It may be easy to get caught up in the tumult of an election year, but no one should sleep on school board races.

They may be decidedly unsexy (downballot, nonpartisan, unpaid, entry-level) and easy to ignore.

Most voters don't actually pay attention to them.

However, those positions are often used as resume filler for people seeking higher office.

As school board positions are low profile resume filler, they tend to be easy for anti-public education folks to infiltrate.  Particularly when they're aided and abetted by the county school superintendent.

And Maricopa County's school superintendent is Shelli Boggs, a MAGA/pro Cheeto person who seems to absolutely hate public schools.

While she isn't in charge of elections, she  *does* appoint people to fill vacancies on school boards, and she has a track record of appointing people who are less about education than they are about ideology.

One of the people she appointed was Jeremiah Cota.  I assume he attended a school at some point, but his employment history included stints working for Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and the Arizona Republican Party.

He was appointed by Boggs to fill a vacancy on the Phoenix Union High School Governing Board.

He has since resigned because of his attendance at a party with Nazi ties.

From the article, from the Arizona Republic, written by Erick Trevino, via the State Journal Register -

[snip]

Ceysha Napa, a Phoenix Union governing board member, said she wasn’t surprised that Cota portrayed himself as a victim. His time on the board would have been different if he wasn't so blatant about the disrespect he had for the community, she said.

"Being held accountable can also feel like persecution," Napa said. "I'm the first Indigenous person to serve on that board. Never at any point in time did I feel like I wasn't welcome."

Cota, a conservative Republican, was appointed to the Phoenix Union governing board in June by Maricopa County School Superintendent Shelli Boggs to fill a vacant seat. He represents Ward 1, which covers south Phoenix, Laveen and the Gila River Indian Community. Cota did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[snip]

In 2025, the district solicited the community's input to fill a vacancy on the seven-member governing board, according to Napa. A list of potential candidates was shared with Boggs, but under Arizona law there is no legal obligation for the superintendent to consider any of the district's candidates.

[start sarcasm]

Nazi leanings and worked for Gosar and Biggs?

I'm shocked! Shocked! I say.

[/end sarcasm]

I'm not worried that one of Boggs' appointees will need to replaced by another appointee - I have faith in her ability (and willingness) to find another MAGA/Nazi type for the gig.

Note: Just because someone has filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) for a school board seat already does NOT mean that they will appear on a ballot, and just because someone has not filed an SOI yet does not mean that they won't appear on a ballot.

Maricopa County SOIs are here.

Pima County SOIs are here.

Pinal County SOIs are here.

Yavapai County SOIs are here. (go to the bottom of the page)

Coconino County school board candidates are here.

Mohave County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

La Paz County SOIs are here. (includes candidates for all offices; also, these may be for the primary races only)

Yuma County SOIs are here.

Cochise County SOIs are here.

Santa Cruz County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

Gils County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

Graham County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

Greenlee County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

Apache County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

Navajo County SOIs are unavailable (at least, I couldn't locate them quickly)

While I couldn't locate SOIs in every county, the counties I did locate them in covered over 85% of the state's population.

I have to reiterate and restate my previous advisory - voters should pay attention to school board races; some of the candidates for those offices will eventually be candidates for other offices.

Need your daily dose of hypocrisy? You'll get it when an election denier runs for office.

Early ballots are in the mail, so I did some research/due diligence on the races that I know nothing about.

For brevity's sake, I'll refer to them as "school board" races.

For the At-Large seat in the Phoenix Union HSD, incumbent Aaron Marquez, Francisco Pastor-Rivera, Aden Ramirez, and Debbie Cross are in a four-way race for two seats.

At least in a shallow search, none of them raise any red flags.

Note: Marquez is also a candidate for State Representative in LD5.  If he wins both races, that's not a problem - state legislators can also serve on school boards.

This race will be difficult - after Marquez, I don't know who to vote for.

In the Balsz ESD race, incumbent Vic Grace, incumbent Gail Knight, Lezley Shepherd, and Jacob George are in a four-way race for three seats.

Note: I looked for websites for the first three candidates.  Couldn't find any.

Grace and Knight are already board members and George seems well-qualified.

Shepherd, though, is a problem.

She's been quoted many times, in outlets ranging from the NY Times to the AZ Mirror, all denying the result of the 2020 election.

From an NY Times article about Arizona's "fraudit", one that actually found more votes for Biden and fewer for Cheeto, dated 9/24/2021 (emphasis added by me) -

[snip]

In a statement, Mr. Trump on Friday said the review had “uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD! Until we know how and why this happened, our Elections will never be secure.”

Many of his fans appeared persuaded.

“I have no doubt now: That election was rigged,” said Lezley Shepherd, 56, one of hundreds of Arizona voters who flocked to the State Capitol on Friday

At least she's not a one trick pony: she hates gay people, too.  And she's not shy about expressing her opinion.  

From a Phoenix New Times article about the Republican quest to criminalize drag shows, written by Elias Weiss, dated 2/4/2023 (emphasis added by me) -

All of those who spoke in favor of the bill [CM: SB1028 in 2023] referenced the Bible. One of them, Leslie Shepherd, asserted that “the LGBTQ movement is using [drag] as a shield to allow inappropriate behavior toward children.”

Well, one positive thing can be said about her candidacy: she's made the choice easy.  There's no way on Earth she gets my vote.

At this point, my only question is that when the election doesn't go her way, will she refute the results and try to deliberate and vote as a board member?

Bottom line: I consider most campaigns for elected office to be little more than extended group job interviews, and you don't hire the person who says that if the hiring process doesn't go their way, it's because the process is rigged.

Maricopa County school board candidates

In addition to the candidates, 27 districts will have bond, override, or "district additional assistance" questions on their ballots. 

35 elections are slated to be canceled, either due to having no candidates or having a quantity of candidates that doesn't exceed the number of offices to be elected.  The full list is here.

Ballot candidates, from the website of the Maricopa County School Superintendent -

"Official" (duly registered) write in candidates: