Four candidates are on the ballot for three Kalamazoo Public Schools board seats in November, but only three actually want the job — and one of them chairs the local Democratic Party while carrying a resume from Planned Parenthood advocacy. The race lays bare who will protect children and who will protect the bureaucracy.
Karen Morton, a retired finance supervisor, missed the July 16 withdrawal deadline and will still appear on ballots despite telling MLive she is moving out of the district. That leaves three active candidates: Mariah Bryant, TiAnna Harrison, and Patti Sholler-Barber.
Bryant directs programs for Voters Not Politicians, a group focused on voting access and campaign finance reform, and has done professional advocacy with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan. She also chairs the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party. She says she entered the race after the birth of her first child, citing early childhood education and literacy as priorities.
Harrison has held the board presidency since 2023 and has served since 2014. She led the search that installed current Superintendent Darrin Slade and wants to continue prioritizing what MLive described as "academic rigor and mental-health support, as well as safe and welcoming schools." Sholler-Barber has sat on the board for two decades — 14 of those as president — after a 32-year career as a public school teacher.
MLive framed the race through a partnership with the League of Women Voters, presenting the candidates' stances without editorial scrutiny of what those stances mean for parents who want curriculum transparency and ideological neutrality in classrooms. The local press offered no challenge to Bryant's Democratic Party leadership or her Planned Parenthood ties — details that matter to families tracking who shapes sex education and health policy in KPS.
Meanwhile, the stakes of board governance are on vivid display in Texas. The Dallas Morning News reported that Austin ISD — which had to slash an $181 million deficit, cut more than 500 staff positions, and close 11 schools — is now one of four districts selected for a state spending review by Comptroller Don Huffines. Gov. Greg Abbott requested the audit in August, arguing that the state's $104.9 billion K-12 budget demands scrutiny of how districts use taxpayer dollars. The review will examine how much money reaches students and classrooms versus administrative bloat.
Austin ISD's enrollment has cratered to its lowest point in recent history — 65,951 students this fall, roughly 2,300 fewer than projected. The Morning News noted the district "delayed hard choices for years" before the deficit forced drastic cuts. The paper did not explore whether ideological programming or administrative expansion contributed to the fiscal collapse.
The Kalamazoo board is responsible for hiring and evaluating the superintendent, adopting employment policies, and setting district goals — precisely the levers that determine whether schools serve families or serve themselves. In KPS, two incumbents with a combined 27 years on the board are asking voters for more time, while a Democratic Party chair with progressive advocacy credentials seeks to join them.
The question in Kalamazoo is the same one Abbott and Huffines are forcing in Texas: who watches the watchers? Austin's fiscal reckoning arrived late and painful. Kalamazoo voters get their say before the books force the issue.
