Uncontested school board seats in Sonoma, Napa. Here’s what this means for local education

Only nine of the 101 Sonoma County school board seats up for election in the Nov. 5 election are contested — less than 10%. In Napa County, only four of the 16 seats have challengers, and all of them are in the same district.

The remaining seats either have no candidates or only one running, which means most Sonoma and Napa County residents will not vote for their school board representatives this year.

According to the California School Boards Association, school boards provide direction and accountability for the school district, and community involvement is necessary for their success. But people seem to be put off by a number of factors, from verbal attacks on board members and a lack of incentives to serve, to the way districts are divided.

This situation is not unique to Wine Country.

Statewide analysis by Source Ed revealed that more than 50% of California school board members are not voting in this election. In Sonoma, which has 40 school districts, and Napa, which has five, the trend appears to be even more severe.

“Being in local government is really hard,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “It’s a demanding and difficult environment. And then, with the school boards, they became a flashpoint for political and cultural wars that drove people away.”

Aggression at meetings

McCuan said he was specifically talking about Sonoma County School officials regularly fall victim to verbal attacksespecially in the “Zoom era.”

“It discourages people from entering the conversation unless they have an agenda. The next generation of leaders don’t know if they’re worth it and if they can really make the changes they think are needed,” he said.

Echoing him, West Sonoma County Union High School District board president Julie Aiello said it is “extremely disgusting” when people come to meetings and act aggressively or abusively toward board members. This happened, for example, when her district decided to do so close El Molino High School in 2021

“When people start screaming at you and saying horrible things, it’s hard not to say: why am I doing this? We need to have more social disagreements without exploiting people who volunteer to serve on the school board,” she said.

Aiello decided not to run in this election, largely because of the time it takes to serve on the school board. Rio Kuteira is running for the seat she currently holds and will be elected unopposed.

Elections from general to area

The West Sonoma County Union School District, along with Petaluma City Schools and the Rincon Valley Union School District, are converting this election from a general election to a local election.

In a general election, candidates run throughout the district and the electorate votes for all seats. In local elections, voters only vote for their district seat, and candidates must live in the area they wish to represent.

Several school districts and city councils have made this change to increase diversity and ensure that local government is more representative of its constituents.

However, according to McCuan, this could potentially cause limited participation in elections, especially due to the lag effect in which people need time to understand where the boundaries of an area lie.

Petaluma City Schools Superintendent Sheldon Gen is finishing his term this year and has decided not to run for re-election.

“It’s harder to find candidates in smaller areas,” he said. “I asked about 10 people to apply for the seat I was vacating, all of whom are excellent people who can strengthen public education in their own way, but every single one of them said no.

“Still, overall I think this (local elections) is a positive development.”

Only one candidate – labor organizer Ryan Williams – is running for Gen’s seat and will be elected unopposed.

Remote regions

In more remote regions or smaller districts, there are often fewer candidates running for office simply because a smaller population means a smaller pool.

That appears to be the case in uncontested school board races in Napa County.

Of the five school districts, four have non-competitive races. Only Napa Valley Unified, the largest district in the county, has four open seats. Due to the recent school closures and controversial Mayacamas charter school On this issue, community opinion on the current board is polarized, and at least two challengers are running as a direct result of their dissatisfaction with the handling of these matters.

And in the Howell Mountain Primary School district in Angwin, which has fewer than 100 students, all five seats are up for grabs with just two candidates running.