The Solon Economist reported about the Nov. 7 city and school board elections in its Aug. 31 edition. The article didn’t say much. In particular, the author did not say whether the incumbents were running for re-election.
Local newspapers are under financial stress, yet we rely upon them for coverage of local elections. At the end of the article, the unnamed author informed readers, “Once ballots are finalized with the County Auditor’s office, the Solon Economist will reach out to all of the candidates.” There is a certain economy in covering elections this way. After reading that sentence I immediately felt I wanted to know more.
I reached out to Adam Haluska and Jami Wolf on the school board and both confirmed they were running for re-election. Wolf told me both had filed their paperwork. I covered the six-way race in 2019. That was a defining election that set a direction for the school board. Haluska and Wolf won by a distance and it would take an extraordinary candidate to beat them this year.
The filing period for school board candidates closes at 5 p.m. on Sept. 21. In my reading of the local electorate, if someone else were filing, I’d have heard of it by now. I don’t expect anyone else to file. If that expectation holds, the election will become a low-turnout rubber stamp on continuing with Haluska and Wolf. That would not be bad.
Given the propensity of the Iowa Legislature to overreach and attempt to control school boards with half-baked schemes, the experience gained by these school board members will hopefully make the coming four years less turbulent. There were good alternatives to them in 2019, and the voters made their intent clear.
Friday I spent an hour with Jami Wolf at a coffee shop in Solon. Two things are of note.
She doesn’t see much budgetary impact of Governor Reynolds new voucher program. Solon has closed enrollment and people who want to move their kids have already done so. She said there are not many, if any, private schools in the Solon area where vouchers would do some good. We didn’t discuss home schoolers, but as with people who move kids to other districts, people who want to home school already were before vouchers. She believes the impact of vouchers will be more dominant in larger school districts in urban areas.
No book banning issue has come before the school board. Wolf agreed with me that processes were in place to keep inappropriate material out of some student hands before the legislature got involved. She said there was a lack of specific guidance about how the state law pertaining to reading and curriculum restrictions should be implemented. She emphasized that how those restrictions are interpreted will likely be the key dynamic. Right now, there is no dominant interpretation, that is, everyone has an opinion. We talked about litigating the book ban law and she would prefer to let other districts litigate flaws in the new state law than the Solon District. If the issue has not come to the board, it is likely not an issue here, at least until someone makes it one, or more specific guidance comes from the state.
Since I covered Haluska and Wolf in 2019, I don’t plan to write much about the 2023 election unless someone else files by the deadline. We should know the field by the beginning of autumn on Sept. 23.
UPDATE (Sept. 23, 2023): The filing period closed on Sept. 21 and Adam Haluska and Jami Wolf were the only two candidates who filed. Other than voting, that’s it for me for this election cycle.
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