To run for school board in Ohio in 2027, you file a nominating petition with your county board of elections by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2027, and pay a $30 filing fee. The petition needs signatures from voters of your school district: 25 in a local or exempted village district, and from 25 to 300 in a city school district, depending on its population. School board races are nonpartisan, so no party label appears next to your name on the November 2, 2027 ballot.
A few large districts work differently. Franklin County's 2027 schedule, for example, shows Columbus City School District candidates filing by Wednesday, February 3, 2027, with a nonpartisan primary if enough candidates file. This guide covers the usual case first and then the exceptions. For every other local office, see our guide to running for local office in Ohio.
Step 1: Know your district type
Ohio has three kinds of school districts that elect boards, and the type sets the board's size and your signature number:
- Local school districts and exempted village school districts have five-member boards, elected at large (by voters of the whole district).
- City school districts have boards whose size depends on population. A district under 50,000 people has 3 to 5 members elected at large. A district of 50,000 to under 150,000 has 2 to 7 members at large and up to 2 elected from subdistricts. A district of 150,000 or more has 5 to 7 members at large.
The name of your district usually tells you its type, as in "Canal Winchester Local School District" or "Bexley City School District." If you are unsure, your board of elections' 2027 schedule lists it.
Educational service centers (ESCs), the regional agencies that serve groups of school districts, also have elected five-member governing boards. ESC candidates file in the county where the ESC's central office is located and need 50 signatures.
Step 2: Check that you qualify
School board members must be electors (voters qualified to vote) who live in the district. A member elected from a city school subdistrict must live in that subdistrict. Board members must keep living in the district, or subdistrict, for the whole term, or they forfeit the office.
When you sign the statement of candidacy at the top of your petition, you declare under penalty of election falsification that you are an elector qualified to vote for the office. You cannot file for school board and for a municipal or township office at the same election. If you have any doubt about your eligibility, ask your county board of elections before you begin.
How many seats are open
School board terms are four years, beginning on January 1 after the election, so the winners in 2027 take office on Saturday, January 1, 2028. Seats are staggered, so only part of the board is elected in 2027. In city school districts, state law puts about half the seats on the ballot in the year before a presidential election year, which includes 2027, and the rest two years later. Your board of elections' schedule shows how many seats are open in your district. Franklin County's 2027 schedule, for example, lists two seats each in the Bexley City and Canal Winchester Local school districts.
Step 3: Know your signature number
| District | Minimum signatures | Maximum (three times) |
|---|---|---|
| Local or exempted village school district | 25 | 75 |
| City school district under 20,000 people | 25 | 75 |
| City school district of 20,000 to 49,999 | 75 | 225 |
| City school district of 50,000 to 99,999 | 150 | 450 |
| City school district of 100,000 or more | 300 | 900 |
| ESC governing board | 50 | 150 |
Signers must be qualified voters of the district. A petition with more than the maximum is refused, so plan to collect a margin above your minimum without going far beyond it.
Examples from the Franklin County 2027 schedules: the Dublin City School District needs 150 to 450 signatures, Gahanna-Jefferson City and Reynoldsburg City need 75 to 225, local districts need 25 to 75, and the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio needs 50 to 150. Columbus City School District candidates need 300 to 900. These are examples only, and your number comes from your own board.
Signatures must be affixed in ink, with each signer's date and voting address. The circulator (the person who collects the signatures, which may be you) signs a statement on each paper saying they witnessed every signature. For a full walkthrough of the form, see the Ohio nominating petition guide on Beacon, our canvassing app's site.
Step 4: File by August 4
File your petition and signed statement of candidacy with your county board of elections by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2027. If your district covers more than one county, file with the board of the county that holds the major portion of the district's population. Pay the $30 fee at filing ($10 filing fee plus a $20 Ohio Election Integrity Commission fee). It is not refunded.
Write-in candidates file a declaration of intent by 4 p.m. on Monday, August 23, 2027.
If your district holds a primary. A few districts nominate at a nonpartisan primary. In Franklin County, Columbus City School District candidates file by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 3, 2027. The schedule notes that a primary is held only if more than twice as many candidates file as there are open seats; otherwise, every candidate goes on to November. Ask your board whether anything like this applies to your district.
Our Ohio 2027 local election calendar lists every date in order.
Step 5: Run a school board campaign
In an odd-numbered year, the November ballot is made up mostly of local offices and issues, so a small number of committed supporters can make a real difference in a school board race. A few habits help:
- Learn the district's budget and its recent decisions before you knock on doors. Voters will ask about them.
- Go where parents and residents already are, such as school events, youth sports and community meetings, and follow any rules the district sets about campaigning on school property.
- Remember that many voters have no children in school. Talk about how the district's decisions affect the whole community, including property owners and employers.
- Plan for early voting. The Franklin County schedule shows voter registration closing at 9 p.m. on Monday, October 4, 2027 and early voting opening on Tuesday, October 5, 2027.
Step 6: Text parents and residents who asked to hear from you
How a new number gets approved
- Open your account100 free SMS included
- Buy your number$5 a month. Nothing sends until the account has one.
- Verify your campaignCampaign Verify, $95 per two-year cycle. Needs your committee's EIN and filing.
- We file the registrationToll-free verification, or 10DLC for a local number ($75 one time)
- The carriers review itAbout three business days for a toll-free number
- Send your first textStart with a small test group
Many school board supporters are busy parents, and a short text is a practical way to remind them of a date or ask for help. A school directory, a parent group's contact list or a sports team roster is not permission to text anyone. Only text people who agreed, in writing, to receive texts from your campaign, and record the date. A petition signature is not that agreement either.
Set up the texting side of your campaign in CampaignCNX+:
- Confirm your committee's filing is online. Campaign Verify, the check that confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that you are a real campaign, needs an EIN (your committee's federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Ask your county board of elections whether your committee's filing can be viewed online, and ask Campaign Verify Support how to proceed if it cannot. Campaign Verify decides eligibility. A request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 lasts until Wednesday, January 31, 2029.
- Open your account. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration and your Campaign Verify token, which you buy from Campaign Verify for $95. 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month.
- Group supporters by where you met them, such as a school open house or a neighborhood, using tags, and record each person's permission date in a custom field.
- Set up a short drip sequence for new sign-ups. A drip sequence is a series of texts sent on a schedule. For example, a welcome text on the day someone signs up, and a second text a week later asking whether they would like a yard sign:
Thanks for signing up with [Name] for School Board. I'll send a few updates before the Nov 2 election. Reply STOP to opt out.
[Name] for School Board: would you like a yard sign? Reply SIGN with your street address and we'll bring one by.
- Respect quiet hours. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in each recipient's time zone. Opt-outs are handled automatically, and replies such as yard sign requests arrive in the shared inbox, an add-on at $12.49 a month that is included on the Enterprise plan.
More wording for each stage of a race is in our campaign text templates for local races, and our page on texting for Midwest campaigns explains the setup.
Get your filing and your texting ready
Find your district on your county board of elections' 2027 schedule, confirm your signature number, and start collecting signatures well before August 4. When your committee is in place, start a CampaignCNX+ trial so your supporters hear from you before early voting opens.
