Colorado school board elections, 2026

Colorado 2026 elections

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Elections

State profile

Additional elections

No Colorado school districts that overlap with the nation's 100 largest cities or that are among the nation's 200 largest school districts and for which Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage are holding school board elections in 2026.

Election rules

View election rules

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board general elections in Colorado are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every two years in odd-numbered years.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-104

Recent or upcoming election dates for all public school districts in the state

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all public school districts in the state. There may be exceptions to these dates for specific districts because of local charters and district-specific exceptions and carve-outs.

Filing deadline date: August 29, 2025
General election date: November 4, 2025

Election system

School board members in Colorado are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

See law: C.R.S 22-30-104

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Colorado are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Colorado Statute Section 1-4-803(4) states, "A candidate for the office of school director shall not run as a candidate of any political party for that school directorship."

See law: C.R.S 22-30-104 and 1-4-803

Winning an election

The school board candidate that receives the largest number of votes in the general election is elected to office.

See law: C.R.S. 1-4-104

Term length and staggering

School board members have four-year terms unless a school board passes a resolution to extend the terms to six years.

Any school district coterminous with a city and county (Denver Public Schools) have four-year board member terms. As of 2022, Denver Public Schools was the only school district coterminous with a city and county.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-105

Colorado school districts have staggered elections with as close to half of their board members as possible elected every two years to four-year terms. The board of education can extend or reduce for two years the terms of one or more board members as necessary to achieve staggered elections with as close to the same number of seats up for election as possible every two years.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-105

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

Except for districts coterminous with a city and county (Denver as of 2022), school board members are elected at large by default. They can be elected from residence area restriction sub-districts or through a combination of at-large and residence area restriction sub-districts if the school district passes a resolution to change district representation. Regardless of whether the district elects some or all board members from certain residence areas (sub-districts), all voters vote in each school board race up for election. As of 2022, 73% of the school districts in the state elected their school board members at large, while 21% elected their members from sub-districts, and the remaining 6% elected their members through a combination of both.

School districts coterminous with a city and county must have a seven-member board of education with one member elected from each of five director districts and two members elected from the district at large. As of 2022, Denver Public Schools was the only district coterminous with a city and county.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-109 and C.R.S. 22-31-131

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

The school board candidate filing deadline is sixty-seven days before the election date.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-107

School board candidates can circulate their nomination petitions starting when the filling window opens ninety days before the election, which is 23 days before the filing deadline.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-107

Newly elected school board members are sworn into office no later than ten days after election results are certified.

See law: C.R.S. 22-31-125

Recalls

See also: Recall campaigns in Colorado and School board recalls

State	Specific grounds required?	Signature requirement	Petition circulation time	When recalls can start
Colorado	No	40% of votes cast for the office in the last regular election	60 days	Recalls cannot start until an official has been in office for six months

State profile

Demographic data for Colorado
	Colorado	U.S.
Total population:	5,448,819	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	103,642	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	84.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	4%	12.6%
Asian:	2.9%	5.1%
Native American:	0.9%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	3.5%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	21.1%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.7%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	38.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,629	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.5%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Colorado. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Colorado

Colorado voted for the Democratic candidate in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Colorado, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.^[1]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Colorado had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Colorado coverage on Ballotpedia

Footnotes

↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1]

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Colorado school board elections, 2026

Contents

Election rules

Election dates and frequency

Election system

Party labels on the ballot

Winning an election

Term length and staggering

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

Recalls

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

See also

Footnotes

Information about voting

2026 Elections

2025 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

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