Kentucky School Advocate

August 2024

By Brenna R. Kelly

Staff writer

This fall, when Kentuckians go to the polls to vote for president, they will also make their pick for another consequential office – school board member. 

Just over half of the school board seats will be on the ballot this year – the election cycle that typically includes three seats in county districts and two seats in independent districts. 

In many counties, voters will see familiar names on the ballot. This year, 83% of incumbents filed to keep their seats on the board. That is slightly more than the percentage of incumbents who filed in 2020, the last similar election cycle. (The election filing information KSBA analyzed comes from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office, local school district officials and from several county clerks.) 

This year voters will have more options than in the 2020 election. In that year, only 160 new candidates filed for school board. Candidates in 2020 faced several hurdles including COVID-19 closures and, for the first time in that election cycle, candidates were required to produce their high school transcripts. 

Four years later, most candidates are aware of the transcript requirement and county clerk’s offices are open. This year the number of new candidates seeking a seat increased 43% over 2020 with 229 new candidates on the ballot. With 617 people running for 467 board seats, 27% of incumbents will face a challenger on the ballot; in 2020, only 16% of incumbents were challenged. 

In 2020, the lack of challengers to incumbent board members meant that even before the election 48% of school boards – 82 boards – would have no change in members. This year, with more challengers on the ballot, the number of boards unchanged before the election has fallen to 67 boards, including 42 county boards and 25 independent boards. 

Boards remain unchanged if all incumbents file for reelection and no one files to run against the incumbents. In the 2022 election, when two county seats and three independent seats were on the ballot, there were 54 boards unchanged before the election. 

In some communities, school board seats garner a lot of interest while in others no one files to serve on the board. Interest can also vary within a county – one seat on a board may have many candidates and other seats have none. 

Grayson County and Grant County tied for the most candidates in county districts. All three Grayson County incumbents filed for reelection and all have challengers for a total of 10 board candidates. Incumbent Alfreda Weedman faces three challengers. Incumbents Carolyn Thompson and Valeria Hayes each face two challengers.

Grant County also has the seat with the most candidates. Incumbent Charlotte Schmidt will face four challengers. For the other seats on that board, incumbent Debbie Rogers faces two challengers and incumbent Lisa Smith faces one challenger. 

In Fayette County, the state’s second largest school district, all three board seats are contended. Jason Moore, who was appointed to the board in December 2023, did not file to keep his seat and there are four candidates seeking to replace him. Incumbents Marilyn Clark and Amy Green each have one challenger. 

Independents districts, where school board candidates run at-large, also had several boards with high interest. 

Ashland and Covington independents each have three seats up for election this fall. In both districts, three incumbents and three challengers filed. In Beechwood Independent, neither incumbent filed for reelection, including longtime board member Melanie Stricker. There are five candidates vying for the two open seats. 

Elizabethtown Independent has five candidates for two seats, including incumbents Wade Barnes and Heather Sharpensteen. Raceland-Worthington Independent also has five candidates for two seats, with incumbents Jerry Epling and Brad Fairchild on the ballot.

When the June 4 deadline passed, there were 13 school board seats with no candidates. 

This year, those seats could be filled by write-in candidates thanks to a recent change in state law. House Bill 580, passed by the 2024 General Assembly, allows for candidates to file as a write-in if no one files for the seat. Previously, if no one filed, there was no election on the ballot and therefore no write-in candidates. The deadline to file as a write-in candidate is Oct. 25. 

If no one declares intent to be a write-in candidate, then the seat will be vacant on Jan. 1 and the board would then have 60 days to appoint a new member. 

Two boards – Jenkins and Fulton independents – had no one file for seats, leaving two open seats in each district. Science Hill Independent has one open seat. In county districts, there is one open seat each in Barren, LaRue, Laurel, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Shelby, Simpson and Trimble counties. 

At least one former superintendent is running for a school board seat. Former Anderson County superintendent Sonny Fentress, who was appointed to the Anderson County board in June, filed to run for a four-year term on the board. Fentress, who served as Anderson’s superintendent for 20 years, will face Dustin Burley in the election. In addition to serving as Anderson County superintendent, Fentress has served as interim superintendent in at least 13 Kentucky school districts since his 2005 retirement. 

In Woodford County, former longtime school board member Ambrose Wilson will be returning to the board. Wilson, who served 28 years on the board before choosing not to run in 2020, is unopposed in the election. 

Another former board member may be returning as former Corbin Independent board chair Kim Croley has filed to regain a seat on the board. Croley served 16 years on the board before losing her seat in the 2022 election.

None of the three incumbents filed to return, and Croley is one of five people seeking those three seats. 

The current longest serving board member in the state will continue his streak. Daviess County board member Frank Riney III filed to keep the seat he has held for 48 years. 

In Hancock County, board chairman David Emmick, who has served on the board for 20 years, did not file to retain his seat, but his daughter Mary Beth Emmick Morris is seeking to replace him. She faces Charles Todd Duncan in the election. 

In another family connection, Jackson County board member Eddy Neely could end up serving on the board with his brother. Incumbent Eddy Neely, who has served on the board for 15 years, is running for reelection, though he does face one challenger. Neely’s brother Stanley Neely is running unopposed for the seat currently held by Veronica Hisel who did not run for reelection. 

Even though the filing deadline was June 4, there’s still a chance to file for some board seats. Thanks to a change in state law, the filing deadline for seats that are on the ballot to fill unexpired terms was extended to Aug. 13 (See KSBA Answers page 26). An unexpired term is a term that would not typically be up for election this year but has been filled by an appointment following a vacancy. 

Under state law, unexpired terms for school board “with one year or more on August 1 after the vacancy occurs shall be filled for the unexpired term by an election to be held at the next regular election after the vacancy occurs.” 

This year there are at least 14 unexpired terms on the ballot, including 11 county seats and three independent district seats.