Well, OK, maybe not the state school board.

"It's not really something you hear about," parent Jenniece Whitaker said as she picked up her two children from Washington Elementary School in Salt Lake City. "You hear about environmental issues and 'Renew the Zoo,' and the Tracy Aviary, but I haven't heard anything about the school board, nothing at all, really."

Compared with many other races in Utah and nationwide, the race for seven state school board seats has, so far, been pretty low-profile. In 2006, less than 17 percent of Utahns registered to vote voted for state school board candidates.

"For the most part, it's not an election that attracts a lot of attention," said Matthew Burbank, chairman of the University of Utah's political science department. "People don't know much about the candidates that are running. They don't know exactly how much power the school board has and what they can do."

So what does the state school board do?

The 15-member board, representing 15 regional districts, helps to shape state education policy. Board members direct the state superintendent and help guide the state's 40 school districts. They make recommendations to lawmakers such as to boost school funding, increase the number of counselors in schools and to create programs designed to attract and retain teachers.

Perhaps most famously, the state school board refused last year to implement a private school voucher program for students. Many voters want to know where school board candidates stand on vouchers. But it might not be an issue they will face again anytime soon.

"I don't think it's an issue that will entirely disappear and never be heard of again," Burbank said. "On the other hand, I think given our recent history of it, it's unlikely you'll see the kind of push for vouchers you did in the previous five years."

But other issues are likely to come up in the next four years. Whoever wins likely will have to tackle performance pay for teachers, Utah's relatively low per-pupil spending and getting more technology into classrooms, among other things.

Some lawmakers have pushed for several years to make state school board races partisan so they are more high-profile. But others long have opposed that idea, saying politics has no place in education. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. also has expressed interest in changing State Board of Education elections so Utahns directly elect nonpartisan school board members. Now, the governor and a governor-appointed committee narrow the field of candidates before they get to voters.

Steve Peterson, with the Utah School Boards Association and Utah School Superintendent Association, said it is a race Utahns should care about.

"They set the course on what we do statewide," Peterson said.

$22,000 spent on one hot race

The race for at least one state school board seat is heating up.

Trent Kaufman and Janet Cannon, who are racing for the District 8 state school board seat, have, so far, outspent all the other board candidates, according to campaign financial disclosures filed Tuesday.

Cannon, who is the incumbent, had raised and spent $9,453 on her campaign as of last week, according to the reports. Kaufman, a former teacher and principal, had raised and spent $12,818.

"It's not a passive campaign," Kaufman said. "We need more thoughtful and more strategic leadership on the state school board and we need it now."

Cannon, who has served on the board since 1994, said she has never before spent this much money on the campaign. She said she upped her fundraising efforts this year after seeing how much money Kaufman had raised as of August.

At that point, Kaufman had raised more than 13 times as much as any other candidate. Cannon said she has never before faced an opponent who raised so much money.

"My big goal in life has been to be an advocate for children in our public schools," Cannon said.

Most of the money Cannon has raised - $6,003 - has come out of her own pocket and Kaufman has spent $4,145 of his own money on the race. Some of Kaufman's donations are from out of state donors, whom Kaufman said are friends and family.

Randall Mackey, an incumbent who is running for the District 11 seat, had spent the next most amount of money: $1,610.

His opponent, Leslie Brooks Castle, a nurse and school volunteer, had spent $15.