2025 School Board Election Landscape
Introduction
According to our research, over 22,000 school board seats up for election in 2025 spanning 37 states. In other words, the future of our schools and education policy will be at stake for over 100 million Americans next year.
Scroll down to see where these elections are taking place & learn about some of the unique qualities of school board elections in America – including the plague of uncontested races.
Plus, don’t forget to bookmark our 2025 Election Calendar to be prepared for each election kicking off in the new year.
8 states have over 1000 open school board seats in the upcoming cycle.
Why does this matter?
A recent article from the Center of American Progress highlights the unique qualities of school boards including:
There are over 82,000 school board members overseeing decisions for 50 million students.
School board elections typically have very low voter turnout, often only 5-10%. In 2023, not a single school board election in Delaware saw over 10% turnout.
School board elections are often extremely close. One-third of school board seats in Virginia in 2023 were determined by a margin of less than 500 votes.
School board elections with higher voter turnout are associated with higher academic performance for students in the district compared to those with lower voter turnout.
Nearly 80% of school board members are white, despite a majority of public school students being nonwhite.
According to our own research, 60% of school board seats on the ballot went uncontested in 2024. That means in addition to increasing voter turnout, recruiting more candidates is a key component of our mission in 2025.