Only one Boise School Board race will be contested this fall, with two candidates competing for a four-year seat while two incumbent trustees are running unopposed.

Former trustee Andy Hawes and retired attorney Kirt Naylor are competing for the lone contested seat. Current trustees Alejandro Necochea and Krista Hasler face no opposition and are poised to serve new six-year terms.

That’s a different picture from last October, when six candidates applied to fill a vacant seat on the school board.

Hawes resigned from the board in 2023 but wants to return. Naylor is a retired lawyer who interviewed for the October vacancy. Both are experienced attorneys.

But no one is challenging trustees Hasler and Necochea, an October appointee who is now seeking a separate seat being vacated by trustee Nancy Gregory.

Boise, an independent school district with a charter older than the state of Idaho, can set its own rules on elections. The district conducts elections every two years on the first Tuesday in September. All seats are at-large, meaning there are no zones within the district.

This year’s election is Tuesday, Sept 1. Visit the district’s website for more election information.

Here’s a closer look at board changes shaping the election, and the battle between Hawes and Naylor.

Movement on the board

There are three open seats in September, and the district is separating them into two categories based on the length of the term.

Race #1: Two trustee positions, each with a six-year term. Two incumbent trustees filed to run.

The two seats up for grabs are currently held by trustees Hasler and Gregory.

Hasler, who was first elected to a two-year term in 2024, is seeking re-election to her seat with a six-year term.

Gregory is ending her 24 years on the board with a run at the Idaho Senate in District 15 as a Democrat. She will run against Republican Desi Burbank in November. Incumbent Sen. Codi Galloway, R-Boise, initially filed to run for re-election, but withdrew in March.

Necochea, who was appointed in October to finish trustee Maria Greeley’s term, is now running for Gregory’s seat.

Race #2: One trustee position for a four-year term. Two candidates filed to run.

Hawes and Naylor are running for the four-year seat Necochea is leaving.

Hawes is back in Boise after spending a few years in Seattle.

Trustees appointed him to fill a vacancy in 2021. He won a four-year term in the 2022 election and then resigned in 2023 to take a job in Seattle as senior corporate counsel for timber company Weyerhaeuser.

“It was the right decision career-wise, but it was very tough to leave,” Hawes said on Wednesday.

He moved back to Boise in March to take a job with J.R. Simplot Company as director of land, water and asset recovery. He said he plans on staying in Boise.

“This is my dream job and I’m here for the long haul,” he said. “I’m invested in the community.”

Hawes, an attorney, spent most of his career as corporate counsel in real estate, with a specialty in natural resources. While working for Weyerhaeuser and Simplot, he said he’s learned how to generate revenue from different properties the companies own, which takes creativity.

That will come in handy as a trustee in Boise, he said.

Enrollment continues to decline and state funding is mostly flat, which creates a challenge. The issue, he said, is figuring out how the district can continue to protect neighborhood schools and maintain student-centered programs.

He said you don’t want to take a hatchet and start cutting, because enrollment might bounce back.

“You have to have the mindset of, ‘OK, before we make a decision to close a school or consider it, are there other creative uses for this building?'” Hawes said.

One of the biggest assets in Boise is the community support from parents, volunteers and advocacy groups, Hawes said. While he served as a trustee, he worked on improving communication with another group: students.

During his tenure he worked on creating the Board of Trustees Student Advisory Committee. High school students meet with the board and administrators to provide feedback and input on decisions.

“I guess there was a blind spot and there was not a platform for the school board, and the administration for that matter, to have substantive conversations with students,” he said.

Regarding his own community involvement, Hawes has served on the board of directors for Jesse Tree of Idaho, a nonprofit that prevents homelessness and eviction. He said the group can help families who have fallen on hard times and can’t pay rent.

“It’s really about helping keep our neighbors housed,” he said.

When asked about the Boise district supporting teachers who display the “Everyone is Welcome Here” poster, following the controversy in neighboring West Ada School District, Hawes said the issue became a political lightning rod. He said Boise’s response was about ensuring that every student has access to opportunities and can succeed.

Hawes said there are two reasons why he wants to serve on the school board. He feels a sense of loyalty to Boise schools as a student and father, and he wants an opportunity to give back to the community he loves. He said his professional background and time on the board has given him the right skills to tackle the issues in Boise School District.

“I’m qualified to be a trustee because of my proven trustee experience,” Hawes said.

Naylor said his decades of legal experience and service make him uniquely qualified to serve as a trustee in the Boise School District. And as a retiree, he has the time.

“I may be done with work, but I’m not done providing a service,” Naylor said.

Lawyers who serve on school boards can’t provide legal counsel, he said, but they can ask questions to help navigate issues and keep the district on the right path.

That might come in handy for a district that has recently paid out millions in legal settlements.

“All I can say is I would hope that my legal experience may have provided some assistance,” he said.

Naylor’s legal career began in 1986 as a deputy prosecuting attorney for Ada County, where he prosecuted child protection cases. He used that experience when he served as chairman of the Governor’s Task Force on Children at Risk from 2001 to 2016.

After working for Ada County, he shifted to private practice and became a founding partner of his own firm in 2000, where he provided legal counsel for school districts and government agencies, including advising on open meeting law.

“My background in the law fits directly with representing boards and understanding the difference between the school board trustees who set policy and the district administration that implements policy,” Naylor said.

Now he’s an attorney emeritus and does pro bono work for Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA.

Outside of his legal career, Naylor said he has 50 years of experience with the Boise School District as a student, parent and now grandparent. He also volunteers in classrooms with his wife.

He said he’s witnessed firsthand that teachers carry a big load and can’t always provide small group instruction. As a volunteer, he’s worked on reading comprehension and basic math skills with students, including some from refugee families.

“I can see that I’m making an impact both with the kids as well as with the teachers,” he said.

Overall, Naylor said Boise schools are headed in the right direction.

He’s seen a lot of adversarial relationships between unions and districts during his time as a lawyer, but he doesn’t see that in Boise. He said the Boise Education Association and district have a “unique and beneficial” relationship.

As a member of the district’s Long Range Facilities Task Force, Naylor is well aware of the trend of declining enrollment. He said it’s important to think about the best way to use the existing facilities to meet the needs of individual students. He said there is “available capacity” at elementary schools, while middle and high schools are at or near capacity.

He is hopeful that expansions at Micron could help bring in more families.

When asked about the Boise district supporting teachers who display the “Everyone is Welcome Here” poster, following the controversy in neighboring West Ada School District, Naylor said Boise handled it professionally and appropriately.

He said the U.S. and Idaho constitutions require public schools to be inclusive of all people.

“In essence, public education is community education, and we should be welcoming to everyone in the community,” Naylor said.