Can someone in Arkansas run for school board AND for mayor (or city council) at the same time? Can they hold both offices if elected?

Plain-English summary

Representative Mark McElroy asked whether a person may run at the same time for an Arkansas school board seat and for mayor or city council, and whether that person may serve in both offices if elected. The AG answered yes for the positions he analyzed.

The AG read A.C.A. § 7-5-111’s same-date dual-candidacy restriction alongside other election laws. In that setting, “district” does not include “school district.” School board candidacy is governed by separate school election laws, so the cited dual-candidacy prohibition does not cover a school board race paired with a mayoral or city council race.

For dual service, the AG analyzed constitutional, statutory, and common-law incompatibility. Article 19, § 26 of the Arkansas Constitution permits an officer of public schools, including a school board member, to be elected to an executive or judicial office. The AG applied that protection to the mayor’s executive office. The opinion also said school board and city council service was permitted under the law analyzed, but noted that the legislature may regulate whether a school board member can serve in other offices. The constitutional protection for executive or judicial offices does not establish the same legislative limit for city council service.

The AG found no statute barring either pairing and no apparent incompatibility from merely holding school board with mayor or city council. He cautioned that incompatibility is normally a fact question for the courts.

What this means for you

If you are considering both school board and municipal candidacy

The AG concluded that A.C.A. § 7-5-111 does not treat a school district seat as the “district” office named in its same-date candidacy bar. The opinion addressed school board paired with mayor or city council, not every possible combination of offices.

If you are elected to school board and mayor

The opinion treats mayor as an executive office and school board membership as an office of public schools. It says Article 19, § 26 permits that combination. The AG also found no statutory bar or apparent common-law incompatibility from merely holding the positions.

If you are elected to school board and city council

The AG found that this pairing was permissible under the law analyzed. The opinion expressly says the legislature may regulate whether a school board member can serve in other offices. Its constitutional protection for executive and judicial offices does not itself protect city council service in the same way.

If you administer candidate filings

The opinion reads § 7-5-111 as excluding school district offices from the term “district” in the same-date candidacy bar. The opinion’s answer is limited to the school board and municipal positions the representative asked about.

Common questions

Can I run for school board and mayor on the same election date?
The AG said yes. He read § 7-5-111 with other general election laws and concluded that its term “district” does not mean “school district.”

Can I run for school board and city council at the same time?
Yes, under the same analysis of § 7-5-111 in this opinion.

Can I serve as both a school board member and mayor?
The AG said generally yes. Article 19, § 26 permits officers of public schools to be elected to executive or judicial office, and the opinion treats a mayor as an executive officer.

Can I serve as both a school board member and city council member? The AG found no current statutory bar or apparent common-law incompatibility in merely holding those offices. He also said the legislature may regulate dual service involving offices outside the constitutional executive-or-judicial protection.

Would changing the rule for school board and city council require a constitutional amendment? The opinion does not say so. It says the legislature may regulate whether a school board member can also serve in other offices. It separately describes Article 19, § 26 as protecting service in an executive or judicial office.

Could duties in a specific case still conflict?
The AG said incompatibility is normally a fact question for the judiciary. He found no apparent conflict from merely holding either pairing because neither the municipality nor the school district generally supervises, removes, or audits the other.

Background and statutory framework

A.C.A. § 7-5-111 bars running for more than one listed state, county, municipal, district, or township office when elections occur on the same date. The AG read related statutes as distinguishing school district offices from other district offices and said specific school election laws govern school board candidacy.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has identified constitutional, statutory, and common-law incompatibility as three potential bars to dual service. Article 19, § 26 addresses public school officers’ election to executive or judicial office. The AG applied it to school board and mayor service, while explaining that the legislature may regulate service in other offices. The opinion found no statute barring school board service with mayor or city council and no apparent common-law conflict from those positions alone.

Citations

Constitution and statutes:

• Article 19, § 26 of the Arkansas Constitution
• A.C.A. § 7-5-111
• A.C.A. § 6-14-101
• A.C.A. § 6-14-111(c)
• A.C.A. § 6-14-115
• A.C.A. § 7-6-102
• A.C.A. § 7-6-220(b)(4)
• A.C.A. § 14-42-102

Cases:

• Byrd v. State, 240 Ark. 743, 402 S.W.2d 121 (1966)
• Tappan v. Helena Fed. Savings & Loan Ass’n, 193 Ark. 1023, 104 S.W.2d 458 (1937)
• Thompson v. Roberts, 333 Ark. 544, 970 S.W.2d 239 (1998)
• Black v. Cockrill, 239 Ark. 367, 389 S.W.2d 881 (1965)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2025-095

January 23, 2026

The Honorable Mark D. McElroy
State Representative
2645 Highway 138 East
Tillar, Arkansas 71670

Dear Representative McElroy:

I am writing in response to your request for an opinion on school board election laws. You have asked these questions:

1. Under Arkansas law, is it permissible for an individual to run for a position on a school board as well as a position as mayor or a position on a city council simultaneously? 1

Brief response: Yes. When A.C.A. § 7-5-111 is read harmoniously with other general election laws, the “district” used in the statute is not a “school district.”

2. If the response to question one is negative, what happens should an individual file for both a position on the school board and for another elected office?

Brief response: Please see my response to your first question.

3. Under Arkansas law, are there any situations where an individual can be elected and serve in two or more elected positions or capacities?

Brief response: Yes. An individual may be elected and serve as a school board member, while simultaneously serving as either a mayor or city council member.

DISCUSSION

Question 1: Under Arkansas law, is it permissible for an individual to run for a position on a school board as well as a position as mayor or a position on a city council simultaneously?

1
This question has been updated to reflect additional information you provided.

BOB R. BROOKS JR. JUSTICE BUILDING
101 WEST CAPITOL AVENUE
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201

The Honorable Mark D. McElroy
State Representative
Opinion No. 2025-095
Page 2

Although Arkansas law generally protects the right to run for office, 2 certain restrictions apply. For instance, state election laws require that candidates for public office be “qualified and eligible” to hold the office “at the time of filing.” 3 And A.C.A. § 7-5-111 limits one’s ability to run for more than one office in certain circumstances: “A person shall not run for election for more than one (1) state, county, municipal, district, or township office if the elections are to be held on the same date.”

When the language of a statute is clear, that language is given its plain meaning. 4 But the statute must also be “read in a harmonious manner if possible” with other statutes covering the same subject matter. 5 Here, A.C.A. § 7-5-111 is part of the general laws governing elections. When A.C.A. § 7-5-111 is read harmoniously with other general election laws, the term “district” does not include a “school district” for the following reasons.

First, general election laws consistently distinguish “school district” offices from “state, county, municipal, district, or township” offices. And A.C.A. § 7-5-111’s reference to “state, county, municipal, district, or township office” mirrors general election laws in several places. For example, A.C.A. § 7-6-102 requires candidates for “state or district offices” and “county, municipal, or township offices” to file political-practices pledges. 6 But that statute has a separate filing provision for a “school district candidate.” 7 Similarly, the contribution and expenditure reporting requirements under general election laws distinguish between a “school district” office and a “state or district” and “township, municipal, or county office.” 8 These distinctions demonstrate that “district” and “school district” are not synonymous under general election laws.

2
See Populist Party of Ark. v. Chesterfield, 359 Ark. 58, 66, 195 S.W.3d 354, 359 (2004); Fisher v. Taylor, 210 Ark. 380, 387, 196 S.W.2d 217, 220 (1946); A.C.A. § 21-1-207 (“No employee of the state, a county, a municipality, a school district, or any other political subdivision of this state shall be deprived of his or her right to run as a candidate for an elective office … unless as necessary to meet the requirements of federal law as pertains to employees”). 3 A.C.A. § 7-5-207(b). This Office has opined that this statute does not prevent the candidacy of one person for two offices because of dual-office-holding principles since those “prohibitions, by their very nature apply to dual service, and do not apply prior to the entry of service.” Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 2015-138. 4 Roberson v. Phillips Cnty. Election Comm’n, 2014 Ark. 480, 4, 449 S.W.3d 694, 696 (internal citations omitted).
5
City of Fort Smith v. Tate, 311 Ark. 405, 409–10, 844 S.W.2d 356, 359 (1993).
6
This statute was amended in 2025, but the amendment does not change the analysis contained in Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 2017-124. 7 A.C.A. § 7-6-102(a)(2).
8
See A.C.A. § 7-6-220(b)(4) (distinguishing between “school district, township, municipal, or county office” and “state or district office” (emphases added) in A.C.A. § 7-6-207 in relation to reports of independent expenditures). These statutes were amended in 2025, but the amendments do not change the analysis contained in Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 2017-124.

The Honorable Mark D. McElroy
State Representative
Opinion No. 2025-095
Page 3

Second, a “school district” is not considered a “district” for purposes of A.C.A. § 7-5-111 because school elections are separately governed by school election laws. 9 Those laws specifically address all aspects of running for a school board position, including how to “qualify for the ballot.” 10 The school election laws also provide a method of certifying election results for a school board position that differs from the process under general election laws. 11

Finally, while “general election laws … apply to school elections,” the general election laws do not supersede school election laws. 12 Instead, the school election laws act as exceptions to the general election law in the event of a conflict. 13 As explained above, applying A.C.A. § 7-5-111’s dual candidacy prohibition to school board elections would conflict with school election laws.

Question 2: If the response to question one is negative, what happens should an individual file for both a position on the school board and for another elected office?

Please see my response to your first question. 14

Question 3: Under Arkansas law, are there any situations where an individual can be elected and serve in two or more elected positions or capacities?

The determination of whether a person may be elected and serve in two or more positions or capacities is fact intensive, and I am not a factfinder when issuing opinions. Further, because the law differs for different sorts of elected positions, I will focus only on the positions referenced in your first question.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has identified three categories of unlawful conflicts of interest that prevent a person from holding dual offices: constitutional conflicts, statutory conflicts, or conflicts that results from the offices having incompatible duties (i.e., the common law “doctrine of incompatibility”). 15 The presence of any one of these three types of conflicts will prohibit dual service.

9
But “general election laws shall apply to school elections insofar as they are not in conflict with the school election laws.” A.C.A. § 6-14-101. 10 A.C.A. § 6-14-111(c) (“A candidate for a position on the board of directors of a school district may qualify for the ballot by filing a political practices pledge, an affidavit of eligibility, and a petition”). 11 Compare A.C.A. § 6-14-115 (school election certification) with A.C.A. § 7-5-701 (general election certification).
12
A.C.A. § 6-14-101.
13
Id. See generally Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 183-88 (2012) (“If there is a conflict between a general provision and a specific provision, the specific provision prevails”). 14 In Opinion No. 2008-174, my predecessor explained the two types of school-board election contests.
15
See Byrd v. State, 240 Ark. 743, 744-45, 402 S.W.2d 121, 123 (1966).

The Honorable Mark D. McElroy
State Representative
Opinion No. 2025-095
Page 4

1. Constitutional analysis. Under Article 19, § 26 of the Arkansas Constitution, “officers of public
   schools … may be elected to fill any executive or judicial office.” This Office has long held that “officer of public schools” includes a position on a school board. 16 Thus, under the Arkansas Constitution, a school board member may also hold “any executive or judicial office.” Applying this to the positions listed in your first question, a person elected to a position on a school board could also serve as mayor because a mayor is the executive officer of a city or municipality. 17

A person elected to a position on a school board may also hold a position on a city council. 18 The Arkansas “constitution is restrictive in nature and leaves to the legislature the absolute power to legislate unless prohibited from doing so by our constitution.” 19 My predecessor opined that Article 19, § 26 precludes the legislature from establishing laws that would prevent a school board member from also serving in “any executive or judicial office.” 20 The legislature may, however, regulate whether a school board member may simultaneously serve in other offices. 21 Thus, the Arkansas Constitution allows a person elected to a school board to serve on a city council.

2. Statutory analysis. My research has not yielded any statute that prohibits a school board
   member from also serving as either a mayor or a city council member. As noted previously, the limitation in A.C.A. § 7-5-111 does not apply to a school district board of directors.

3. Common-law analysis. The common-law doctrine of incompatibility bars dual office holding
   when it generates an inherent conflict that would impede the office holder from serving in both capacities. The Arkansas Supreme Court has explained that the “inconsistency, which at common law makes offices incompatible” exists in situations “where one is subordinate to the other, and subject in some degree to the supervisory power of its incumbent, or where the incumbent of one office has the power to remove the incumbent of the other or to audit the accounts of the other.” 22 Such incompatibility arises “when there is an inconsistency in the functions” of the offices or

16
Ark. Att’y Gen. Ops. 2007-054, 1996-035, 1981-35.
17
A.C.A. § 14-42-102 (“The corporate authority of cities that are organized shall be vested in one (1) principal officer, to be called the mayor, and one (1) board of council members, to be called the city council….”); Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 1989-201 (opining that Article 19, § 26 “authorizes one’s service as both mayor and school board member”). But in the city manager form of municipal government, the board of directors “shall constitute the supreme legislative and executive body of the city.” A.C.A. § 14-47-109(a)(2). 18 Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 1996-035, 1992-003, 1989-201.
19
Black v. Cockrill, 239 Ark. 367, 369, 389 S.W.2d 881, 883 (1965).
20
Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 1989-201.
21
Id.
22
Tappan v. Helena Fed. Savings & Loan Ass’n, 193 Ark. 1023, 1025, 104 S.W.2d 458, 459 (1937).

The Honorable Mark D. McElroy
State Representative
Opinion No. 2025-095
Page 5

where the nature and duties of the two offices “render it improper from considerations of public policy for one person to retain both.” 23

Here, the positions of school board member and mayor are generally compatible. Likewise, the positions of school board member and city council member are generally compatible. While incompatibility is normally a question of fact for the judiciary, I have found no apparent conflict by virtue of merely holding these positions. Neither entity—a municipality nor a school district— exercises general supervisory powers over the other. Similarly, members of each entity would not be subject to removal or audit by the other. For these reasons, the usual indicators of potential incompatibility are absent.

Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve.

Sincerely,

TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General

23
Thompson v. Roberts, 333 Ark. 544, 549, 970 S.W.2d 239, 241 (1998) (quoting Eugene McQuillan, 3 The Law of Municipal Corporations, § 12.67 (3d ed. 1990)).