School Board Ballot Guide 2025

School boards are the liaison between schools and the local community. School boards are instrumental in defining policies that impact students’ and parents’ civil rights. They can block efforts to ban books and censor teachers, pass policies that reduce disproportionate punishment of students of color, and establish policies – such as anti-bullying protections and access to inclusive facilities – to support LGBTQ students. If we help mobilize our friends and neighbors to vote in school board elections, we can make a big impact on our communities for generations to come.

School Boards:

• Play a critical role in student safety
• Make key decisions about students’ civil rights and civil liberties
• Develop and enforce curriculum policies
• Develop and enforce school & student conduct policies
• Approve and allocate the annual budget for the school district

• Book Bans
• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
• Free Speech
• Special Education
• LGBTQ+ Students’ Rights
• Language Accessibility
• Budget Allocation; including teachers’ and staff members’ salaries
• Student safety

I have no connection with schools, why should I vote in school board elections?

All eligible voters are constituents of their local school district and can vote for their school district’s board members. You do not need to be a parent or have school-aged children enrolled in public school. School board members make up the representative body of the school district and handle all administrative, policy, and executive matters. Like all elected officials, they are bound by the constitution, are accountable to all constituents in their jurisdiction, and make decisions that impact the public.

In recent years, school boards have been the target of well-funded extremist efforts. Special interest groups have advanced anti-democracy, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-diversity agendas with little regard for the impact on families and students in Colorado. When you engage in your school board elections, your vote can help protect against those extremist efforts, and federal overreach, allowing our local governments to manage and lead our schools.

• At the ballot box and beyond, engaging with our school boards can counter the creeping overreach of political and religious agendas within public schools. Partisan curriculum, access to educational materials, and transparency are battlegrounds in the fight for democracy.
• Students are a direct reflection of their larger community. They will become the next generation of teachers, lawyers, doctors, caretakers, and workforce employees in their communities. Investing in your school board is an investment in the health, well-being, and future of your community for years to come.

• School board elections take place every two years during odd number years in Colorado (for example, in 2023, 2025, and 2027).
• School boards are the largest group of elected officials, with over 82,000 school board members nationwide.
• School board elections have lower rates of voter participation compared to other local elections.

Without much information, it can be difficult to know who is up for election, what values they hold, and whether those values align with your own. It’s important to research your school board candidates. Remember, they are working for YOU!

Here are some tips and tricks to help you learn more about your school board candidates:

Reach out to your local community

• Join a townhall or candidate forum
• Contact a trusted organization
• Join an election-related event

Do research online:

• Visit a candidate’s campaign website
• This is a good way to explore a candidate’s platform and find out more about the issues they care about.
• Things to look out for:
  • A deep dive into an issue – what does the candidate appear to care about most?
  • Experience – what is their background? How will this inform their choices if elected?
  • Sponsors and endorsements – who is supporting them? What are their values?
  • Buzzwords – what words and phrases do they use to appeal to voters?

Access local media for independent stories and articles on candidates. Find resources from local education organizations:

• For example, the Colorado Education Association creates a ballot guide for school board elections
• Other groups, such as local teachers' associations, will endorse candidates

Finding your school district:

• Visit the state Department of Education website and view the Colorado School Districts with Counties Map
• School district boundaries map

Voting in school board elections:

• All eligible voters can participate in school board elections.
• Ballots are sent out by mail on October 10, 2025.
• Election Day is November 4, 2025.

There are three ways to vote in Colorado:

• BY MAIL
  • To vote by mail, you must mail your ballot with 2 stamps by October 28, 2025.
• AT A DROP BOX
  • Find your nearest drop box
  • Ballots must be in a drop box by 7 p.m. on November 4, 2025
• IN PERSON
  • Find your nearest polling place
  • To vote in-person on election day, make sure you are at the polling center and in line by 7 p.m.

Get good at flushing through misinformation and disinformation.

Elections can be uniquely vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation. Candidates, campaigns, and other people can put out inaccurate statements or content that discourage civic engagement and sow distrust in elections.

Misinformation is unintentionally inaccurate or misleading information.

• Examples can include sharing a social media graphic with incorrect election dates, rumors of election intimidation, or misconceptions about voting as a justice-impacted person.

Disinformation is intentionally misleading or incorrect information.

• This can include targeted campaigns by bad actors that are designed to discourage certain groups from voting.

How to combat misinformation and disinformation

Research before you post

• To avoid unwittingly contributing to misinformation and disinformation campaigns, ask: “How do I know this is accurate information? Is this confirmed by a trusted source?”

Check the source

• Verify if a news source is reputable, confirm whether a news story is outdated or recent, and use multiple sources to confirm the accuracy of a story.
• Research the author of a news article and ensure the content of a story matches the headline.
• When in doubt, stick to trusted sources of information, such as the Colorado Secretary of State office or your local elections office.

Report misinformation/disinformation

• If, after doing additional research, you find a piece of social media content that is inaccurate, report it!

Other forms of inaccurate information

Candidates, campaigns, and other actors may also release misleading or distorted information that, while not inaccurate, is intended to elicit intense emotions.

Examples can include:

Using loaded “buzzwords”

• Terms and phrases such as “DEI,” “intersectional,” “critical race theory,” or “gender ideology.”
• This can be done to either or to highlight a candidate’s values or to paint the opposition in a negative and/or distorted light.

Using euphemisms to obscure certain policies

• Terms and phrases such as “parental rights,” “protecting girls' sports,” or “age-appropriate literature.”
• These terms often obfuscate policies that may harm the civil rights and civil liberties of students, parents, and school staff.