Republicans win most open seats on Michigan education, university boards

• Michigan voters chose mostly Republicans for statewide education races 
• Voters send two Republicans back to the State Board of Education 
• All four boards have Democratic majorities

Michigan voters mostly selected Republicans to fill open seats on the State Board of Education and the boards of three universities.

As of Thursday afternoon, Republicans had secured six of the eight open spots. All the boards will continue to have Democratic majorities. 

Voters selected Denise Ilitch, a Democrat, and Republican Carl Meyers for the University of Michigan Board of Regents. In selecting Meyers and Ilitch, voters chose to keep the U-M board with a six Democrat- two Republican makeup. 

See below for specific vote counts. 

K-12 issues 

The State Board of Education hires and fires the state superintendent, who oversees the Michigan Department of Education. The board also passes non-binding resolutions about education policy.

The makeup of six Democrats and two Republicans will stay the same, as two Republican incumbents, Tom McMillin and Nikki Snyder kept their seats and beat Democrats Theodore Jones and Adam Zemke.

The state faces several challenges. The rate of students chronically absent is still higher than before the pandemic. Third and fourth grade students, who were just beginning their schooling during the pandemic, are scoring lower in reading and writing than previous third grade classes. Superintendents and students report student mental health remains a concern. 

Public universities’ challenges 

The Michigan Constitution mandates statewide elections for the university boards, a system some in education have called to change because voters often don't know much about the candidates. 

At Wayne State, Republican incumbent Michael Busuito and Republican Sunny Reddy won, beating out Democrat Rasha Demashkieh and incumbent Democrat Mark Gaffney. The board make-up will be five Democrats and three Republicans. 

As of Thursday afternoon, the Associated Press had called all the board races except for the two open seats at Michigan State. According to AP, Republican Mike Balow had garnered the most votes, while Democrat Rebecca Bahar-Cook was just ahead of Republican Julie Maday, with an estimated 99% of the votes counted, followed by Democrat Thomas Stallworth.  Current trustees Democrat Dianne Byrum and Republican Dan Kelly did not run for re-election.

Each board faces challenges, and members will work with new presidents at all three universities. U-M President Santa Ono started October 2022, WSU President Kimberly Espy took the helm August 2023, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz started March 2024. 

First-year student enrollment is up from the previous year at MSU, Wayne State and University of Michigan - Flint, but down at the other two University of Michigan campuses, according to the Michigan Association of State Universities 2024 fall enrollment report. 

Several candidates for the university board positions included college affordability in their campaign platforms. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest results from the Associated Press. AP had not called the MSU race as of Thursday afternoon.