School Board Endorsements

2023

Overview: Regular elections •Recalls

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Previous coverage: Conflicts in school board elections

Minnesota held 63 elections for 132 of the state's 2,144 school board seats on November 7.

While Minnesota's school board elections are officially nonpartisan, Ballotpediaidentified ideological leans for every candidate who received endorsements based on the positions and policies supported by those endorsers.

Overall, of the 132 seats up for election:

• Candidates with aliberal ideological lean won 39%
• Candidates with aconservative ideological lean won 8%
• Candidates who receivedno endorsements won 52%^[1]

Those totals include uncontested and contested intra-ideological elections, which accounted for 31% and 22% of all seats up for election, respectively.

The remaining47% of elections were between candidates who received endorsements from across the ideological spectrum, described as contested inter-ideological elections. In these elections, liberal and conservative candidates had win rates of 77% and 21%, respectively.

This page includes other analyses of Minnesota's school board elections, including open seats and incumbent defeat rates.

Forty-nine percent of incumbents ran for re-election, leaving 51% of seatsopen, above average compared to Ballotpedia's historical coverage.

Eighty-six percent of incumbents who ran for re-election won, but 25% ran unopposed. Of the 49 incumbents who faced opposition, 18%lost, below average compared to Ballotpedia's historical coverage.

This report also includes a catalog of every endorsement identified, along with breakdowns among the groups that issued the most endorsements. Education Minnesota and its affiliates, a teacher's union, issued the most endorsements with 51, followed by OutFront Minnesota with 44, and Minnesota Parents Alliance with 43.

Education Minnesota, the top liberal endorser, had an 82% win rate compared to a 26% win rate for Minnesota Parents Alliance, the top conservative endorser.

Use the links below to navigate to:

• Election results
• Ideological performance
• Open seats
• Incumbents defeated
• Endorsement information
• District information
• Methodology

Election results

Minnesota held 63 elections for 132 school board seats in 2023.^[2]

• Candidates with aliberal ideological lean won 52 seats (39%)
• Candidates with aconservative ideological lean won 10 seats (8%)
• Candidates with amixed ideological lean won two seats (2%)
• Candidates who receivedno endorsements won 68 seats (52%)

The table below shows election results based on the ideological lean of the winning candidate based on endorsements received. There are three types of elections:

• Uncontested, where the number of candidates on the ballot was less than or equal to the number of seats up for election, guaranteeing victory;
  
• Contested intra-ideological, where there was a contested election, but every candidate had the same ideological lean; and
  
• Contested inter-ideological, where there was a contested election between candidates with differing ideological leans.

Figures show how many seats were won by candidates of the given ideological lean or who did not receive any endorsements.

Ideological performance

This section displays win and loss rates for candidates by ideological lean, showing how they performed in contested elections featuring candidates with either some other ideological lean or for whom Ballotpedia identified no endorsements.

In these contested elections:

• 52 candidates with aliberal ideological lean ran, 40 of whom (77%) won;
• 39 candidates with aconservative ideological lean ran, eight of whom (21%) won;
• Two candidates with amixed ideological lean ran, both of whom (100%) won;
• One candidate with someother ideological lean ran and lost; and,
• 38 candidates who receivedno endorsements ran, 12 of whom (32%) won.

Incumbency

Open seats

Of the 132 seats up for election, 65 incumbents (49%) ran for re-election, meaning67 seats (51%) were open. This open seat rate wasabove average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 29% open seat rate within its regular coverage scope.

Overall, 54 districts held elections on November 7. Of that total, 12 districts (22%) had no open seats, 28 (52%) had some open seats, and, in 14 (26%), all seats were open.

Incumbents defeated

Of the 65 incumbents who ran for re-election,56 (86%) won, andnine (14%) lost. This overall loss rate wasaverage compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 16% overall loss rate within its regular coverage scope.

The percentage of incumbents defeated increases to18% when looking only at the 49 incumbents running in contested elections, those where an incumbent could have lost. This contested loss rate wasbelow average compared to Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope over the preceding five years.

Between 2018 and 2022, on average, Ballotpedia recorded a 26% contested loss rate within its regular coverage scope.

Overall, 54 districts held elections on November 7. Of that total, no incumbents lost in 31 districts (57%), some incumbents lost in five districts (9%), and all incumbents lost in four districts (7%). There were 14 districts (26%) where no incumbents ran for re-election.

Endorsements

Top endorsers

The table below shows thetop 10 endorsers in Minnesota in terms of the total number of endorsements made. It includes a hoverable column with information about each endorser, the number of candidates they endorsed, and the number of endorsees who won, both in terms of all endorsees and among only those in contested elections.^[3]

Top endorsees

The table below shows the10 candidates in who received the most endorsements. It includes candidates, the offices they ran for, the total number of endorsements they received based on the partisan lean of the endorser, and their election results. Incumbents are marked with (i).

Full endorsements list

The table below lists all endorsements identified by Ballotpedia among Minnesota school board candidates in 2023. The list is sorted alphabetically by district name. Click the headers to adjust sorting or use the search bar to look for specific districts, candidates, or endorsers. If a source link is not functioning properly, all links were archived with theInternet Archive if possible.

District information

Student-to-teacher ratio

The map below displays the student-to-teacher ratio in all Minnesota school districts. Hover for additional district characteristics.

Methodology

Terms and definitions

Descriptive endorsements

This research focuses ondescriptive 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 holding one or multiple positions that align with those of the endorser. If an endorser's positions are not readily apparent, their endorsements are not considereddescriptive endorsements.

Examples of endorsers whose endorsements might be considereddescriptive include political parties, issue-based organizations with clear policy stances, unions, current or former elected officials, and current or former party officers.

Apart from this section, any mention of endorsements refers todescriptive endorsements.

Endorser

An endorser is an individual or organization that has made a descriptive endorsement. Examples of which include, but are not limited to:

Process

Identifying endorsements

Ballotpedia gathers endorsements using four primary methods:

• Submissions: Readers can submit endorsement information to Ballotpedia directly usingthis link. Ballotpedia staff reviews all submitted information daily to determine whether it warrants inclusion. Reader-submitted endorsements must include a link to a source verifying the endorsement to be included.

• Candidate Connection Surveys: Candidates who complete Ballotpedia'sCandidate Connection Survey are asked to share any endorsements they have received. Any submitted endorsements will appear in the candidate's survey responses. Ballotpedia staff also reviews every survey with endorsement information to determine whether those submissions include descriptive endorsements to add to our overall tracking process. Candidates are invited to submit links to sources for their endorsements, but this is not required.^[4]

• Outreach: Ballotpedia staff contacts endorsers directly to request endorsement lists. At the start of the election cycle, every endorser will receive an email requesting information. Ballotpedia staff also contacts endorsers to clarify information and, if we see they have endorsed one candidate, to determine whether they have also endorsed others.

• Direct research: Ballotpedia staff conducts direct research, regularly checking all identified endorsers and relevant news media in each state. This research might also include looking at specific districts or candidates where endorsement activity appears likely.

Recording endorsements

Once an endorsement has been identified, it is recorded along with the date it was made (if known), a link to the source of the endorsement, and the date Ballotpedia staff learned of the endorsement. If possible, Ballotpedia archives every web source used to identify an endorsement.

For every recorded endorsement, Ballotpedia staff prepare a brief summary of the endorser. For individuals, this might include the party they are affiliated with, their statements regarding a particular policy, or their electoral history. For organizations, this might include the standards by which they issue endorsements, their mission statement, or any other statements regarding a particular policy. When available, Ballotpedia uses direct quotes from endorsers in these summaries, which appear beside each endorsement to provide added context to readers.

Labeling

After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:

• Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party, supports traditionally liberal education policies, or opposes traditionally conservative education policies without also opposing traditionally liberal policies.
• Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party, supports traditionally conservative education policies, or opposes traditionally liberal education policies without also opposing traditionally conservative policies.
• Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, supportive or otherwise, examples of which include local newspapers.
• Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.

As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:

• Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
• Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
• Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
• Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.

While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.

Timing

Ballotpedia tracks and gathers endorsement information throughout the election cycle. If a district holds primary elections, endorsements are only added on-siteafter the primary date.

Voter registration

While most school board elections are officially nonpartisan, meaning candidates appear on the ballot without party labels, the state makes voter registration information publicly available. Ballotpedia used this information to identify each candidate's party registration in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.Note: a candidate's party registration status does not necessarily indicate the candidate's personal ideologies. Many voters register to vote with one party and later find themselves more aligned with another party but do not update their registration as such. Understanding that their registration information is effectively public, voters may also choose a certain registration or affiliate with no party, with that in mind.

Ballotpedia first compared candidate names and school districts to the publicly available voter file to tie candidates with their party registration. The associated voter information was logged if the candidate’s name only appeared once in the school district. If the candidate’s name appeared multiple times in a single school district, Ballotpedia looked at each voter file entry to match the registration address with other identifiable information associated with the candidate. This method accounted for all duplicate entries.

If a candidate was registered under a different name than the one they filed to run with (i.e. registered as Robert Smith but running as Bob Smith), Ballotpedia used a variety of methods to pinpoint the candidate’s voter file information including:

• Looking for every person with the same last name as the candidate in the school district;
• Identifying known associates (i.e. children, spouses), and using public records to determine if any households had changed addresses;
• Utilizing publicly available social media information; or,
• A mixture of these three approaches.

Labeling

After identifying an endorsement, Ballotpedia applies a partisan ideology label based on the policies the endorser supports or affiliation with other partisan organizations. Those labels are:

• Liberal: the endorser is either affiliated with the Democratic Party or supports traditionally liberal education policies.
• Conservative: the endorser is either affiliated with the Republican Party or supports traditionally conservative education policies.
• Neutral: the endorser is not affiliated with either major party and does not take specific policy stances, examples of which include local newspapers.
• Unclear: the endorser would be of interest to voters, but Ballotpedia could not identify a partisan ideology, examples of which include former school board members.

As part of this analysis, Ballotpedia then uses the labels applied to endorsers to determine the partisan ideology of the endorsed candidate. Those resulting candidate ideology labels are:

• Liberal: the candidate received an endorsement from a liberal endorser and none from conservative endorsers.
• Conservative: the candidate received an endorsement from a conservative endorser and none from liberal endorsers.
• Mixed: the candidate received endorsements from liberal and conservative endorsers.
• Other: the candidate received endorsements from either neutral or unclear endorsers and none from liberal or conservative endorsers.

While candidates can receive a mixture of endorsements, primacy is given to liberal and conservative endorsements. For example, if a candidate received endorsements from liberal and neutral endorsers, their ideology label would be liberal.

Elections by county

Navigate to Minnesota 2023 local elections overviews:
Aitkin |Anoka |Becker |Beltrami |Benton |Big Stone |Blue Earth |Brown |Carlton |Carver |Cass |Chippewa |Chisago |Clay |Clearwater |Cook |Cottonwood |Crow Wing |Dakota |Dodge |Douglas |Faribault |Fillmore |Freeborn |Goodhue |Grant |Hennepin |Houston |Hubbard |Isanti |Itasca |Jackson |Kanabec |Kandiyohi |Kittson |Koochiching |Lac qui Parle |Lake |Lake of the Woods |Le Sueur |Lincoln |Lyon |Mahnomen |Marshall |Martin |McLeod |Meeker |Mille Lacs |Morrison |Mower |Murray |Nicollet |Nobles |Norman |Olmsted |Otter Tail |Pennington |Pine |Pipestone |Polk |Pope |Ramsey |Red Lake |Redwood |Renville |Rice |Rock |Roseau |Scott |Sherburne |Sibley |Stearns |Steele |Stevens |St. Louis |Swift |Todd |Traverse |Wabasha |Wadena |Waseca |Washington |Watonwan |Wilkin |Winona |Wright |Yellow Medicine

See also

• Endorsements in school board elections, 2023
• School board elections, 2023

Footnotes

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