Maricopa County Looks To Cancel 81 School Board Elections Over Lack Of Candidates

Maricopa County Looks To Cancel 81 School Board Elections Over Lack Of Candidates

by | Aug 22, 2024 | Education, News

By Staff Reporter |

81 school board races were recommended for cancellation this year by the Maricopa County School Superintendent due to a lack of candidates.

35 districts were impacted. Maricopa County has 58 districts in total, meaning 60 percent of the districts either had no candidates or only one candidate running for a seat. 

All but a handful of the races had one individual in the race poised for appointment by default. 72 of those seats were recommended to have the sole candidate appointed to them, with the remaining 9 seats declared vacant due to having no candidates at all.

The following districts have races impacted by the lack of candidates:

  • Aguila Elementary School District: three appointments, two vacancies
  • Alhambra Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Arlington Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Avondale Elementary School District: one appointment
  • Balsz Elementary School District: one vacancy
  • Buckeye Elementary School District: two appointments, one vacancy
  • Cave Creek Unified School District: one appointment
  • East Valley Institute of Technology – 4: one vacancy
  • East Valley Institute of Technology – 6: one appointment
  • East Valley Institute of Technology – 8: one appointment
  • Fountain Hills Unified School District: one appointment
  • Gila Bend Unified School District: one appointment, one vacancy
  • Litchfield Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Littleton Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Madison Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Mobile Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Morristown Elementary School District: one appointment, one vacancy
  • Murphy Elementary School District: three appointments, one vacancy
  • Nadaburg Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Osborn Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Paloma Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Palo Verde Elementary School District: four appointments
  • Pendergast Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Phoenix Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Riverside Elementary School District: one appointment
  • Saddle Mountain Unified School District: three appointments
  • Sentinel Elementary School District: three appointments
  • Tempe Union High School District: three appointments
  • Union Elementary School District: two appointments, one vacancy
  • West MEC – 3: one appointment
  • West MEC – 4: one appointment
  • West MEC – 5: one appointment
  • West MEC – 6: one appointment
  • Wickenburg Unified School District: three appointments
  • Wilson Elementary School District: one appointment

Of the recommended appointments, 12 were write-in candidates: three for Aguila Elementary School District, three for Paloma Elementary School District, two for Union Elementary School District, one for Alhambra Elementary School District, one for East Valley Institute of Technology – 6, one for Gila Bend Unified School District, and one for Morristown Elementary School District.

The filing deadline for write-in candidates occurred at the end of July, with the filing period opening at the start of June. 

State law authorizes the county school superintendent to either appoint a qualified elector or call a special election to fill the vacant seat.

As part of the former option consisting of an appointment process, the office of county superintendent receives up to three names from the relevant district governing board as well as a full list of candidates who applied with the district. Individuals not on those lists who are interested in being appointed may also apply directly to the office of county superintendent to be considered for appointment.

The office of county superintendent will then filter out applicants through interviews.

Only those who are registered voters in the state and residents of the school district for at least one year immediately preceding the day of the election are considered eligible to serve on a school governing board.

The county superintendent’s recommendations were submitted to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for final approval.

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.

Hobbs Kills School Board Transparency Bill

Hobbs Kills School Board Transparency Bill

by | Apr 22, 2024 | Education, News

By Daniel Stefanski |

A bill to help increase transparency for Arizona school board elections was vetoed by the state’s Democrat governor.

On Wednesday, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1097, which would have “require[d] school district governing board election ballots to include each candidate’s partisan designation as specified beginning January 1, 2025” – according to the purpose from the State Senate.

In her veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs explained that she had made her decision because the bill “will further the politicization and polarization of Arizona’s school district governing boards whose focus should remain on making the best decisions for students, [and that] partisan politics do not belong in Arizona’s schools.”

Senator Justine Wadsack, the bill’s sponsor, was outraged by the governor’s veto. She released a lengthy statement to call out Hobbs’ action, writing, “In her veto letter, Governor Katie Hobbs stated the school district governing boards’ focus should remain on making the best decisions for students. How can we ensure we’ve elected members that will make the best decisions for students if we don’t know where they stand on important issues? For example, Democrats have voted for things like detrimental mask mandates, extreme social distancing, calling children by different names and pronouns while withholding that information from their parents, and exposing our kids to inappropriate and vulgar content. In the past, we’ve also had Arizona school boards vote to ban educators based on their conservative Christian beliefs. Republican values, on the other hand, lie in protecting our children from harmful mandates, inappropriate content, and woke ideology, while empowering parents to take an active role in their child’s education. By vetoing this bill, Governor Katie Hobbs is conveniently pushing to protect the radical Left ideology infiltrating our schools.”

Wadsack added, “School boards are some of the most important elections we have in our communities. They’re the closest to our children, and our local school boards govern issues that impact the education and well-being of our families. We should be able to access this information without having to dig and deduce.”

On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Opportunity Solutions Project, A For America, and Arizona Department of Education, had signed in to support the proposal. Representatives from Arizona Association of County School Superintendents, Arizona School Administrators, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Arizona Education Association, and Save Our Schools Arizona, opposed the legislation.

The bill had first passed the Arizona Senate in February with a 16-10 vote (with four members not voting). It then was approved by the Arizona House earlier this month with a 31-28 vote (with one seat vacant).

Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.