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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect a list of candidates updated after late Tuesday afternoon, which included two more candidates. A previous version reported 10 candidates.
ANN ARBOR, MI – One incumbent, a few returning hopefuls and several newcomers with a range of experience or involvement in local education have joined the crowded race to serve on the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education.
Following the deadline to file Tuesday, July 21, a total of 12 candidates are running for one of five open seats. Nine are in line to run for four seats serving four-year terms on the school board, while three filed to run for a single partial-term seat to serve two years.
Among the last candidates to file Tuesday were Andy Spencer, a familiar face who ran in the 2022 board election, and Kelley Ellis, a local parent-teacher organization volunteer. They’lll face incumbent Trustee Rita Mohammad, as well as Lyndon Dibble, Becca Hogan, Jennifer Oldham, Aaron Puno, Carolyn Siebers and Brandon Smith.
“There are many people in Ann Arbor who are eager to see a fresh start for the AAPS board,” Spencer said in a message. “As the parent of an AAPS stduent (and one AAPS graduate), I hope ot win a seat and help the district get back on a sustainable path to providing great educaiton.”
Ellis couldn’t be immediately reached for comment in follow up on Wednesday.
Kevin Hudson, a recent AAPS retiree who last worked as a class principal at Pioneer High School, also filed close to the deadline Tuesday. He and parent John Benson, who filed in late June, will face Don Wilkerson for the partial term in a seat that Wilkerson vacated for personal reasons in early May.
When reached, he said he still had more to give after working as an administrator for “a little over 20 years” in the district.
“I think we’re often doing what adults need,” he said Wednesday. “We need to do what kids need at this point. That would be my platform.”
Two months after his resignation, Wilkerson announced a return hoping to continue his long tenure volunteering for the school district and resume tackling its biggest issues on the board.
Read more: Resigned Ann Arbor school board official sues ex-employer as he seeks return
Trustee Steve Norton was appointed to replace Wilkerson through the end of this year but is not running to keep the seat. Like Norton, Benson, Hogan and Siebers were also applicants to temporarily fill Wilkerson’s seat.
Earlier this month, Benson said he intended to ensure there was competition in the partial-term race, citing Board President Torchio Feaster’s unchallenged partial-term candidacy in 2024. However, at the time, he admitted he had not expected Wilkerson himself to be in the running.
When asked about his other motivation for running, he referenced some of the district’s ongoing financial challenges.
Read more: Whitmer signs $22.9B education budget, touts literacy spending
Before the state education budget was adopted this month by lawmakers, the AAPS budget for the 2026-27 school year projected a $4.27 million budget gap.
“I just did some number crunching for some people based on the budgets,” Benson said July 9. “That was like a year ago. Then, in March, there was that petition signed by like 1,000 parents (asking) to pause everything, and I signed that. That group, people also caught wind of my analysis, and they said … ‘We want people who are in the community that have a good knack for budgets and finance.’”
Rena Basch, director of elections in the Washtenaw County clerk’s office, said the list of candidates is not final until after the withdrawal deadline Friday, July 24.
3 trustees not seeking re-election
Mohammad officially filed to seek re-election June 30 after pressing pause on the decision earlier last spring when she said she wanted to focus on tackling major district issues, including the budget and still-ongoing contract negotiations with teachers.
Feaster said at the start of 2026 that he expected this year to be his last on the board, and by Tuesday, neither he nor Trustees Susan Baskett and Susan Ward Schmidt were on the list of candidates.
Baskett is currently the board’s longest-serving trustee, having first ran for school board in the early 2000s.
On Tuesday, she said the decision not to run honors a promise she made to family and close friends four years ago.
“I have been quite vocal of this decision for quite some time, yet I do recognize that I have changed my mind in the past,” Baskett said via email. “Hence, many, especially my family members, would not believe me until the filing deadline has passed. Well, it’s official now, my 23 (and a half) years of service as a trustee will end Dec. 31, 2026.
“I will continue advocating on behalf of our students, but will do so without the constraints of being an elected trustee on the Ann Arbor board of education. I think I will add as much value, if not more, in this unconstrained capacity.”
On Monday, Schmidt said in a statement, that she made the decision not to run “despite being encouraged to throw my hat in the ring again.”
“My board and educational experience has been extensive with over 35 years in the classroom, four years on the East Lansing Board of Education (from 1999 to 2003) and my current term with Ann Arbor,” she said. “… The time served has been challenging yet rewarding. Highlights of my service here in Ann Arbor include ushering in new programs to improve literacy, establishing administrative stability, and addressing financial challenges post-COVID.”
Schmidt, who was elected in 2022, said she planned to build on statewide work on literacy as an active board member with the Michigan chapter of the International Dyslexia Association and as a private tutor.
“I will continue to use my experience, energy and time to impact the lives of students of all ages with reading and writing difficulties,” she said.
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