Washington school board elections, 2026

Washington 2026 elections

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No Washington 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 nonpartisan primary elections in Washington are held on the first Tuesday in August every two years in odd-numbered years. School board primary elections are only held if more than two candidates file to run for a school board member seat. If only two candidates run, the primary is canceled and both candidates advance to the general election.

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

See law: Washington Statute RCW 29A.52.220 and RCW 29A.04.311 and Washington Statute RCW 29A.04.330

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: May 16, 2025
Primary election date: August 5, 2025
General election date: November 4, 2025

Election system

School board members in Washington are elected through a system of a nonpartisan primary election and a nonpartisan general election. School board primary elections are only held if more than two candidates file to run for a school board member seat. If only two candidates run, the primary is canceled and both candidates advance to the general election.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 29A.52.220 and RCW 29A.52.210

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Washington are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Washington statute specifies partisan and nonpartisan offices. Washington has a top-two primary system, which means all candidates appear on the same primary ballot regardless of party affiliation. The top-two candidates advance to the general. For partisan races, candidates can but do not have to express a preference for a political party. If they do, the ballot specifies their party preference. For nonpartisan races, candidates cannot express a party preference. RCW 28A.343.330 states that, "the positions of school directors and the candidates therefor shall appear separately on the nonpartisan ballot."

See law: Washington Statute RCW 29A.52.210 and RCW 28A.343.330

Winning an election

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

The top two school board candidates with the most votes in the nonpartisan primary advance to the general election. If only two candidates file for the primary election, the primary will be canceled and they will automatically advance to the general election. School board primary elections are only held if more than two candidates file to run for a school board member seat.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 28A.343.010 and Washington Statute RCW 29A.04.127

Term length and staggering

Elected school board members in Washington have four-year terms, except for school districts classified as first-class school districts containing a city of the first-class in a county with a population of two hundred ten thousand or more, can have their board of directors serving six-year terms. As of 2022, only Spokane, Tacoma, and Everett School Districts serve 6-year terms.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 28A.343.300 and RCW 29A.04.340

Washington school districts have staggered elections based on the rule that not more than a majority of board members can be elected at any election. This means that for all districts with four-year board member terms, as close to half of board members as possible are elected every two years. Four years is the default board member term length. As of 2022, Spokane, Tacoma, and Everett school district board members serve six-year terms with as close to one-third of board members up for election every two years.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 28A.343.300 and 28A.343.600

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members are elected at large, by district, or through a combination of the two, depending on the classification of the school district. Any school district in the state that has a student enrollment in its public schools of two thousand pupils or more is a school district of the first class. Any other school district is a school district of the second class.

Most school districts classified as First Class Districts can elect their school board members either entirely at large or entirely by sub-districts.

School districts classified as Second Class Districts must elect their school board members either at large or by director districts (sub-district). Districts opting for a combination of board members elected by sub-district and at large generally must have three members elected from sub-districts and two members elected at large.

See law: Washington Statute 28A.343.020, 28A.343.680, and 28A.300.065 and Washington Statute 28A.343.020 and 28A.343.680 and Washington Statute 28A.343.680

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

The school board candidate filing deadline is on the Friday following the Monday that is two weeks before Memorial Day. This means the filing deadline is 74 days before the August primary and 172 days before the November general election.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 29A.24.050

School board candidates cannot submit declarations of candidacy until the filling window opens on Monday two weeks before Memorial Day. This means the filing window opens 78 days before the August primary and 176 days before the November general election.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 29A.24.050

Newly elected school board members officially take office at the first board of directors meeting taking place after the results of the election have been certified.

See law: Washington Statute RCW 28A.343.360

Recalls

See also: Recall campaigns in Washington and School board recalls

State	Specific grounds required?	Signature requirement	Petition circulation time	When recalls can start
Washington	Yes: "acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office or violation of oath of office"^[1]	25% of votes cast for the office at the last election^[2]	180 days	Recalls can start at any time

State profile

Demographic data for Washington
	Washington	U.S.
Total population:	7,160,290	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	66,456	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	77.8%	73.6%
Black/African American:	3.6%	12.6%
Asian:	7.7%	5.1%
Native American:	1.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more:	5.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	12%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	32.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$61,062	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	14.4%	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 Washington. **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 Washington

Washington voted for the Democratic candidate in all 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, five are located in Washington, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.^[3]

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. Washington had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Washington coverage on Ballotpedia

Footnotes

↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021
↑ Washington Constitution, "Article I, Section 34," accessed February 10, 2023
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[ncsl-1] National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021

[2] Washington Constitution, "Article I, Section 34," accessed February 10, 2023

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

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Washington 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

Get Engaged

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