Voter guide 2026: Meet the 15 candidates vying for 5 seats on the Indianapolis Public Schools board
This article was co-published by Chalkbeat Indiana and WFYI as part of a collaboration ahead of the 2026 school board elections. The majority of seats on the Indianapolis Public Schools Board of School Commissioners are on the…
The 2026 Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) Board of School Commissioners elections will take place on November 3, with 15 candidates vying for five seats. The election features partisan candidates for the first time, leading to one candidate being removed from the ballot. All five incumbents are seeking re-election, while three seats are regularly scheduled and two are due to earlier resignations. The District 2 and District 4 seats were filled with appointed members until this election.
The IPS school board oversees district policies, goal setting, financial decisions, and hires the superintendent. The newly established Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC) manages school buildings, transportation, and ballot measures for IPS and charter schools in the city. The district's finances are projected to require around $20 million in cuts even if the tax measure passes.
Candidates for the five seats are largely Democrats, marking a stark contrast to the rest of central Indiana and the state. Voting options include voting for the at-large seat, which requires living in IPS boundaries, and voting for district seats, requiring residency in the specific district. The most competitive races involve four candidates for District 3 and the at-large seat, three candidates for District 5, and two for District 2.
District 4 has one candidate and a write-in candidate who is challenging their ballot removal in court.
Written by urgent.news from Chalkbeat's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
