- countyofmonterey.gov (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Elections -- official "Candidate List" page for the November 3, 2026 General Election: within the School section, County Board of Education Governing Board Member contests are listed for Trustee Areas 1, 3, 6, and 7 only -- the same four seats as the county's own Elected Officials roster, confirming these are the only county-section contests this cycle (Areas 2, 4, and 5 are not up until 2028)
- countyofmonterey.gov (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Elections -- official "Elected Officials: Schools Superintendents" roster: names each sitting Monterey County Board of Education trustee by area and next-election date -- Annette Yee Steck (Area 1), Heather Owen (Area 3), Mary Claypool (Area 6), and Sandra Ocampo (Area 7) all show "Next Election: 11/03/2026," while Areas 2, 4, and 5 show 2028, confirming which four seats are up this cycle and who currently holds each
- montereycountynow.com (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Weekly (montereycountynow.com) -- "Monterey County Office of Education board may have three new trustees next year" (Celia Jimenez, Aug. 25, 2026): reports all four county-section races on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot -- Trustee Areas 1, 3, 6, and 7 -- naming every candidate, which incumbents are and are not seeking reelection, and background on each contender, including that outgoing Area 7 incumbent Sandra Ocampo is running instead for Alisal Union School District Area 2, the seat her husband Robert Ocampo currently holds, while he runs for her open MCOE seat
- cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Mary Claypool": her most recent committee, "CLAYPOOL FOR MONTEREY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 2022," is marked TERMINATED; no active 2026 committee is registered under her name
- netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Elections' official NetFile campaign portal (agency MCE) — Mary Claypool's complete public filing history contains her 2022 committee but no filing covering 2026; the newest item is a January 2025 amendment for a 2022 reporting period
Last updated September 3, 2026.
School District
Monterey County Board of Education, Trustee Area 6
This person serves on the Monterey County Board of Education. The board has 7 members. It runs special education and alternative education programs for the county. It also hears school appeals and decides county budget matters. The term is four years.
Trustee Area 6 votes on November 3, 2026. Mary Claypool holds this seat and represents Seaside. They are the only one who qualified. The race is settled, so your vote will not change it.
The winner serves a 4-year term on the county's 7-member Board of Education. The board sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, decides county-level budget and property matters, and hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from local school districts. The board will also work with incoming County Superintendent of Schools Dan Burns, who was elected in June 2026.
With no opponent, the useful question is what the incumbent has done and what to watch, not who to choose. Accountability for this seat over the next four years runs through the board and the public rather than through the ballot.
Mary Claypool
Claypool is the Trustee Area 6 incumbent. They are running with no one against them. They filed committees for this seat in 2013 and 2022. That is well over a decade on the board.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.