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2020 School Board Elections

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This page contains links to all school board elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2020by state. Ballotpedia covers school board elections in 475 school districts. This includes all school districts in the100 largest cities by population and the200 largest school districts by student enrollment. Ballotpedia also covers allschool board recalls in the United States.

For information on elections happening this year, clickhere.

Battleground 2020 school board elections

Kansas State Board of Education election

See also:Kansas State Board of Education election, 2020

Kansas held an election forfive of 10 seats on the state board of education onNovember 3, 2020. Two races were contested. In District 2,Melanie Haas (D) defeatedBenjamin Hodge (R), and in District 8Betty Arnold (D) defeated incumbentKathy Busch (R). District 2 incumbentSteve Roberts (R) did not run for re-election, instead running in theRepublican primary forU.S. Senate in Kansas.

In July, the Board received attention for its5-5 vote that invalidated GovernorLaura Kelly’s (D) executive order to postpone all Kansasschool reopenings until September 9, 2020. Roberts voted to veto the order and Busch voted to uphold it. Leading up to the 2020 election, Republicans had an 8-2 majority on the board.^[1]

Roberts defeated Chris Cindric (D) in the 2016 District 2 board of education election 52% to 49%. In 2016 and 2012, Busch ran unopposed in District 8. Across all 10 districts, an incumbent board member had not been defeated in a general election since at least 2012.

According to its website, the Kansas State Board of Education’s general powers include accrediting school systems, the establishment of curriculum standards, certifying teachers and administrators, and generally supervising public schools.^[2] Board District 2 includes school districts in part of Johnson County and part of Wyandotte County. Board District 8 includes school districts in part of Sedgwick County and part of Butler County.^[3]

School board elections by state

Ballotpedia provides in-depth coverage of school board elections inAmerica's largest school districts by enrollment. Our coverage includes school board member and candidate profiles, noteworthy election issues, district data, and more. We publish election results following each election. Ballotpedia also publishesThe Tap, a weekly newsletter covering both recent and upcoming political news and elections.

In addition to the 200 largest school districts in the nation, Ballotpedia covers the additional school districts that overlap with the100 largest cities by population in the United States.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

D.C.

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Editor's note: Maryland school board primary elections were originally scheduled on April 28, 2020. In an announcement on March 17, 2020, Gov.Larry Hogan (R) postponed the statewide primary election from April 28, 2020, to June 2, 2020, amid concerns about thecoronavirus pandemic.^[4]

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Editor's note: Missouri school board elections were originally scheduled on April 7, 2020. On March 18, 2020, Gov.Mike Parson (R) released an official statement postponing all Missouri municipal elections until June 2, 2020, amid concerns about thecoronavirus pandemic.^[5]

Nebraska

Nevada

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Wisconsin

Historical election data

See also:School board election data analysis, 2024

Methodology note: This report does not include write-in candidates unless an incumbent ran as a write-in.

From 2018 to 2024, Ballotpedia covered elections for 6,060 school board seats in 2,070 districts. Ballotpedia normally covers school board elections in the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment and the school districts that overlap the 100 largest cities by population. However, in 2019, we also covered all school districts up for election in the state of North Carolina. Those districts are included in this data.

We found that between 24% and 40% of elections were unopposed each year, that incumbents won between 51% and 61% of seats each year, and that between 79% and 89% of incumbents who sought re-election won each year.

Details on each year's election statistics can be found in the table below.

Seats won by incumbents and newcomers

Incumbents won a larger percentage of seats in the2018 school board elections compared to the2019,2020,2021,2022 elections,2023, and2024.

Incumbency success rates

Incumbents who ran against challengers in 2019 had a higher contested success rate than those who ran against challengers in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Incumbents in 2019 also had a higher overall success rate compared to the other four years.

Analysis of local elections

In 2020, Ballotpedia covered elections for mayor, city council, and all other city officials in the100 largest cities by population in the United States, as well as elections for county officials whose jurisdictions overlapped with those cities.

Election analysis

• Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection report
• Rematches in 2020 general elections
• Analysis of rejected ballots in the 2020 general election
• Analysis of ballot curing in the 2020 general election
• Analysis of voter turnout in the 2020 general election

Municipal elections

• Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2020)
• Trends in the margins of victory for incumbents of three or more terms, 2018-2024

See also

• School Boards and School Board Elections

External links

• National Center for Education Statistics

Footnotes

v • e 2020 school board elections Resources School board elections, 2020 Elections by state Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming Local elections Municipal Government •Local Courts •School Boards •Local Ballot Measures •Recalls Ballotpedia coverage Federal Politics •State Politics •Local Politics •Public Policy •Influencers •The Daily Brew

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• United States school district elections, 2020
• State school board election overviews, 2020
• School district elections by year