<p>Voters will be casting ballots in contested races for school board members in nearly every local school district.</p>
<p>Filing ended Friday for 15 open school board seats in this fall’s general election.</p>
<p>A total of 27 candidates filed for open local school board seats, leading to contested races on the Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant, Edinburgh, Franklin and Greenwood school boards.</p>
<p>In one race for an open Clark-Pleasant school board seat that represents Pleasant Township, five candidates have filed. Five candidates have also filed for three at-large seats on the Center Grove school board, according to the filings.</p>
<p>School board members are in charge of setting the annual budget for their school district, approving teacher contracts, hiring and reviewing the superintendent and setting policy for local schools, such as accepting advertising sponsorships or the grading scale.</p>
<p>They also approve school construction projects, such as the new elementary school Center Grove is currently building, and a potential new elementary school that Clark-Pleasant will be considering in future years. If a school district needs to redistrict because certain schools are becoming too crowded, school board members approve that plan, too.</p>
<p>School board members are paid an annual salary, typically about $2,000 per year, and attend monthly meetings.</p>
<p>The contested school board races will be on ballots this fall in the general election, along with races for sheriff, county council and state and federal offices. School board races are nonpartisan, so candidates are not running as part of a political party.</p>
<p>In past years, school board races have been a driver for voter turnout, with residents wanting to decide who should represent them in decisions about their school district, election officials have said.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="At a glance" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at who will be on ballots this fall for local school board seats:</p>
<p><strong>Center Grove At-Large, three seats</strong></p>
<p>Scott Alexander</p>
<p>Hunter L. Haskell</p>
<p>Joe Hubbard</p>
<p>Adam Norman</p>
<p>Jack L. Russell</p>
<p><strong>Clark-Pleasant, Clark Township, two seats</strong></p>
<p>Rodney Benker</p>
<p>Isaac Brewer</p>
<p>Laura Cope</p>
<p><strong>Clark-Pleasant, Pleasant Township, one seat</strong></p>
<p>Jerry Adkins</p>
<p>Judith R. Olds</p>
<p>Beth Poe</p>
<p>Terri Lynn Roberts-Leonard</p>
<p>Amanda Trimble</p>
<p><strong>Edinburgh, At-Large, one seat</strong></p>
<p>Angel Emerson-Burkman</p>
<p>Jason R. Lawson</p>
<p>Alice Nancy Taulman</p>
<p><strong>Franklin, Needham Township, one seat</strong></p>
<p>Joel P. (Joey) Ott</p>
<p>Ryan Waggoner</p>
<p><strong>Franklin, Union Township, one seat</strong></p>
<p>Gregory A. Hurrle</p>
<p>Becky F. Nelson</p>
<p><strong>Greenwood, At-Large, two seats</strong></p>
<p>Jay S. Arnold</p>
<p>Brian Ford</p>
<p>Michael Metzger</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
