With all Portland precincts reporting, Sarah Lentz and Benjamin Grant led the race for the two vacant at-large seats on the board of the Portland Public School District. Sarah Brydon led in the District Five race.

Preliminary at-large results showed Lentz with 35.9 percent of the vote and Grant with 24.6 percent. Early results for the District Five race showed Brydon holding a commanding lead with 44.5 percent of the vote. The next highest vote-getter was Joshua Haefele, with 19.4 percent.

Although all 12 of Portland’s voting precincts had tabulated their votes late Tuesday, the results could still change in ranked-choice runoffs, which will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday in City Hall.

In the ranked-choice voting system, voters are allowed to choose multiple candidates in order of preference.

Runoffs are triggered when no candidate receives a majority – more than 50 percent – of the vote, as was the case in both the at-large and District Five races. In ranked-choice runoffs the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and that candidate’s voters’ ballots are redistributed to their second-choice picks. That process continues until a candidate has a clear majority of the vote.

Portland saw around a 14 percent voter turnout on Tuesday, with 8,521 voters casting ballots out of 62,632 total registered voters.

A total of 12 candidates put their names forward to fill the seats – seven sought one of two vacant at-large seats and five ran to represent District Five, which includes North Deering, part of Deering Center and Riverton, and eight of the district’s 17 schools.

The vote to validate the school budget was 6,662 or 75.6 percent in favor and 2,154 or 24.4 percent opposed, a margin of 3 to 1, according to unofficial results from the Portland City Clerk’s office.

“We are deeply grateful to Portland voters for approving our school budget for the 2022-2023 school year,” said Superintendent Xavier Botana. “The budget balances significant fiscal constraints with maintaining current programs and services and covers increased costs for salaries, benefits and debt service.”

Polls closed at 8 p.m. Deciding the board elections by ranked-choice voting could delay final results until late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Live updates will be added to this story and posted at pressherald.com as numbers come in from each of the 12 voting precincts.

The winners will finish the terms of three former school board members who stepped down midterm. The at-large winners will serve until November 2022 in place of Anna Trevorrow and Roberto Rodriguez, who left their posts in November after winning City Council seats. The District Five winner will serve until November 2023, replacing Jeff Irish, who resigned in October.

Candidates for the at-large seats are Lentz, Grant, Richard Ward, Stacey Hang, Stephanie Albert, Kimberly Mancini and Amber Schertz. The candidates running for the District Five seat are Brydon, Haefele, Lou Viola, Barbara Goglin and Elizabeth-Capone Newton.

Candidates who spoke with the Press Herald are running on a variety of platforms including keeping the school budget down, supporting the district’s equity work, increasing support for students’ mental health and listening to constituents.

But there was one area of focus highlighted by every candidate running who spoke with the Press Herald – improving school board and school district transparency and communication.

According to unofficial results from the office of Portland City ClerkThe vote to validate the budget was 6,662 or 75.6 percent in favor and 2,154 or 24.4 percent opposed, a margin of 3 to 1, according to unofficial results from the office of Portland City Clerk.

“We are deeply grateful to Portland voters for approving our school budget for the 2022-2023 school year,” said Superintendent Xavier Botana. “The budget balances significant fiscal constraints with maintaining current programs and services and covers increased costs for salaries, benefits and debt service.”

The winners of Tuesday’s election will join the school board at a time of transition and challenge for the Portland district.

The district is soon to start searching for a new superintendent. Botana is slated to leave Portland schools at the end of the 2023-2024 school year after holding his position for eight years. Multiple candidates said they were interested in joining the school board in order to support a fair and transparent superintendent search process.

The state’s largest school district also is working to manage difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased mental health needs of students and staff shortages while trying to push forward the district’s equity goals.

This school board race also is happening during a tumultuous time for school boards across Maine and the country, as national culture war issues including how to teach students about race, gender and sexuality continue to seep into school board meetings and classrooms, bringing political and ideological fights into once sleepy meetings.

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