Ballot Math / School districts / Osborn Elementary
School board race and measures: Osborn Elementary School District

Osborn Elementary: four candidates for two seats, and two override renewals

November 3, 2026 general election. Osborn Elementary School District No. 8 serves central Phoenix. This is an honest short page: the four board candidates have almost no public record beyond their filings, and we say so rather than pad. The two override renewals are documented in the district's own election filings.
How this race works: two board seats are up, both for four-year terms. Four candidates are on the ballot, all officially certified: Ben Blink, Violeta Ramos, Erica Switalla, and Janet Viloria. Vote for up to two; the top two win. Board service is unpaid. The county certified list does not mark any of the four as an incumbent, and the Arizona Republic's October 2, 2026 school board guide does not profile this district, so no incumbency or biography is claimed for anyone here.

The field, and the honest state of the record

For Ben Blink, Violeta Ramos, Erica Switalla, and Janet Viloria, the public sources available to us (the county certified candidate list, the Republic's guide, and the major voter guides) contain names and certification status, and essentially nothing else: no campaign platforms, no biographies, no forum appearances we could find. That is common in small elementary district races, where campaigns run on neighborhood networks rather than media. If you live in Osborn, the best available evidence is personal: school site councils, PTO networks, and asking neighbors who know the candidates. We list the names exactly as certified so you can match them to your ballot and to any local information you receive.

The overrides: renewing both

In one sentence: Osborn Elementary may keep exceeding its state operating budget by 15 percent for seven more years (an estimated $2,651,228 at full phase-in), and may keep exceeding its capital budget under the district additional assistance override by the lesser of $2,000,000 or 10 percent of its revenue control limit per year, for up to seven years.

The maintenance and operations (M&O) override funds salaries, class sizes, and programs; the district additional assistance (DAA) override funds capital items such as buses, technology, and building needs. Both are renewals of authority already in effect. If an override is not renewed it phases down over its final years and ends, and the corresponding budget falls by that amount.

The math for your household

M&O override: about $118 a year on a home with $25,000 of net assessed value

The district's estimated rate for the M&O override is $0.47 per $100 of net assessed value, approximately equal to the current rate. On a home with $25,000 of net assessed value (roughly a $250,000 market value home at the 10 percent residential ratio) that is about $118 a year. The DAA override's estimated tax rate was not stated in the board resolution we reviewed, so no household figure is printed for it rather than a guess. Because both are renewals, a yes keeps roughly the current amounts in your bill; a no removes them gradually.

A YES vote (each question)

That override continues at about its current level for seven years.

A NO vote (each question)

That override phases down and expires, and the district cuts or absorbs the corresponding amount.

The strongest case for YES

  • Continuity. Supporters argue small elementary districts run lean already; the overrides are existing funding for existing staff and buses, not new programs, and losing them midstream forces visible cuts.

The strongest case for NO

  • A low-information district should still have to ask. Opponents generally argue that even routine renewals are the voter's one scheduled chance to require a public accounting, and in a district where even the board candidates have minimal public records, that checkpoint matters more, not less.

Verification notes

  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County. No finance totals or campaign materials for these four candidates were found in the sources we reviewed.
  • No proposition numbers for the two Osborn questions were found in the district or county sources we checked.
  • The DAA renewal's estimated tax rate was not captured in the sources we reviewed; the lesser-of dollar authority is from the governing board's May 12, 2026 resolution.

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 instead.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
  • Leaving any item blank is allowed. The board race and each override are separate items; answer any, all, or none.

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.