It's time to run for Mat-Su Assembly or School Board. Here's what you need to know.

What you need to know:

• Mat-Su residents have until Aug. 28 to file for six open Borough Assembly and School Board seats. The borough election is Nov. 3.
• Assembly members will serve four-year terms, while voters could decide in November whether to extend school board terms from three to four years.
• The Mat-Su Sentinel will offer nonpartisan voter guides based on questions from local voters and host its Flip the Script election event at 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Palmer Depot.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER — Mat-Su residents who want to run for assembly or school board this fall must file candidacy papers with the borough clerk by Aug. 28.

Residents can file for one of six races, depending on where they live within the borough. Any borough resident who is a registered voter and has lived in their district for at least one year can run for a seat.

This year’s open positions include Matanuska-Susitna School Board seats for districts 3 and 6 and Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly seats for districts 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Candidate packets are available online or at the borough administration building in Palmer.

The borough’s Election Day is scheduled for Nov. 3, one month after Election Day in the region’s three cities.

Candidates for Mat-Su Assembly

Individuals elected to the assembly will serve four-year terms under a term limit update approved by the assembly in 2024.

Assembly candidates are required to file a personal financial disclosure form, known as a POFD, with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Details about the form are available from the borough clerk at the time of filing.

Candidates for Mat-Su School Board

Unlike assembly candidates, school board candidates are not required to file a POFD with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

Individuals elected to the Mat-Su School Board this year could serve four years instead of three if a proposed ballot measure is approved by the assembly this week and passed by voters in November.

The measure would add an extra year to school board terms. The change would put those terms in line with the length approved by the assembly in 2024 for assembly and borough mayoral terms.

The term length change was designed to align elections for those seats with state and national elections, which fall on an even-year cycle and typically see higher voter turnout.

The assembly did not update school board term limits in 2024 because they were set by state law, with no authority for municipalities to alter them. 

A rule approved by state legislators this year allows voter-approved changes to school board terms. The Mat-Su Assembly will consider placing that question before voters during a regular assembly meeting scheduled for Tuesday. 

Voter guides and election events

Candidates for Mat-Su Assembly and School Board are invited to participate in the Mat-Su Sentinel’s annual award-winning nonpartisan interactive voter guides and Flip the Script election event.

The guides are developed using topics and questions submitted by Mat-Su voters. Submit your topics and questions now!

Flip the Script is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Palmer Depot. More event details will be released soon.