Officially, the Wake County School Board is a nonpartisan body. In practice, its nine elected members often vote along partisan lines: the seven Democrats consistently support measures advancing equity and non-discrimination policies in schools, and the two Republicans regularly try to block those measures.
This November, five seats on the school board are up for election, including four that Democrats occupy currently. The Wake County Republican Party has seized an opportunity to gain a stronger foothold on the board and mounted a slate of candidates who, in many cases, espouse book bans and “parents’ rights” and align themselves with Michele Morrow, the far-right candidate for state superintendent of public instruction (and former Wake school board candidate) who promotes conspiracy theories and political violence.
Every school board race but one features a Wake Democrats- and North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE)-endorsed candidate running against a Wake Republicans- and Carolina Teachers Alliance (CTA)-endorsed opponent. The NCAE is the state public school employees’ union. The CTA bills itself as the conservative alternative to the NCAE: “Our teachers need to have the freedom to teach patriotism and love of country, and should not be forced to deliver biased political indoctrination,” the CTA website declares.
The candidates generally agree on the basics: North Carolina should pay teachers more, help students rebound from pandemic-era learning loss, and improve school safety. Points of disagreement include federal Title IX protections, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the Parents’ Bill of Rights—a controversial piece of legislation that critics say discriminates against LGBTQ students and makes it harder for teachers to do their jobs.
Adding to the stakes of this election, the next school board may get the chance to appoint a new member to replace District 4 representative Monika Johnson-Hostler, who is running for NC House District 33. Johnston-Hostler is one of the board’s liberal members and is favored to win her statewide race.
Here’s who’s running for school board this year and where they stand on the issues.
District 3
In District 3, incumbent Wing Ng, a Republican, is facing a challenge from Jordyne Blaise.
Ng is a physician who was first elected in 2022. His campaign website advocates for “curriculum transparency,” “parental engagement,” and school safety, among other topics. But the mild language belies more extreme views.
In July, Ng voted against bringing the school system into compliance with the Department of Education’s updated Title IX policy—which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools—because it expands protections for LGBTQ students. Ng criticized language in the policy that protects students’ rights to “[participate] in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity” and said he opposed allowing trans students to play women’s sports at school.
Ng also tried to block Wake schools from applying for a “We Need Diverse Books” grant, arguing it could violate the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
The Wake County Republican Party and the conservative Carolina Teachers Alliance have both endorsed Ng. Last election cycle, the local chapter of Moms for Liberty—which promotes “parents’ rights” and banning books that discuss gender identity from schools, and opposes Title IX protections for LGBTQ students—endorsed Ng as well. Ng has campaigned with Mark Robinson and Michele Morrow and donated to Robinson’s campaign.
Jordyne Blaise, Ng’s opponent, is a leadership consultant with a background in education and law. She worked as an English teacher in Florida before attending Georgetown Law and working as legislative counsel to Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser. Blaise moved from D.C. to Raleigh to work for NC State University as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator and Equity Compliance Officer, then launched her consulting business.
Blaise lists educational equity, competitive teacher and staff pay, efficient budgeting, and inclusivity in schools as her top priorities on her campaign website. The Wake Democrats and the Wake chapter of the NCAE have both endorsed her.
District 3 has the potential to be a tight race, considering its mix of urban and rural voters spanning from North Raleigh up through Wake Forest to the top of Wake County. Per Ballotpedia, just a handful of percentage points decided the past two competitive elections in 2018 and 2022.
District 4
Incumbent Toshiba Rice was appointed to the District 4 seat by her school board colleagues in February after her predecessor, Tara Waters, left to join the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Rice is CEO of a wellness consulting firm in Raleigh and executive director of Track My Steps, a statewide education nonprofit dedicated to closing economic and racial achievement gaps. In her short stint on the school board, she’s voted in favor of Title IX updates and against renewing the school system’s contract with its school resource officers (SROs), citing their unequal treatment of Black and brown students. She received endorsements from the Wake Democrats and the Wake NCAE.
The Republican-endorsed candidate, Roberto Morales Vergara, dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Rice. That leaves two other challengers: Sean Callan and Michael T. Williams. Neither has a campaign website or robust online presence.
Callan is a Research and Policy Associate with the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. Williams is an education consultant and former teacher and guidance counselor who ran for the seat in 2022 and has the conservative Carolina Teachers Alliance’s endorsement.
District 4 spans from Southeast Raleigh to Knightdale.
District 5
In District 5, incumbent Lynn Edmonds is running against Ted Hills.
Edmonds, endorsed by the Wake Democrats and the Wake NCAE, took office in 2022. Her involvement with the school system dates back to 2002, as a PTA volunteer, while her two children were enrolled in Wake public schools. Edmonds eventually became a PTA president, served on the Board Advisory Council for school districts 4 and 5, and founded Great Schools in Wake, a public education advocacy organization.
In her two years on the school board, Edmonds has supported Title IX updates and advocated for the general assembly to fully fund the Leandro Plan, a plan to direct more state dollars to public education to meet students’ basic educational needs.
Ted Hills, Edmonds’s opponent, is an IT professional and the Wake Republicans’ choice for District 5. According to reporting from the News and Observer, Hills decided to join the race after receiving an email from Michele Morrow saying there was no conservative candidate challenging Edmonds. In August, he told a gathering of members of the Western Wake Republican Club that he’s running to oppose the current (federal) Title IX rules protecting gender identity. His campaign website says the school board has focused on “everything but academics,” this term, which “has to change.”
District 5 covers west Raleigh and Holly Springs. Edmonds won by a wide margin in 2022.
District 6
In District 6, which covers northern Raleigh, incumbent Sam Hershey is facing a challenge from Josh Points.
Before he was elected in 2022, Hershey spent 19 years volunteering and working in the Wake County Public School System as an athletics coach, PTA member, and a Board Advisory Council representative for Douglas Elementary, where his son is enrolled. Since joining the school board, Hershey has supported Title IX changes, secured funding for renovations to several District 6 schools, and advocated for pay raises for teachers, staff, and crossing guards, according to his website. The Wake Democrats and the Wake NCAE have both endorsed him.
Points, the Wake Republicans and CTA-endorsed challenger, is a commercial real estate broker based in Raleigh. On his campaign website, he says he wants to improve student outcomes, reform special education, and “reduce educational bureaucracy.” He also alludes to the Moms for Liberty-championed “parents’ rights” movement and suggests linking teacher pay raises to student proficiency.
District 8
Four-term District 8 representative Lindsay Mahaffey is campaigning for re-election against Elizabeth McDuffie, the favored candidate of the Wake GOP and the CTA. The district covers parts of Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina.
Mahaffey is a former teacher whose three children attend Wake County public schools. She’s running on her personal experience as an educator and parent and on her record of adding eight new schools in her district, raising minimum staff pay across the school system, and restoring Master’s degree pay raises during her school board tenure. Mahaffey is endorsed by the Wake Democrats and the Wake NCAE, and received Moms Demand Action’s Gun Sense Candidate Distinction for her commitment to gun violence prevention.
McDuffie is a realtor and former teacher with 20 years of classroom experience, including 10 in Wake County Public Schools. According to her campaign site, she wants to raise teacher salaries, address learning loss, and generally support students’ academic success. Unlike some of the other GOP-endorsed candidates in this race, her online presence contains no mention of “parents’ rights” or “gender ideology.” Still, McDuffie has participated in the county Republican Party’s campaign events alongside the other GOP school board candidates and hard-right statewide candidates, including Michele Morrow.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
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