Bobby ChristianNov 3

Nonpartisan · 5 seats open · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Bobby
Christianfor Detroit School Board

Putting Students First. Preparing Detroit’s Future.

  • Teacher Retention
  • Reading & Math
  • Attendance
  • Workforce Development
Make sure you can voteWhere Bobby stands
Bobby Christian, candidate for Detroit School Board
Election
day

Before you look at anyone’s platform

You can vote for 5 people in this race — not one.

The Detroit school board race is nonpartisan — there is no party line to follow and no primary narrowed it down. It is also at-large, which means every Detroit voter votes on every seat.

There are 5 seats open and 35 names on the ballot. You may select up to 5. Pick fewer than five and you simply give away the rest of your say.

Bobby is name 6 of 35 on the clerk’s list. He is asking to be one of your five.

Bobby Christian34 other candidates

What Bobby will work on

Four problems, named honestly.

Detroit families already know how their schools are doing. The useful thing a board member can offer is not reassurance — it is a clear account of what is wrong and what they intend to do about it.

Priority 01

Keep great teachers in Detroit

Detroit students need experienced, supported teachers who want to build their careers here — not start them here and leave.

Bobby will support competitive pay, real professional development, mentorship for new teachers, stronger support inside the classroom, and a serious strategy for recruiting and keeping good educators.

  • Competitive compensation that makes staying the easy choice
  • Mentorship pairing for every new teacher
  • Professional development teachers actually asked for
  • Stronger classroom support so teachers are not doing five jobs

Priority 02

Improve reading and math

Every Detroit student should be able to read and do math confidently before they reach high school.

Bobby will support early literacy intervention, evidence-based reading instruction, tutoring and small-group help, stronger math intervention, and straight talk with parents about how their child is actually doing.

  • Early literacy intervention, starting in the earliest grades
  • Evidence-based reading instruction — what the research supports
  • Tutoring and small-group academic support
  • Clear, honest progress reporting to parents

Every desk is one Detroit fourth grader

Five of every hundred can read at grade level.

2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, Grade 4 reading, Detroit. The Michigan figure is 25% and the national figure is 30%.

7%

of Detroit fourth graders were proficient in math

Michigan: 37% · Nationally: 39%

Source: 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Grade 4, Detroit

Priority 03

Get students back in the classroom

A student cannot learn from a seat they are not in. Attendance is the problem underneath every other problem.

Bobby will support earlier intervention with students and families, stronger parent communication, mentoring, transportation solutions, after-school programming, and community partnerships that deal with the real reasons children miss school.

  • Reach families early, before absences become a pattern
  • Transportation solutions — often the actual barrier
  • Mentoring and after-school programming that gives a reason to show up
  • Community partnerships that address what is happening at home

60.9%

of DPSCD students were chronically absent in 2024–25

Michigan average: 28%

In Michigan a student is “chronically absent” after missing 18 days of a 180-day school year — about two days a month.

Source: DPSCD reported rate, 2024–25 school year; Michigan statewide comparison

Priority 04

Every student graduates with a next step

A diploma should come with a plan attached — college, a trade, an apprenticeship, a business, or a good-paying job.

Bobby will advocate for expanded career and technical education, skilled trades, apprenticeships, internships, dual enrollment, financial literacy, technology programs, and real partnerships with Detroit employers, unions, colleges and training programs.

  • Expanded career and technical education, and the skilled trades
  • Apprenticeships and internships with Detroit employers and unions
  • Dual enrollment so college credit starts in high school
  • Financial literacy, because earning it and keeping it are different skills

Who Bobby is

Coaching or after-school frame. Not in the existing photo set — needs a short new shoot.
President
Eastside Colts Inc., 501(c)(3)
Coach
Youth football, Detroit
Father
Raising children in the district he wants to serve

He has been doing this work without the title.

Bobby Christian is a Detroit community leader, father, mentor, youth advocate and football coach who has spent years working directly with young people.

Through youth athletics and after-school programming, Bobby has helped give Detroit children mentorship, structure, discipline and something positive to do outside the classroom. He is the President of Eastside Colts Inc., a 501(c)(3), and has worked alongside programs including Detroit PAL and Sound Mind Sound Body.

He wants to bring that same commitment to students and families to the Detroit Board of Education.

The board sets the direction. Bobby has spent years on the receiving end of those decisions — in gyms, on fields and in after-school rooms, with the children the decisions land on.

Everything you need, in order

How and when to vote on November 3, 2026

In Michigan you can vote by mail, vote early in person, or vote on the day — and you can register right up to 8pm on Election Day. Here are the dates that matter.

  1. September 24

    Absentee ballots start going out

    Clerks begin mailing ballots to everyone who asked for one. This is also the first day you can vote in person at your clerk’s office.

  2. October 19

    Last day to register online or by mail

    After this you can still register — but you have to do it in person at your clerk’s office and bring proof of where you live.

  3. October 24 – November 1

    Early voting, statewide

    Every community has to offer in-person early voting at a designated site during this window. Some open earlier and some add Monday November 2.

  4. October 30, 5:00 pm

    Deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail or online

    Cutting it this close is risky — there is no guarantee the ballot reaches you in time to send it back.

  5. November 3, 8:00 pm

    Election Day — polls close

    Every absentee ballot has to be in your clerk’s hands by 8:00 pm, not postmarked by then. You can also still register and vote in person all day.

Register to vote

Michigan Voter Information Center

See your actual ballot

Check your registration and preview what you will be handed

Find your clerk and drop box

Where to hand-deliver an absentee ballot

Also on your ballot

There is also a school funding question on your ballot

Separately from the candidates, DPSCD is asking voters to approve an operating millage — a property tax that funds the district’s day-to-day operations. The proposal would set an 18-mill maximum annual levy for 20 years, running 2026 through 2045, and is estimated to raise about $112 million in its first year for general operating purposes.

It is a separate question from the board race. You vote on both.

Awaiting Bobby’s position

This section publishes his stance in his own words. It stays empty until he gives it — nearly the whole field is silent on the millage, so saying something clear here is an opportunity, but it has to be his sentence.

The ballot room

Build your five before you get there.

Thirty-five names is a lot to meet for the first time in a voting booth. Choose up to 5 here, take the list with you, and use every vote you have. Bobby is asking to be one of them — the rest are yours.

Detroit Board of Education · vote for not more than 5

A practice tool, not an official ballot. Names are as published by the Detroit City Clerk and may change. Listing a candidate here is not an endorsement of them.

Your five

1/5

1 of 5 selected.

  1. 1Bobby Lee Christian
  2. 2Still open
  3. 3Still open
  4. 4Still open
  5. 5Still open

4 votes still unused — leaving them blank does not help anyone.

Text it to myself

Get involved

Five seats. Five weeks. This is decided by who turns up.

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Links to the campaign’s existing ActBlue account — pending the exact page URL.

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