School board elections moved to November

As the school board elections filing date approaches, school districts in Southeast Iowa continue to wait for candidates to file their election papers and declare their candidacy. With elections pushed back to November, final candidacy filing dates for school board elections across the state is at 5 p.m. on Sept. 19.

School board elections, which historically have taken place in September, will now be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in odd numbered years. This year, school board elections will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019.

In the Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant and Washington Community School districts, four seats will be on the ballot in November within each district. As of this week, neither Fairfield nor Washington school districts have had any candidates file their election papers. In Mt. Pleasant, Angie Blint, who is currently filling a vacancy left by Karl Braun, who resigned as the director from District 3 in June of 2019, has filed to run for the seat.

In order to be placed on the ballot, candidates are required to fill out an affidavit that must be signed and notarized. The legal document serves as an official declaration that the candidate intends to run for the position. In addition to the affidavit, each potential candidate must collect 50 signatures from community members in order to qualify for the race.

According to Kevin Hall, the communications director for Iowa Secretary of State, Paul Pate, the signatures are a way to show that the candidate 'has the support of the community and that the community supports the fact that the person is running.”

'It just makes it so that the candidates have some skin in the game,” Hall added.

Other general qualifications for candidates to run are that the candidate must be at least 18 years of age, a resident of the school district or a resident of the director district they are running in, and must be eligible to register to vote.

Jeffery Dieleman, the Washington Community School District's business manager, said that 'it can be a challenge” to fill the positions. Candidates running in the Washington Community School District will file their papers with Dieleman. Seats in District 1, District 3 and District 4 as well as an At-Large Direction position will be on the ballot this Nov.

'They're unpaid and volunteer-based,” Dieleman added, on why school districts may sometimes struggle to fill seats. However, Dieleman noted that many of the current board members on the Washington School Board are looking to be reelected and continue in their roles.

Fairfield Community School District's Superintendent Laurie Noll similarly noted that the school board directors position is the 'toughest volunteer job in the community.”

'They review the finances, curriculum and the whole system. The time they put in is immense and it takes a really special person to take on the job. The person gets put on a steep learning curve,” Dr. Noll said.

Like those in the Washington school district, many of the Mt. Pleasant school board members whose seats will be on the ballot in November have expressed interest in running again. John Henriksen also confirmed that current school board directors Chuck Andrew in District 4 and Jenifer Crull, an at-large member, have expressed interest in running for their current seats. Dave McCoid, who is currently serving as the board's president and representing an at-large position is not seeking reelection, however Henriksen has been meeting with potential candidates that are interested in filling the position.

In addition to finding school board candidates, school districts across Iowa are dealing with a transition from a September election to a November election. The change was made following the 2017 state legislative session.

Hall noted that the motivation for the change was to increase voter turn out for the school board elections.

'Turnout has usually been very low, and aligning the election with city elections will hopefully increase those numbers, generate more interest and attention and hopefully lead to more voters,” he said.

Tammy Votava, the communications director from the Iowa Association of School Boards noted that the shift in election date has made some school districts worried about the transition period for new board members.

'Usually members are elected in Sept. and have a couple months to get acclimated before they begin working on the school year's budget. With the new election schedule, school board's won't be able to hold (organizational) meetings until after Nov. 18 or 19, which pushes back that time for learning opportunities,” Votava noted.

However, local school districts in Southeast Iowa are not too concerned about the new election schedule.

Dieleman from Washington noted that he doesn't anticipate a two month change across a four-year term will make much of a difference.

Superintendent Henriksen echoed similar sentiments, noting that the Iowa Association of School Boards provides many great resources to help train new board members including a pre-convention on Nov. 20-21.

'We're feeling it a little bit, but I have content prepared to go through to bring [new members] up to speed,” Henriksen said.