The push for an elected school committee in Boston found a central place in the mayoral race on Tuesday, with Josh Kraft expressing support for at least some elected members as he kickstarted his candidacy.

“To improve our schools, we need a school committee that challenges city leadership and holds BPS accountable,” Kraft said in a speech Tuesday. “It is time to have elected members along with appointed members on the school committee. And as mayor, I’ll make that happen.”

Boston voted to change from an elected school committee to one made up of mayoral appointees in 1992, becoming the only school district in the state with a non-elected governing body.

In 2021, a non-binding ballot question asking voters if the city should return to an elected school committee model passed with about 80% of the vote.

Mayor Michelle Wu has long opposed an elected school committee. In 2023, the mayor vetoed a bill to phase out the seven-member appointed school committee and move to a 13-member elected body, which was narrowly passed by the Boston City Council.

Councilor Julia Mejia introduced a similar home rule petition in November, which Wu already stated she intends to block.

In a statement on the measure, Wu’s office reiterated that BPS “needs stability to continue the progress underway on long-term structural issues under Superintendent Skipper, Mayor Wu and the administration,” and she does not support moving to an elected body “at this time.”

Kraft, president of the New England Patriots Foundation and son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced his candidacy for Boston mayor Tuesday in Prince Hall in Dorchester. The new candidate did not express support for an all-elected school committee — as has been proposed by the City Council — but instead floated the idea of a partially elected body.

In light of the new home rule petition in the Boston City Council, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau also restated its opposition to electing school committee members in a statement released Monday.

“The appointed system promotes mayoral accountability, fiscal responsibility, professional expertise, long-term strategic focus, and the prioritization of students’ educational needs rather than the needs of specific neighborhoods or political interests,” BMRB wrote. “The home rule petition would reinsert electoral politics directly into the district’s governance.”