Jefferson County voters elect five members to the Jefferson County Board of Education on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. You vote only in the board district that covers your home address, and you choose one name on that district's ballot. Kentucky Acts Chapter 154 from the 2026 Regular Session, the enacted version of Senate Bill 4, cut the elected board from seven members to five divisions. That Act is posted by the Legislative Research Commission at apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0154.pdf.
Insider's school board election guide lists every candidate on the clerk's revised filing. This page is the address check.
How do you find which of the five board districts you are in?
Start with the Jefferson County Clerk's Where Do I Vote / Sample Ballot tool at strap.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/WhereDoIVote, which loaded when Insider checked it on October 13, 2026. Enter your home address, then read the Jefferson County School Board line on the sample ballot. It should name one district and list only the candidates for that district. The Kentucky Secretary of State's election ballots page points Jefferson County voters to that same clerk tool.
Do not assume your child's school assignment zone and your board election division are the same map. Student assignment and board districts are different layers. The race on your sample ballot is the one that counts on Election Day.
For a school based view of the five districts, JCPS posts "School Map by Board Member 26-27" with separate elementary, middle, and high school map links. That public data page, opened October 6, 2026, lists the set as created July 1, 2026. Those PDFs show which schools sit in which board district. They are not a street address lookup by themselves. Pair a school map with the clerk sample ballot. If the map view and the ballot ever seem to disagree for your address, trust the clerk ballot for Election Day and call the Election Center at 502 574 6100 to sort it out.
The Legislative Research Commission also posts a Geographic Representation map for 26RS SB 4. That PDF loaded on October 6, 2026. Use it as a precinct picture of the Act. KRS 160.211 lists every division by Jefferson County Clerk precinct code as of March 19, 2026, so the precinct code printed on your voter information can be matched to a division.
The JCPS Board of Education page did not load for Insider on October 6, 2026, so use the clerk sample ballot as your address check.
What did Acts Chapter 154 change about the map and the terms?
It created five elected divisions and put all five seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
Section 17 of Acts Chapter 154 ends the terms of the seven member board on December 31, 2026. All five new seats are filled at the next regular election after the Act took effect. That election is the November 3, 2026 general election. Within ten days of January 1, 2027, the superintendent must call a meeting so the newly elected board can organize.
The first terms are staggered. Section 17 says members initially elected for Division Four and Division Five serve a two year term, then later terms are four years. Members initially elected for Divisions One, Two, and Three serve a standard four year term. A candidate has to live in the division they seek to represent. KRS 160.211, created by the same Act, says the divisions are based on Jefferson County Clerk precinct codes and boundaries as of March 19, 2026.
Section 18 of the Act set temporary assignment rules for sitting members until the five newly elected members take office after that January organizing meeting.
What does the school board control, and what does it not?
Under KRS 160.290, the board controls district schools, funds, and property and appoints the superintendent. Insider's election guide covers what that means for parents.
When can you vote in the board race?
The Kentucky State Board of Elections 2026 General Election summary, checked October 13, 2026, prints these dates:
In person, excused absentee voting runs October 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, and 28. That is for voters who qualify for an excuse under state rules.
Early in person, no excuse voting is Thursday, October 29, Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31.
On Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, polls are open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
The online request site for a mail in absentee ballot closed October 20 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
A mail in absentee ballot must reach the county clerk by 6 p.m. local time on November 3 to count.
The state page sends voters to govote.ky.gov for the times and places in each county. The board race is on the same ballot whichever of those days you vote.
Who can serve on the board?
KRS 160.180 sets the eligibility rules for every Kentucky school board member. A member must be at least 24 years old, a Kentucky citizen for at least three years before the election, and a voter of the district the member is elected from. The member must have finished at least the twelfth grade or hold a High School Equivalency Diploma. The member cannot hold an elective federal, state, county, or city office, cannot have been removed from a board for cause, and cannot have a relative employed by the school district. In a large district like JCPS, a member also cannot be an employee of a Kentucky board of education in a job that requires work on more than 100 days a year. Acts Chapter 154 adds that a candidate must live in the division being sought.
How do you follow the board?
The Kentucky School Boards Association posts every Jefferson County board meeting, agenda, and set of minutes on its public meetings site. That page, checked October 13, 2026, lists regular business meetings at 6 p.m. Eastern at the VanHoose Education Center, 3332 Newburg Road. Agendas there show what the board will vote on before each meeting, and the minutes show how it voted. Until the new board organizes in January 2027, sitting members still vote under the Act's Section 18 temporary assignment rules.
What should you check before Election Day?
Confirm the district on a sample ballot, then read only the names that ballot lists for your house.
The races are nonpartisan. Louisville Public Media reported on September 21, 2026 that a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ruled Gay Perry-Adelmann be disqualified from the District 3 race and that TraShaun Spencer withdrew from District 5. The clerk told LPM it would not reprint ballots, so both names may still appear, but votes for Perry-Adelmann will not be counted and votes for Spencer will be disregarded. Recheck your sample ballot before you vote.
The Jefferson County Clerk voter information hub is at jeffersoncountyclerk.org/Voter-Info and LouisvilleVotes.org. The clerk phone for election questions is 502 574 6100. The Kentucky Secretary of State Voter Information Center is the statewide registration check.
JCPS's 2026 to 2027 parent and family school calendar lists Election Day on November 3 and marks it as a day with no school for students. That helps with childcare planning. It is not a substitute for checking your polling place hours on the clerk site.
Bring a plan for November 3: type your address into Where Do I Vote, write down the board district number the sample ballot shows, and read only the names for that district.