In Boise school board election, trustees retained their seats — with one exception
Most Boise trustees will retain their seats on the Boise school board after voters cast their ballots in the district’s election Tuesday.
The only candidate who defeated an incumbent was Shiva Rajbhandari, a Boise High senior and the first student to secure a trustee seat, according to the district’s records.
Unofficial results posted at around 1 a.m. Wednesday showed incumbent Beth Oppenheimer received the most support in the race for six-year terms, with 41.4% of the votes, followed by Dave Wagers, who secured 37.3% of the votes. Voters choose two candidates in this race, and the top two candidates were elected to serve on the school board.
“I think that people are really concerned about the Boise School District,” Oppenheimer told the Idaho Statesman by phone. The voters, she added, “have shown that they really support the direction that the district is going and want to keep it that way.”
Trustees on the Boise school board typically serve six-year terms, but three of the trustee seats were up for election because of resignations since the district’s last election, in September 2020. Members appointed after resignations must run for their seats in the next election and, if elected, serve out the remainder of that term.
Wagers said the results showed the community supports what the board has done.
“But we learn as we go along too and that’s one thing I’ve learned from this election, is we’re never doing everything perfectly,” he told the Statesman. “And we always can be better.”
Incumbents leading against challengers
In all but one race, the incumbents defeated their opponents.
In the second race, a four-year term, Andy Hawes received 70.4% of the votes. In a third race for a two-year term, Elizabeth Langley received 60.3% support.
Hawes, an incumbent who was appointed to the board last year, said the race highlighted issues he thinks the board could work on, including explaining the “whys and hows” of board decisions.
His priority for his next term, he said, would be to increase engagement with the district’s stakeholders — including students.
In the final race, another two-year term, Rajbhandari challenged incumbent Steve Schmidt and won, with 56.4% of the votes.
Rajbhandari said the election results showed the community supports having a student voice on the board, and that student representation matters.
“It really does speak volumes about the power of the student voice and the student vote,” he told the Statesman. “Win or lose, we’ve really made a big difference for the Boise School District and for what student representation means in Boise and in Idaho.”
Schmidt said he appreciated the chance to be a part of the board, and felt welcomed and respected by trustees and the administration, even when he had different viewpoints and asked questions.
“I hope that we continue to have that kind of stability and healthy discussion around disagreeing ideas,” he said, “and we don’t digress into some kind of extremist chaos.”
Schmidt said Rajbhandari struck him as an “energized, enthusiastic and motivated individual” from the beginning of the campaign cycle. But he said the Boise student will also need to realize the board isn’t a “platform for activism.”
“This is a platform for understanding big issues and how they affect everybody regardless of your own personal opinions,” he said.
Boise school board election sees higher turnout
Boise school board elections traditionally see low turnouts, likely in part because they don’t coincide with more high-profile races, such as presidential and gubernatorial elections. That’s because the district’s charter, established in 1881, states the district should conduct trustee elections “biennially on the first Tuesday of September in the even-numbered years.”
But more voters cast their ballots this time. In 2020, the district counted 7,722 ballots, for a turnout of about 6.2%. This year’s election significantly exceeded that — the district counted nearly 20,000 ballots.
Wagers said the increase in engagement shows the voters value public schools.
“It’s really impressive, that kind of turnout on an off-election, after Labor Day. People still care,” he said. “And I think Boise came out to show that they care about their public schools.”
A total of 13 candidates ran for the five open seats. The election comes as school districts across the state deal with impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggle to retain and attract teachers and face controversy over curricula and library books.
Oppenheimer said the number of candidates reflected the interest people have in the district.
“More people are paying attention to what’s happening in our schools and what’s not happening in our schools, and I really do appreciate all the candidates that have come out,” she said.
Results
Race No. 1 (vote for two)
Krista Hasler: 11.4%, 4,230 votes
Beth Oppenheimer: 41.4%, 15,430 votes
Dave Wagers: 37.3%, 13,905 votes
Greg Woodard: 9.9%, 3,671 votes
Race No. 2
Andy Hawes: 70.4%, 13,569 votes
Neil Mercer: 17.5%, 3,367 votes
Matthew Shapiro: 12.1%, 2,340 votes
Race No. 3
Nate Dean: 15.5%, 2,918 votes
Dawn King: 9.7%, 1,834 votes
Todd Kurowski: 14.5%, 2,745 votes
Elizabeth Langley: 60.3%, 11,393 votes
Race No. 4
Shiva Rajbhandari: 56.4%, 10,944 votes
Steve Schmidt: 43.6%, 8,461 votes
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 8:21 PM.
