School board races have become some of the most contentious elections of the 2022 midterms. 

These used to be mostly local affairs, with candidates typically raising less than $1,000 from friends and family. But now it’s not uncommon for big national political action committees to sink tens of thousands into a single race.

“There’s both good and bad that money can bring,” said Rebecca Jacobsen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University.

Jacobsen traces the rise in outside money to the nationalization of school board politics — a trend she says goes back more than a decade that’s been supercharged by pandemic and culture war issues. 

Today, we talk with Jacobsen about the implications of outside money in school board elections for education policy and local democracy. 

In the News Fix, we’ll discuss what’s being done to address voter intimidation at the polls. Plus, two cryptocurrency giants are joining forces.

Then, we’ll hear from a listener who wonders if the universe is sending us an Election Day message, and a mathematician who has thought a lot about “How Not to Be Wrong” answers the “Make Me Smart” question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Conservative groups are spending big on school board races” from Marketplace

• National Super PACS are spending on local school board races from USA Today

• CZ’s Binance to Buy Rival FTX After Sam Bankman-Fried Faces Liquidity Crunch from Bloomberg

• “Justice Dept. dispatching Election Day monitors to 64 jurisdictions” from The Washington Post

• This hotline is ready to troubleshoot your voting-related issues

• Next Up in the Night Sky: A Total Lunar Eclipse from The New York Times

• Meet the mathematician who answered this week’s “Make Me Smart” question

We want to hear your answer to the “Make Me Smart” question. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART. You can also email makemesmart@marketplace.org.