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

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

The remaining seats either have no candidates or only one candidate, meaning most residents of Sonoma and Napa counties will not be voting for school board representatives this year.

School boards set the direction for a school district and provide accountability, according to the California School Boards Association, and community involvement is necessary for their success. But a number of factors seem to be driving people away — 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.

A state-level analysis by EdSource revealed that more than 50 percent of California school board races are not on the ballot for this election. In Sonoma, which has 40 school districts, and Napa, which has five, the trend seems even more acute.

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

Aggressiveness in dating

Speaking specifically about Sonoma County, McCuan said school board members are regularly subjected to verbal attacksespecially in the “zoom era”.

“This discourages people from jumping in if they don’t have an agenda. The next generation of leaders don’t know if this is worth it or if they can really make the changes they think are necessary,” he said.

Echoing that, West Sonoma County Union High School District Board President Julie Aiello said it’s “extremely disappointing” when people come to meetings and are aggressive or abusive toward board members. This happened, for example, when her district decided to do it closes El Molino High in 2021.

“When people start yelling at you and saying horrible things, it’s hard not to say – why are they doing this? We need to have more civil disagreements without abusing the people who volunteer to be on the school board,” she said.

Aiello opted not to run in this election, largely due to the time commitment that being on a school board requires. There is one candidate – Rio Kuteira – running for the seat he currently holds, who will be elected unopposed.

General elections for the area

West Sonoma County Union High School District, along with Petaluma City Schools and Rincon Valley Union School District, are transitioning this election from at-large to area-based.

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

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

But that could also be a reason for low voter turnout, according to McCuan, mostly because of the lag effect where people need time to understand where the district lines are.

Petaluma City Schools Administrator Sheldon Gen ends his term this year and has opted not to run.

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

“Overall, though, I think (area elections) is a positive change.”

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 Napa County school board races.

Of its five school districts, four have uncontested races. Only Napa Valley Unified, the county’s largest district, has the four seats available, all contested. With recent school closings and the controversial Mayacamas charter school issue, community opinion is polarized on the current council and at least two challengers are running directly as a result of their dissatisfaction with the handling of these matters.

By contrast, Howell Mountain Elementary School District, located in Angwin and with a student body of less than 100, has all five seats up for grabs and just two candidates running for them.