School Board

School Board Candidate Filing Checklist for Illinois (2027)

By Beacon Team October 3, 2026

Part of a guide This article is part of Running for School Board in Illinois: A 2027 Campaign Guide, our full treatment of school board campaigns in Illinois.

To file for school board in Illinois for the April 6, 2027 election, you need a notarized Statement of Candidacy (SBE Form P-1A), your petition sheets (SBE Form P-7 or P-7A) with at least 50 valid signatures or 10% of the district's voters, whichever is less, and the receipt for your Statement of Economic Interests. You file them between November 16 and 23, 2026 with the county clerk, or county board of election commissioners, of the county where the school district's principal office is located.

Print this page and work down it. Each item comes from the ISBE 2027 Candidate's Guide and Calendar or the School Code; ISBE's materials are not legal advice, so confirm anything specific to your district with your county clerk. For the full campaign, see our school board campaign guide.

Before you print anything

☐ On April 6, 2027 I will be a U.S. citizen, 18 or older, and a registered voter.
☐ I will have lived in Illinois and in the school district for the full year before April 6, 2027.
☐ I am not a school trustee and not a child sex offender.
☐ I know I am running nonpartisan: no party label, and no independent filing.
☐ I have checked my county clerk's list of offices: how many seats are open, and whether my board elects at large or by district.
☐ I know which county my district's principal office is in. That is where I file.
☐ I have decided exactly how my name will appear, with no titles, degrees or slogans.

Forms

☐ Petition sheets: SBE Form P-7 (at-large) or P-7A (district).
☐ Statement of Candidacy: SBE Form P-1A (nonpartisan).
☐ Loyalty Oath: optional. Decide whether to file it. If I do, my name matches.
☐ Statement of Economic Interests form, from the county clerk.
☐ Certificate of deletions (SBE Form P-2A), on hand in case any signature needs to be struck.

Petition sheet setup

☐ Heading filled in on every sheet BEFORE circulating: election, my name, office, my residence.
☐ Heading worded identically on every sheet.
☐ My name matches my Statement of Candidacy exactly.
☐ Blank forms copied all at one uniform size.
☐ Each circulator has their own sheets.

Signature target

☐ Exact minimum confirmed with my county clerk: ______
☐ Target set above the minimum (many campaigns aim for 1.5 to 2 times as common practice): ______
☐ Circulators know a voter may sign only as many petitions as there are seats to be elected.

Circulators

☐ Every circulator is a U.S. citizen, 18 or older (or 18 by the election).
☐ Every circulator knows they must personally witness every signature on their sheet.
☐ One circulator per sheet. No handing sheets off.
☐ Circulators know signers must sign personally (no signing for a spouse) and write the address where they are registered.
☐ Sign in ink. Dark pen.
☐ No sheet circulated more than 90 days before November 23, 2026 (that is, before August 25, 2026).

Walking the district for signatures

☐ District boundary confirmed before cutting turf.
☐ Walk list of registered voter households built and divided into turfs.
☐ Turfs assigned to named circulators.
☐ Door results recorded, with not-home doors scheduled for a second visit.
☐ Sheets checked as they come in, while doors can still be revisited.

Build and route your walk list in Beacon. Import your district's voter list from a CSV (name, address and precinct columns map automatically) and Beacon puts the households on a map. Use territory management to split the district into turfs, assign each to a specific circulator, and let route optimization put the doors in walking order. At each door the circulator records the result (contacted, not home, come back later and more), per-territory counts show how much of each turf is done, and a survey question such as "signed: yes/no" records who signed. Offline mode keeps working on weak-signal streets and syncs later. The paper petition remains the legal record of each signature; Beacon keeps track of the doors. Unlimited canvassers are included on every plan. See our political campaigns page.

Cleaning up the sheets

☐ Every line reviewed for an address inside the district.
☐ Any line to be removed struck only by the circulator or me, initialed at the strike.
☐ Certificate of deletions completed with page and line for each strike.
☐ No photocopies of signed sheets. Originals only.

Notary

☐ Notary booked before filing week (ISBE staff will not notarize during filing periods).
☐ Every circulator's statement complete: address, dates circulated (or first and last dates, or the 90-day certification), signature.
☐ Every circulator's statement sworn before the notary.
☐ My Statement of Candidacy signed and notarized.

Statement of Economic Interests

☐ SEI filed with the county clerk of the county where the district's principal office is.
☐ Receipt in hand.
☐ Receipt filed with my packet, or by 5:00 p.m. (or close of business) on November 23, 2026 at the latest.

Assembling the packet

☐ Statement of Candidacy at the front.
☐ Petition sheets numbered consecutively, starting with 1 on the top sheet.
☐ Sheets fastened in book form at one edge. Not paperclips, not a clipboard.
☐ SEI receipt included.
☐ Certificate of deletions included, if any signatures were struck.
☐ Loyalty Oath included, only if I chose to file it.
☐ Copies of everything kept for my own records.

Filing

☐ Filing window: November 16, 2026, 8:00 a.m. (or opening) to November 23, 2026, 5:00 p.m. (or close of business).
☐ Filing office: county clerk or county board of election commissioners for the county of the district's principal office. Not the school district.
☐ Filing method chosen: in person, by mail, or by someone acting for me.
☐ Asked the clerk how candidate names are ordered on the school board ballot.
☐ Not filing a second set. (If I do, I know the first must be canceled in writing in time, or only the first counts.)
☐ Received the notice of campaign finance obligations at filing.

After filing

☐ If I filed for any incompatible office, I withdraw from all but one by December 2, 2026.
☐ Objection deadline noted: December 2, 2026, or December 1 if the filing office is open Friday, November 27.
☐ If an objection is filed, I know it goes to the County Officers Electoral Board and I call an election attorney promptly. Background: petition objections in Illinois.
☐ Ballot certification date noted: January 28, 2027.
☐ Early voting noted: from February 25, 2027 (March 12 where a February primary ran).
☐ Election Day noted: Tuesday, April 6, 2027.

Money

☐ Tracking every dollar raised and spent, including my own money and in-kind help.
☐ I know that crossing $5,000 in 12 months generally means filing a D-1 with ISBE within 10 business days (2 business days inside the last 30 days before the election).
☐ If I register a committee early, I know it must file every required report until a final report.

For the same steps in narrative form, read how to run for school board in Illinois.

Get your walk list ready before filing week

The fastest way to reach your signature target with room to spare is a clean, routed walk list and a record of every door. Start your 14-day Beacon trial and have your circulators on the street this weekend.