Delaware school board elections, 2026

Elections

State profile

Additional elections

No Delaware 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 Delaware are held on the second Tuesday in May every year.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1072

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

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all regular 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: March 6, 2026
• General election date: May 12, 2026

Election system

School board members in Delaware are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries. In the case of a tie vote, another election must be held on the third Saturday in June following the May general election.

Members of the board of education for vocational-technical school districts in Delaware are appointed by the governor not elected.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1072
and Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1051

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Delaware are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Delaware Statute states, "For the election of school board members, the names of all filed candidates shall be listed alphabetically without political party designation."

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1076

Winning an election

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

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1083

Term length and staggering

School board members in Delaware are elected to four-year terms. A 2021 bill changed the length of school board terms from five years to four years starting with 2022 elections and going forward. The 2021 bill changing school board term lengths from five years to four years was designed to allow the completion of five-year terms that had already begun.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Sections 1066, 1068, and 1069

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

By default, the board members of school districts in Delaware are elected at large by all voters in the district. However, state law provides specifically for five districts to elect school board members by sub-district and two districts to elect school board members through a combination of at-large and by-subdistrict seats.

The board members of Cape Henlopen School District and Milford School School District are elected through a combination of four seats by sub-district and three seats at large.

The board members of Brandywine School District, Christina School District, Colonial School District, and Red Clay School District are elected one each from seven different sub-districts. The board members of Indian River School District are elected two each from five different sub-districts.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Sections 1066, 1068, and 1069
and Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1069
and Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Sections 1066 and 1068

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

School board candidates must file notices of candidacy by 4:30 pm on the first Friday in March before the election.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Section 1075

Newly elected school board members officially take office on the first day of July following their election.

See law: Delaware Statutes Title 14, Chapter 10, Sections 1052, 1066, 1068, and 1069

Recalls

See also: Recall campaigns in Delaware and School board recalls

Delaware does not allow for the recall of school board members. Click here for a list of states that do.

State profile

Demographic data for Delaware
	Delaware	U.S.
Total population:	944,076	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	1,949	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.4%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.6%	12.6%
Asian:	3.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	30%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$60,509	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.9%	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 Delaware. **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 Delaware

Delaware 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, one is located in Delaware, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties. As of May 2017, eight state House districts and five state Senate districts intersected with a Pivot County in Delaware. The state has one at-large congressional district.

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. Delaware had one Boomerang Pivot County, 4.00% of all Boomerang Pivot Counties.

More Delaware coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Delaware
• United States congressional delegations from Delaware
• Public policy in Delaware
• Endorsers in Delaware
• Delaware fact checks
• More...

See also: Delaware elections, 2026

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See also

Delaware	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Delaware List of school districts in Delaware School board elections in Delaware School board authority in Delaware	School board elections, 2026 School board elections, 2025 Delaware school board elections, 2025	Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey School board election data analysis, 2025

Footnotes

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