The Great Falls Public Schools board voted during their Jan. 13 meeting to call for their annual regular board election, call for a mail ballot and request that the Cascade County elections office conduct their election.

Filing opened for the school board election in December and there are three open seats, each with a three-year term.

If only three candidates file, the district can declare them winners by acclamation and cancel the election.

The last date for the district to file a resolution calling for the election is 70 days before the election, or Feb. 25.

GFPS school board filing open

The resolution includes the date and purpose of the election, whether it will be mail or poll, voting locations, times the polls open, if before noon.

The election is May 6.

The school board doesn’t have to decide yet if they’re putting a levy on the ballot, but if they determine to do so, that information must be set in time to certify the ballot, which is not less than 30 days before the election, of April 4.

The GFPS budget timelines is:

• March 6, 2025: community town hall to review revenue and expense projections, asked/answered responses and community input
• March 18, 2025: board budget committee meeting
• March 24, 2025: regular board meeting to review the budget committee’s recommendation and board action if the board decides to pursue any levies

There are three board positions on the ballot and filing ends 5 p.m. March 27.

The open seats are currently held by Gordon Johnson, Paige Turoski and Mark Finnicum.

Johnson and Turoski have filed for reelection and are the only candidates filed as of Jan. 14.

Finnicum has decided not to run again, Johnson said.

The cost of an mail ballot school election is an estimated $65,000, according to Brian Patrick, GFPS’ business operations manager.

The board also voted to formally request that the county elections office run their election, which is done annually, and the Jan. 13 vote was for the May 2026 election.

School board filing forms can be obtained from Patrick, GFPS’ director of business operations at the district office, 110 4th St. S., or the Cascade County election office at 325 2nd Ave. N., Room 100.

Candidates should be registered to vote when they file for office and must live within in the GFPS boundaries to be eligible for candidacy.

Great Falls Public School trustees are unpaid volunteer positions.

Trustees are requested to attend an average of three to four monthly meetings that focus on curricula, policy, budget, administrative issues and other topics.

There are seven trustees on the GFPS board representing both the elementary and secondary districts.