Party labels in Illinois school board elections
|
| Illinois overview: • Election dates: Off cycle[1] |
| Key policies: • Election dates and timing • Party labels on the ballot |
| Key terms • On-cycle elections • Off-cycle elections • Off-year elections • Off-date elections • Party labels • Partisan elections • Nonpartisan elections |
School board elections in Illinois are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates.
See law:
Illinois Election Code Sections 10-3.1 and 16-3
There were 852 public school districts in Illinois with a total of 5,967 school board member seats as of 2022. Those school districts operated a total of 3,976 schools serving 1,925,315 students.
Illinois is one of 41 states with state laws providing for nonpartisan school board elections.
The information in this page was last updated in 2022. Please email editor@ballotpedia.org with any updates, corrections, exceptions, or improvements.
Illinois state law governing party labels on the ballot for school board elections
School board elections in Illinois are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Illinois Statute establishes that school board members be elected in the nonpartisan consolidated odd-year election. Statute establishes a nomination process for school board candidates without a partisan primary or any other sort of nomination by political parties and without party designation by candidates.
See law:
Illinois Election Code Sections 10-3.1 and 16-3
Examples of how school board candidates appear on the ballot in Illinois
Below is an excerpt from an odd-year sample ballot with nonpartisan races, including school board races, and an excerpt from an even-year sample ballot containing partisan races.
How does Illinois compare to other states?
Across the country, there are 13,187 public school districts governed by a total of 83,183 school board members. They are elected directly by voters except for a small handful of exceptions who are appointed.
As of July 2025, over 85% of school boards are elected without any party labels on the ballot identifying the candidates' affiliation with a political party. State laws in five states containing 1,169 school districts (9%) provide for party labels on the ballot for school board elections. In five states containing 554 districts (4%), state laws effectively provide for both the option of including or not including party labels on the ballot for school board elections. In the remaining states with elected local school board members, state law provides for school board elections without the inclusion of party labels on the ballot.
Elections in which party labels are included on the ballot are referred to as partisan elections. Elections in which party labels are not included on the ballot are referred to as nonpartisan elections.
The state laws of 40 states containing 11,472 school districts provide for school board elections without party labels identifying the affiliation of candidates listed on the ballot (nonpartisan elections).
State laws of five states provide for school board elections with party labels identifying the affiliation of candidates listed on the ballot (partisan elections):
State laws of five states containing 554 school districts effectively provide both options depending on the district. The details and the number of districts that fall in each category vary among the states. Those five states are:
See also
|
School board election rules: |
School board election coverage: |
Terms and context: |
| |||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: An elected school board is transitioning back into control of the Chicago Public Schools district following years of control by an appointed board. Starting in 2024, Chicago Public Schools voter were set to begin voting for school board members at on-cycle elections in November of even-numbered years.
