Who will be joining Maricopa County school boards? Voters will decide in 2024 election
ARIZONA ELECTION 2024
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This November, voters in Maricopa County will be asked to approve school district bond and override requests, vote for school board members and select a county school superintendent.
As the campaign season progresses, The Arizona Republic's K-12 education team will be gathering its reporting on these education-related elections and updating this page. These elections impact the financial resources available to school districts and determine who is setting school district policy.
As in 2022, The Republic will be sending a questionnaire to school board candidates about their policy positions. All responses to that questionnaire will be available from this page.
School boards
In Maricopa County, more than 150 candidates will be competing for school board seats in over 30 school districts. Races for 81 seats were canceled because there weren't enough candidates. As a result, 72 candidates will be appointed, and nine seats will be declared vacant, according to the Maricopa County School Superintendent's Office. The county school superintendent is responsible for filling vacancies.
School board members have a range of responsibilities, including setting district policy, approving and monitoring the district budget, hiring the superintendent, approving curriculum materials and managing school property, including closing and opening schools.
Bonds and budget overrides
Nearly 30 school districts plan to ask voters this year to approve requests for bonds or budget overrides. Districts had until July 8 to deliver a signed resolution calling for a bond or override election to the Maricopa County school superintendent.
Bonds and budget overrides are common ways for school districts to seek additional funding beyond their state-allocated budgets. They're paid for by property owners in the district through secondary property taxes based on limited property values of residences.
A bond is a form of debt that school districts take on. If approved by voters, they're sold to investors who are repaid with interest. Bond funds are used for capital expenses such as building renovations and improvements, new construction, safety and security enhancements and purchasing school buses and technology.
Overrides allow a district to increase its budget by up to 15% for seven years to pay operational expenses. The types of overrides voters may see on their 2024 ballot are maintenance and operations overrides, which are used for operational expenses such as teacher salaries and student programs, and district additional assistance overrides, which bolster capital funding and often help cover technology, curriculum and instructional materials and other equipment expenses.
Maricopa County school superintendent
Republican Shelli Boggs and Democrat Laura Metcalfe are running to be Maricopa County's school superintendent.
The Maricopa County school superintendent oversees school board and bond and override elections, maintains home-school and private school records and appoints new members to school board vacancies.
The superintendent also oversees the Maricopa County Regional School District, which serves students awaiting court hearings in county detention and students at Hope High School, an accommodation school for students who left traditional school settings.
Steve Watson, a Republican, has served as Maricopa County school superintendent since 2017. He lost in the Republican primary this year.
In their words: We asked the candidates about school board appointments, managing tax dollars and more. Here's what they had to say
Appointment of school board members: One of the debates among Maricopa County school superintendent candidates is how school district governing board members should be appointed
Audits become campaign issue: A third-party audit found more than a dozen financial practice deficiencies at the accommodation school district run by Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson, including more than $200,000 of improperly mingled funds and an unlawful land sale worth millions. Watson, in turn, pointed to a recent audit of the East Valley Institute of Technology, for which his Republican primary challenger Shelli Boggs and Democratic candidate Laura Metcalfe are school board members. The Arizona Auditor General found the school did not follow requirements or best practices when spending $85.9 million on improving career and technical education programs at satellite schools, thus "increasing its risk for errors, fraud, and data loss.
Maricopa Community Colleges board
The election to choose four of the seven seats on the Maricopa County Community College Governing Board was canceled after no candidates filed to run against the incumbents. The incumbents' names will not appear on the ballot.
Readers can stay up to date on education-related election news by subscribing to The Republic's Educating Arizona newsletter at https://profile.azcentral.com/newsletters/educating-arizona/.
You can reach The Republic's K-12 education reporters, Maddie Parrish and Nick Sullivan, at [email protected] and [email protected]. Share education news, send accountability tips and keep the discussion going on The Arizona Republic's education Facebook page.
See all the races for Arizona
Voter guide: Election Day is Nov. 5. Here is a guide to help you learn about all the candidates and the voting and tabulating process.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona school elections 2024: What's at stake in Maricopa County
