In 2017, elections for 1,357 seats were scheduled in 448 of America's 1,000 largest school districts by enrollment. These elections took place in 34 states. These 448 districts collectively served a total of 10,073,191 students during the 2014-2015 school year—approximately 21 percent of all K-12 students in the United States.^[1]

The 16 states where the largest districts by enrollment did not hold elections in 2017 were Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The table below breaks down these elections in chronological order by general election date. The table can also be sorted by each of its columns in alphabetical or numerical order by clicking on the column title, such as "District" or "Seats up for election." Districts with primary or runoff dates listed did not necessarily hold those elections; requirements for primaries and runoffs varied by state and district.

In addition to the 1,000 largest school districts in the nation, Ballotpedia covered the additional districts that constituted Wisconsin's 50 largest school districts in 2017. For more information about those Wisconsin school board races outside of the top 1,000, click here.

District by 2017 General Election dates[edit]

Primary elections[edit]

Primaries are possible or required in 96 of the largest U.S. school districts' school board elections in 2017. The following states have school districts where primaries may be held: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.

• In Georgia primary runoffs are required if no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the primary.
• In Maryland, regularly elected boards must hold primaries if more than two candidates file for any seat up for election. The same is true for all elected Wisconsin school boards.
• Some school districts in Tennessee require primaries for all seats up for election, regardless of the number of candidates.

Runoff elections[edit]

Runoffs are possible in 23 of America's largest school districts school board elections in 2017. In those districts, a runoff is held if no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the race. Some districts, such as Burbank Unified School District, do not use the term "runoff" for their election dates. In those cases, the first election is called a primary. If a candidate receives a majority of votes cast in their race, then no general election is held. Alternatively, if the top vote recipient or recipients only receive a plurality of votes cast, the general election is held and serves as a runoff. Ballotpedia considers the "primaries" in these cases general elections; similarly, the "general" elections are considered runoffs.

See also[edit]

School board elections portal	News and analysis
2017 candidate filing deadlines 2017 campaign finance deadlines 2017 election coverage plan	School board elections, 2017 List of 2015 elections List of 2015 elections List of 2014 elections List of 2013 elections School board recalls	School boards in session: 2015 elections by the numbers Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2015 school board elections Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts

Footnotes[edit]

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