School Board

School Board Campaign Plan: 12 Weeks to April 6, 2027

If you filed for school board in November, the 12 weeks from Monday, January 11, 2027 to Election Day on Tuesday, April 6 are where your race is decided. A workable plan spends January getting organized and walking your likeliest voters, February on forums and the run-up to early voting (which opens February 25), and March on second visits, supporter follow-up and making sure everyone who likes you actually votes.

Below is that plan week by week, anchored on the dates in the ISBE 2027 Election and Campaign Finance Calendar. Adjust it to your district's size and your volunteers' time, and confirm any date that affects you with your county clerk. For the full picture of a school board race, start with our school board campaign guide.

Before week 1: November and December

The plan assumes you have already done the petition work:

• November 16 to 23, 2026: you filed with the county clerk (or county board of election commissioners) of the county where the district's principal office is, with your Statement of Economic Interests receipt in by November 23.
• December 1 or 2, 2026: the objection deadline passed. If someone objected, the County Officers Electoral Board handled it.
• December: a good month to rest a little and set up. Decide whether your campaign will form a committee (see week 1), make a list of everyone who offered to help while you circulated, and draft the two or three sentences that explain why you are running.

If you have not filed yet, the window is November 16 to 23, 2026, and the school board campaign guide covers everything before it.

Week 1 (January 11): Set up the campaign

• Write your message. One paragraph: who you are, why you are running, and the one or two things you want the board to do. Every volunteer should be able to say it in their own words.
• Settle the money question. If you raise or spend more than $5,000 in any 12-month period, counting your own contributions and loans and in-kind help, you generally must file a Statement of Organization (Form D-1) with ISBE within 10 business days of crossing it. A committee can register sooner, but once registered it must file every required report until it files a final report. If you already have a committee, note that quarterly reports are due January 15.
• Recruit volunteers. Call the people who offered to help in the fall. Ask for specific shifts, not general support.

Cut your district into turfs. In Beacon, import your district's voter list from a CSV (name, address and precinct columns map automatically) so the households appear on the map, then use territory management to divide the district into turfs one volunteer can walk in a two-hour shift. Assign each turf to a specific volunteer, and reassign it if someone drops out. Set up a short survey: "Do you have children in district schools?", "What is the one thing you want the board to work on?" and a support question. Route optimization will put each turf's doors in walking order, and offline mode means volunteers can keep going on streets with poor signal. Because every plan includes unlimited canvassers, you can add every volunteer you recruit without changing plans.

Week 2 (January 18): Start with your likeliest voters

Begin knocking. Start with the households most likely to vote in an April election: if the voter records you obtained show past participation, the people who voted in earlier April local elections come first. Our explainer on who votes in school board elections covers how to set that order.

As an example only: a candidate with six volunteers each walking two 2-hour shifts a week, at about 20 doors an hour, reaches roughly 480 doors a week. Your pace will differ. Track your own numbers after the first weekend and plan from those.

Week 3 (January 25): Ballot certified

• January 28, 2027: the ballot is certified. Ask your county clerk for a sample ballot when one is available, so you know exactly how your name appears and who else is running.
• Keep walking. Read your door notes at the end of the week. What are people asking about? That list becomes your forum preparation.

Week 4 (February 1): Know the field

• February 4, 2027: the deadline to file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for the April 6 election. Ask your county clerk after that date whether any write-in candidates filed, so you know the whole field.
• Finish your literature: one page, your photo, your paragraph, how to reach you. Leave it at doors where nobody answers.
• Keep walking.

Week 5 (February 8): Prepare for forums

Many districts hold candidate forums hosted by parent groups, civic organizations or local media. Find out the dates now.

• Learn the district's budget basics and the board's recent decisions.
• Write a 60-second introduction and practice it out loud.
• Prepare short answers on the topics your door notes say voters care about most.

Preparing for a school board candidate forum has a full checklist.

Week 6 (February 15): Forums and doors

• Attend forums. Bring a sign-up sheet for people who want to volunteer or hear from you, with a plainly worded line if you plan to text them and a column for the date.
• Keep walking between forums. A forum reaches a room; doors reach the people who were not in it.

Week 7 (February 22): Early voting opens

• February 25, 2027: early voting opens in most places (March 12 where a February primary ran; check with your county clerk).
• Tell supporters you have met that early voting is open and where. Export your door results to CSV and the voters who rated you a 4 or 5 become your reminder list.
• Keep walking new turf while early voting runs.

Week 8 (March 1): Second pass on not-home doors

Pull the list of doors marked "not home" and "come back later" in your likeliest-voter turfs, and send volunteers back at a different time of day. A weekday evening reaches people a Saturday morning missed. Doors where nobody answered are often where your next supporters are.

Week 9 (March 8): The last 30 days

• From March 7, 2027: you are inside 30 days of the election. If you have a committee, contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported on a Schedule A-1 within 2 business days during this period (instead of 5). If you cross the $5,000 threshold in these 30 days, the D-1 is due within 2 business days.
• March 12, 2027: early voting opens in jurisdictions where a February primary ran.
• Keep walking. Check which turfs still have untouched doors.

Week 10 (March 15): Follow up with supporters

• Call or visit supporters who said they would help with a yard sign, a house gathering or a shift.
• Ask each supporter to talk to two neighbors. On a nonpartisan ballot, word of mouth carries real weight.
• Answer the questions people raised at forums in a short note or post.

Week 11 (March 22): Last full walking weekend

• Make this your biggest weekend of doors. Every volunteer, every turf.
• Focus on supporters and undecided voters who have not voted early yet, if your records show it.
• Confirm Election Day volunteers: who can greet voters, who can make reminder calls.

Week 12 and Election Day (March 29 to April 6)

• Remind supporters of Election Day, Tuesday, April 6, and where to find their polling place on their county clerk's website.
• Stay visible and polite. Thank everyone, including the other candidates.
• April 6, 2027: Election Day. Have a plan for the evening, win or lose, that starts with thanking your volunteers.

If you win, the term begins within 40 days after the election.

Walk the plan, not just the calendar

A plan only works if you can see where you are in it. Beacon shows every turf on a map with per-territory counts of doors contacted, so you know by Friday whether you are ahead or behind for the week. Start your 14-day Beacon trial and set up week 1 before January 11.