California school board members are quitting as budget cuts, political fights take toll: daunting

Candidates across California are bracing for tight races and a long night of vote counting.But in most school board contests, the outcome is already decided — with just one candidate running or no one on the ballot at all.An EdSource analysis of 2,225 school board seats in 52 counties found that 62% won’t appear on the ballot at all.

A single candidate is running unopposed for 1,207 seats, while 224 seats have no candidates.That’s up from 56.4% in 2024, even after a new state law let districts raise trustee pay for the first time in more than 40 years.Part of the problem is that many of the people already serving don’t want to stay.In a statewide survey of 801 board members, researchers at USC and Stanford found that only about half, 49%, plan to run again.

Nearly a quarter said they probably or definitely won’t, and another 27% were undecided.One in four said serving on the board had hurt their emotional well-being.“In general, the job has just become more politicized,” Troy Flint, a spokesperson for the California School Boards Association told the California Post.

“And I think that’s made it challenging to remain focused on the core nonpartisan work of supporting students and advancing academic achievement.”Two-thirds of members cited uncertainty over federal funding as a source of strain, 54% pointed to declining enrollment and 52% named immigration enforcement.More than a third cited labor disputes.As many as 38% of members said they had been attacked on social media, and up to 19% reported threats of violence or harassment.

Those who were unsure about running again, or planned not to, were more likely to describe the job as politically challenging.“The report provided significant data to reinforce what we suspected, which is that the atmosphere around school boards is a daunting one that is discouraging people from either pursuing the position or remaining in the role once there,” Flint said.Flint traced much of the shift to the pa...