Running for school board sounds complicated. It is not. It is one form, one signature, and one deadline. This page explains every step in plain words — and shows you the legal shortcut so you only have to drive to Norwalk once, or send someone in your place for the pickup and the drop-off.
No filing fee. No signatures to collect. If you are a registered voter living in Trustee Area 3 or Trustee Area 4, the county cannot say no to you.
Do not wait until the last minute. Filing closes at a hard 5:00 PM on Thursday, August 7, 2026. A postmark will not save you, and the elections office is the better part of an hour away. Start now, while there is time to do it right — and time to spare.
And filing is not a life sentence. Putting your name forward simply keeps the door open. If your circumstances change, you may withdraw any time before the deadline — no harm done, no obligation. The only real risk is letting the seat go uncontested.
The five steps
Make sure you can run
You can run if all three are true:
- You are a United States citizen, 18 or older.
- You are a registered voter at your Burbank home address.
- Your home is inside Trustee Area 3 or Trustee Area 4 of the Burbank Unified School District. Not sure which area you live in? Check right here:
Based on the adopted Map 104 boundaries. For the official record, confirm with the Los Angeles County Registrar.
Get the papers
The form you need is called the Declaration of Candidacy. It comes from the county election office:
12400 Imperial Highway, 2nd Floor, Room 2013
Norwalk, California 90650
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM · No appointment needed
There are two ways to get it:
- Way A — go yourself. Walk in, show photo identification, and staff will prepare the form for you. If you go this way, you can sign it right there and be done in one trip. Skip to Step 4.
- Way B — send a helper. The law (Elections Code § 8028) lets you sign an authorization naming a person to pick up your form for you. Your helper hands it to the county, gets your form, and brings it back to you in Burbank. The county keeps it. Use the county’s official authorization form — it is right below, ready to print and sign.
Sign it the right way
The Declaration of Candidacy is a sworn statement — an oath. That means someone official has to watch you sign it. There are exactly two choices:
- At the counter in Norwalk. The election clerk watches you sign. Free.
- In front of a California notary public. If a helper picked up your form (Way B), take the form to any California notary — a UPS Store, a bank, or a mobile notary who comes to your house. The notary watches you sign and stamps it. This is written into Elections Code § 8040. It costs about $15.
Do not sign the form at home alone. A form signed at your kitchen table with no clerk and no notary does not count.
Turn it in
The signed form must be physically inside the Norwalk office by 5:00 PM on Thursday, August 7, 2026. A postmark does not count. Mail that arrives August 8 does not count.
- If you signed at the counter, you already turned it in. Done.
- If a notary stamped it, anyone may carry it back to Norwalk for you — you, your helper, your spouse, a friend. The law says so (§ 8028).
- Do not cut it close. File days early, not hours early, so any small mistake can be fixed in time.
Finish the small paperwork
When you file, staff will also give you a few short forms. None of them are scary:
- Ballot designation: the three words under your name on the ballot, like "Small Business Owner" or "Parent / Engineer." Pick words that honestly describe what you do.
- Form 700: a short list of your investments and property. Everyone who runs files one.
- Candidate statement (optional): a paragraph about you printed in the voter booklet. This one costs money — you may skip it.
That's it. You are a candidate.
The helper authorization form
If you want a helper to pick up your form (Way B in Step 2), use the county’s official form — Authorization to Pick-Up and/or File Candidate Nomination Documents (form R1024). View it right here, print it, fill it in, sign it, and send it to Norwalk with your helper.
We host this copy on burbank.gop so it is always available. The county’s original is on lavote.gov.
The fine print (for grown-ups)
Elections Code § 8028: the Declaration of Candidacy is normally executed in the elections official's office, but a candidate may, in a signed and dated written statement, designate a person to receive the form and deliver it to the candidate. The statement must say the candidate knows the declaration has to be properly executed and delivered to the elections official by the deadline. Any person may return the completed declaration.
Elections Code § 8040: the Declaration of Candidacy form contains a sworn oath, subscribed before a notary public or other authorized official. When the form is executed outside the elections official's office, the oath must be administered by a California notary public. Under Senate Bill 25 (2023), a candidate who will be outside California for the entire nomination period may use an out-of-state notary.
Deadline: nomination documents must be received by the county elections official by 5:00 PM on August 7, 2026. Postmarks are not accepted. School board seats in the Burbank Unified School District carry no filing fee and no nomination-signature requirement.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Registrar-Recorder's Election Information Section at (800) 815-2666.