Shelli Boggs, Laura Metcalfe to face off for Maricopa County school superintendent

The two-term Maricopa County School superintendent lost in a crowded Republican primary, conceding the election in a phone call with the winner on Monday.

Shelli Boggs defeated Steve Watson by a thin margin of roughly 1,700 votes, or half of one percentage point. A third candidate, Nickie Kelley, trailed Boggs by just under 10,000 votes. Each candidate captured about one-third of the more than 430,000 votes cast.

"It never feels good to be on the losing end of an election, but I take pride in the work that we've done over the past eight years to try to move the needle for teachers, for kids, for families," Watson said.

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The county superintendent supports school governing board elections and bond and override elections, manages school board appointments, offers school finance assistance to school districts and maintains homeschool and private school records.

The county superintendent also runs the Maricopa County Regional School District, which provides education in juvenile detention, and operates an accommodation high school.

With Watson out, Boggs advances to the November general election to take on Democratic opponent Laura Metcalfe, who ran unopposed in the primary. The two were critical of Watson’s leadership.

Both campaigned on promises to revamp the office's financial management practices and how it makes key decisions like school board appointments.

The county superintendent's office came under fire this summer after a third-party audit found more than a dozen financial practice deficiencies at the accommodation school district run by Watson, including more than $200,000 of improperly mingled funds and an unlawful land sale worth millions.

"I think it's a win that Steve Watson is no longer in office," Metcalfe said. "As far as Shelli (Boggs) goes, it's going to be a very challenging race."

Boggs and Metcalfe are currently serving as governing board members for the East Valley Institute of Technology and said they work well together. Neither had a negative word to say about their opponent despite acknowledging their political differences. They don't plan to engage in the type of mudslinging that frequents political campaigns, Boggs said.

“Hopefully it’s a good model,” Boggs said. “I’m hoping people pay attention to it and see it is possible to disagree on some things and still not want to kill each other.”

Even so, each maintained they are a better fit for the office.

Metcalfe has leaned into her experience as a school administrator as a selling point. She previously worked in both the Maricopa County School Superintendent's Office and the accommodation district it oversees, which she said gives her an edge in understanding the legal and fiscal implications of the position.

Boggs meanwhile emphasized her community involvement, touting her frequent sit-ins at school board meetings across the Valley, where she builds relationships through face-to-face conversations with parents. She understands the major issues families grapple with today, she said, and is a proactive problem-solver.

One of her major focuses if elected will be to remove political talking points, such as race, from the classroom, she said.

Watson offered his yet-to-be-determined successor with some parting words of wisdom.

"Remember that your allegiance is not to one particular party, one particular group of people, but your responsibility is to everybody and to Maricopa County. You represent the whole," Watson said. "Your most important constituents can't vote for you: the kids."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Watson loses to Boggs in GOP primary for county school superintendent