Ann Arbor school board candidates outline priorities at Student Advocacy Center forum

Perry Stone Ponquist, co‑executive director of the Student Advocacy Center, opened the forum and framed the stakes of local school governance: "If our schools falter, our communities falter, our democracy falters, and failure is not an option." The event gathered a large field of candidates and community partners and used pre‑submitted, crowdsourced questions to focus the discussion.

Candidates proposed a range of reforms and priorities. Common themes included forming student and parent advisory panels, restoring budget steering and affinity groups, lobbying state legislators for increased school funding, expanding counselors and restorative practices, tightening edtech procurement and data protections, and convening community review of bond projects. Several candidates urged rotating board meetings into neighborhood schools to increase accessibility.

Organizers said four full four‑year seats and one partial term are on the ballot; materials and a recording will be posted by the League of Women Voters and Vote411. The forum closed with reminders about voter registration and early voting timelines.