← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Minnesota
Endorses Belz,
The race
This school board election is on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot in Forest Lake Area Schools (Washington County). The seat(s) are at stake in School Board - Nov 3 2026.
Two organized three-candidate slates face each other, per Bolts (lead grade): a teachers-union slate and a Minnesota Parents Alliance slate. The source does not state the number of seats up, and we print that gap rather than assume it — what is sourced is the slate structure: six candidates, two named endorsing organizations, opposite directions.
The verified roster is: Jill Christenson; Andi Courneya; Claire Luger; Curt Rebelein; Mike Belz; Sean Thomas.
The candidates
Jill Christenson — On the teachers-union slate, per Bolts.
Andi Courneya — On the teachers-union slate, per Bolts.
Claire Luger — On the teachers-union slate, per Bolts.
Curt Rebelein — On the Minnesota Parents Alliance slate, per Bolts.
Mike Belz — On the Minnesota Parents Alliance slate, per Bolts.
Sean Thomas — On the Minnesota Parents Alliance slate, per Bolts.
Pros / Cons
- Rebelein / Belz / Thomas — Pro: They run on the slate of the Minnesota Parents Alliance, a named parental-rights organization — the exact alignment this series endorses on. Con: Their individual platforms and records were not verified beyond the slate endorsement in this pass.
- Christenson / Courneya / Luger — Pro: They run on the teachers-union slate, per Bolts — union backing is a fact about their coalition, and it is organized, resourced support. Con: A teachers-union slate is the institutional interest of the district's employees, not of its parents; on the parental-rights value, that backing points the other way.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Curt Rebelein, Mike Belz, and Sean Thomas. The basis is stated and sourced: they are the Minnesota Parents Alliance slate, per Bolts — a named parental-rights organization's endorsement, aligned with the parental-rights value this series endorses on. The opposing slate's named backing is the teachers union. Where the only sourced contrast in a race is parents' organization versus employees' union, our values decide it, and we say that openly rather than pretend to a record we did not verify.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.
Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Sources
- Bolts - Your Cheat Sheet to the 2026 General Elections — the verified roster for this race (accessed October 25, 2026) — https://boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-ballot/guide-to-2026-general-election/
- Roster grade: lead. Record gaps: candidate records, campaign materials, and fiscal analysis beyond the roster summary above were not verified at this pass's sourcing depth, except where a fact is stated and attributed in the text.
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.