It’s still relatively early in the school board campaign season, but the shape of the 2025 school board race in Academy District 20 is already coming into focus. Six D20 candidates have filed to run for three open seats.
That’s not just a race. It’s already a crossroads.
Among those who have stepped forward are three candidates offering new energy and grounded perspectives. Fresh voices from within the community. Parents. Volunteers. Professionals with a shared commitment to strengthening public education, not politicizing it. They’re not insiders, and they’re not backed by national platforms. But they are grounded here, where it counts.
Those three candidates, Brandon Clark, Renée Ludlam, and Jennafer Stites, reflect a wide range of lived experience in District 20. While their individual paths vary, they share common values: support for strong public schools, respect for educators, and a focus on students over slogans.
There are also three other D20 candidates whose platforms reflect a very different vision, one increasingly familiar in school board races nationally. These candidates often campaign under banners like “transparency” or “parental rights,” but frequently align with far-right political networks that have pushed for book bans, classroom censorship, and broad distrust in public education.
Districts that have gone down this path have seen real consequences: policy gridlock, staff departures, and expensive legal fights, costs that fall on students and taxpayers alike.
It’s a stark contrast. And while all candidates must still complete the process to appear on the ballot, the shape of the decision is already clear.
In moments like this, more isn’t always better. A crowded field may seem democratic, but it can carry unintended consequences, especially when overlapping candidates divide community support and create openings for more extreme agendas to prevail.
That’s why this year feels different. The choices are already here. The paths are already clear. And the moment to pay attention isn’t 100 days from now. It’s right now.
Academy District 20 has a chance to choose stability over spectacle, stewardship over slogans. Let’s not miss it.