partner with the schools in the education process.”

Click here to read the rest of Clemens’ responses. 

Here’s how Myers answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?”

• “Priority #1: Academics. We need to leverage proven methods and materials for our children to be and feel successful in achieving their goals. It’s time to raise the bar!
• Priority #2: Safety. Students and staff need to feel safe and able to focus to be successful. After years of struggling with a failed approach to discipline, we need to go back to basics.
• Priority #3: School Environment. We need to take meaningful action on the top issues impacting school staff: large class sizes, ever-increasing workloads, conflicting priorities, and responsibility without authority.

Click here to read the rest of Myers’ responses.

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey.