Ballot Math / Mesa Unified / Governing board

Candidate race: Mesa Unified School District

Mesa Unified governing board: two seats, four candidates, control of the board

November 3, 2026 general election. Nonpartisan, at large: vote for up to two. The board has five members serving staggered four-year terms, and it regularly splits 3-2, so these two seats decide which direction the majority runs: the board that would spend the Prop 419 bond, decide any Prop 420 sales, and hire and oversee the superintendent.

How this race works: the expiring seats belong to Rachel Walden (in office since 2023, running again) and Marcie Hutchinson (on the board since 2019, not running). Vote for up to two of the four candidates below; the top two win. Board service is unpaid. Five candidates filed; one, Inger Hebert, withdrew or was disqualified, leaving the four certified candidates here.

Rachel Walden (incumbent)

Mesa native and Mesa Public Schools graduate (Mesa High). First-generation college graduate; ASU bachelor's with honors and an ASU master's program (ABD). Worked in her family's financial-planning office, then at Vanguard managing institutional accounts, with securities licenses and compliance and audit work. She holds a second elected office simultaneously: she is Vice Chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, elected statewide in 2024 (see our Corporation Commission page for that body), and is seeking re-election to the school board while serving there.

  • Stated priorities (her campaign site): "academic achievement, parental rights, fiscal responsibility, and transparency." She says board policy should uphold the Parent Bill of Rights (A.R.S. 1-602), says she was part of the first Mesa board to set district goals focused solely on proficiency, and advocates politically neutral classrooms and the Hillsdale 1776 American history curriculum.
  • On consolidation and Prop 420's territory, the most documented position in this race: she champions the district's "organizational redesign," a small-school model for low-enrollment campuses, cutting positions "not related to the classroom," and monetizing excess space. She notes the board approved leasing excess space to a private school (Polaris Academy) and that administrators are being moved out of administrative buildings, after which the district will lease those buildings. On closures, in her words: "changing demographics means that school closures are an eventuality. When that day comes, the community will know that it was the final option left."
  • On ESAs: an outspoken supporter who frames vouchers as revenue for Mesa rather than competition: "Mesa fully welcomes ESA families," citing the district's Eagleridge campus as largely ESA-funded, and arguing "If public schools want the students back, do better... My hope is that through competition, ESAs will actually save public schools!"
  • Not on the record: her campaign site does not mention Prop 419, and the accessible coverage of the board's 3-2 vote to call the bond election does not name how each member voted. We do not attribute a bond position to her.

Jennifer Echols

Mesa Public Schools graduate whose children also graduated from MPS. Thirty-five years inside the district as a teacher, curriculum specialist, district leader, and instructional coach; co-author of a book on K-12 online programs; now reported to be a program manager at ASU. Endorsed, per The Decent Ballot's candidate profiles, by the Mesa Education Association, Save Our Schools Arizona, and the Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

  • Stated priorities (her campaign site): backs the district's "MPS Promise" and its Portrait of a Graduate; commits to "supporting the educators and staff" and to attracting and retaining excellent educators amid declining enrollment and budget pressure; per voter-guide summaries, she wants classroom programs protected when budgets are cut.
  • Her framing of the job: "Governance should not be partisan. It should be centered on the students."
  • Record note: she did not answer the iVoterGuide questionnaire; her profile there is uniformly "did not answer." Her positions above come from her own campaign site.
  • On the measures: no direct statement from her on Prop 419 or 420 appears in the coverage we reviewed. Her endorsers support both measures (Save Our Schools Arizona officially urges yes on 419 and 420). Endorser alignment is evidence about a coalition, not a candidate's stated position, and this page treats it that way.

Joshua "Josh" Chilton

Mesa Public Schools parent. Works at the Center for the Future of Arizona; earlier work included community outreach for the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office, Goodwill of Central Arizona, and iHeartMedia; ASU degrees in political science and communications. He ran for this board in 2024 and narrowly lost, finishing fourth of five candidates for three seats with 19.1 percent. Endorsed, per The Decent Ballot, by the Mesa Education Association and Save Our Schools Arizona.

  • Stated priorities (his campaign site): slogan "Listening First. Bringing Mesa Together." Early career exploration so students graduate with direction; individualized learning flexibility; wider access to accelerated learning, STEM, and Montessori programs; strong collaboration and resources for students with IEPs; safe campuses and well-maintained facilities "backed by responsible and transparent budgeting." Voter-guide summaries add a district plan to cut teacher workloads.
  • On the measures: as with Echols, no direct statement on 419 or 420 in the coverage reviewed; his endorsers back both measures.

Jason Smithson

First run for the board. Father of a Mesa Public Schools student with autism; he says navigating the special education system is what drives his candidacy. Serves as an advisor on the Arizona Department of Education's Committee of Practitioners and is a member of the National Association of Special Education Teachers. Public information about him beyond his campaign site is thin, and this entry is correspondingly short rather than padded.

  • Stated priorities (his campaign site): two pillars, "Restore Financial Stability" ("transparent leadership, responsible decisions, and a focus on investing resources where they have the greatest impact on students") and "Excellence for Every Student," with families as respected partners and inclusion so "students of all abilities are supported and learn together." Voter-guide summaries add more parent involvement and less classroom technology in favor of "books, papers, and pen."
  • His framing: board members "must listen, ask questions and make decisions rooted in what is best for students, not politics or outside pressure."
  • Finance note: Maricopa County Elections' October 16, 2026 list of campaign finance committees with outstanding fines includes "Jason Smithson for Mesa School Board." The listing does not state an amount, and we found no reporting explaining it. It is a county record, printed here because it is verifiable, with its limits stated.

The context all four are running in

The board these candidates would join oversees Superintendent Dr. Matthew Strom, who was not a stated campaign issue for any of the four in the coverage reviewed. The live questions are the ones on the rest of your Mesa ballot: a $449 million bond the board called by a 3-2 vote (Prop 419), permission to sell five administrative properties (Prop 420, where Walden's documented redesign-and-lease advocacy is the closest thing to a candidate position in this race), declining enrollment, and ESA competition, the one issue where the candidates' documented views genuinely diverge, Walden campaigning as a voucher supporter while the Mesa Education Association and Save Our Schools Arizona, the state's leading anti-voucher group, back Echols and Chilton.

Verification notes

  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County, and no raised or spent totals for any of these four campaigns appeared in the coverage we reviewed. These are small-dollar races by every indication; we print no totals rather than guess.
  • Endorsement attributions rest largely on The Decent Ballot, an opinionated voter-guide aggregator. They are labeled as such above. Campaign-site priorities are quoted from the campaigns themselves.
  • All four candidates appeared at a Mesa Chamber of Commerce forum on September 16, 2026 (video linked below) and a later forum at Mesa Community College. No detailed written recap of issue-by-issue forum answers was found; the video is the primary record.
  • The departing member, Marcie Hutchinson, publicly supports Props 419 and 420 (her statement appears on the Yes for Mesa Schools supporters page). She is not on your ballot; her successors might not share her positions, and none of the challengers has said so directly.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it. If your signature is questioned, that number is how the county reaches you.
  • In this race you may vote for one candidate, two, or none; it does not affect the rest of your ballot.

Sources

Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Every candidate in this race got the same template: background, stated priorities, the record that exists, and honest notes where the record is thin. Back to Ballot Math home.