Most School Districts Prefer May Elections

Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln school boards followed the rest of those in Washington County in voting last fall to hold their school elections in May.

Act 910 of the 2017 legislative session changed the timing of board elections from the third Tuesday of September to either the date of the primary election, which is May 22 this year, or the general election, which is Nov. 6. The law leaves the date choice up to each board each year.

Bentonville is the only district in Northwest Arkansas that will have a November school election in 2018.

During odd-numbered years, board elections will be held on either the day that would be designated as the preferential primary election — if a general election were held that year — or the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

Those interested in running for their local board must file their paperwork between noon on Feb. 22 and noon on March 1 if they live in a district holding elections in May. The filing period is Aug. 1-8 for districts holding their elections in November.

Boyce Watkins, advocacy director for the Arkansas School Boards Association, wrote a memo to school districts last summer in which he said most board members and superintendents favored May over November. Either month likely will make it harder and more expensive for school election issues and candidate messages to be heard because of competition with other political races and ballot issues, he wrote.

“However, May should be a better choice than November, especially in even numbered years when there is often so much focus on state and/or national races by the time the November general election is held,” Watkins stated.

Proponents of the new law have said holding school elections at the time of primary or general elections will increase voter participation. September board elections typically have drawn only a few hundred voters per race, even in large districts.

Twenty board seats will be up for election this year in Northwest Arkansas, including at least one in each of the 15 districts. Members’ terms begin right after an election, as opposed to most political office holders that start their terms at the beginning of a year.