whole family formal on field gate.jpg

There is little mystery whether Chelsea Martin, shown with her husband and three children, will win her race for an open seat on the West Linn-Wilsonville school board: She is the only one running. Statewide, this is the least-contested school board election in at least a decade. Martin posed with her husband Brady, second-grade twins Jai and Rubi, and fourth-grade son Brennan.

(Jill Grassman / Sidewalk Studio )

West Linn-Wilsonville, Sherwood, Tigard-Tualatin and Gladstone have 10 positions on their school boards up for election this spring -- and just 10 people running, one for each seat.

In Portland, the incumbent representing Southeast Portland is stepping down -- but only Mike Rosen is willing to campaign for the position. Two open seats on the Colton school board have no takers on the ballot at all.

Statewide, a total of 817 candidates are running for unpaid volunteer school board seats to be decided in Tuesday's election, according to the Oregon School Boards Association. That is the fewest of any election in the last decade, the group reports.

Candidates usually number about 850 to 1,050 for include races in K-12 school districts, education service districts and for community college boards, the school boards group says. There are 696 positions on this May's ballot, and 483 incumbents are running.

Betsy Miller-Jones, the school board group's executive director, said the low number of candidates is surprising, given the important community role that local board members play. She said it remains unclear why the number of candidates fell so dramatically, from 972 in May 2013.

"Board members play a pivotal part in their communities," she said in a statement. "They provide the connection between schools and the places we live, and it's vital that we encourage as many strong candidates as possible to fill these positions."

Chelsea Martin has been an active volunteer and the PTA president at her children's school in Wilsonville and served on the school district budget committee. She said running for an open seat on the West Linn-Wilsonville school board felt like a natural next step.

She wants to serve children in her community, including her own fourth-grade son and twin second-graders, she said. Still, she and her husband had to think hard before she committed to run.

"It is daunting," she said. "It's political and it's a political realm with your friends and neighbors. I will be away from home quite a bit. That means my spouse takes on the responsibilities of kids and household. It's a family-wide commitment. And it's unpaid and it's a four-year term."

The school boards association's survey revealed:

>> Nearly three fourths of the races for K-12 school board seats are uncontested. In 47 races, it's worse than that: No one signed up to run.

>> 85 percent of the 54 seats on education service district boards have just one candidate and five more of the seats have zero people running.

>> Seats on community college boards have drawn the most competition: 25 percent of those seats have contested races.

Ballots for this May election must be turned in by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

-- Betsy Hammond

betsyhammond@oregonian.com

503-294-7623; @chalkup