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Anchorage School District recall, Alaska (2015)
| Anchorage School District Board recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Tam Agosti-Gisler Pat Higgins Kathleen Plunkett |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in Alaska Alaska recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall four members of the Anchorage School Board in Alaska was rejected in November 2015. Board President Kameron Perez-Verdia and board members Tam Agosti-Gisler, Pat Higgins and Kathleen Plunkett were accused of violating state regulations by using signs on school grounds to promote bonds and by paying for a public survey on capital projects. The recall petition was rejected by the Municipality of Anchorage due to its petition language.[1][2]
Recall supporters
Sponsors of the recall petition included Michael Chambers, the chair of the Alaska Libertarian Party, and David Nees, who formerly worked in the district as a middle school math teacher. In addition to saying the four board members violated state regulations with the signs and the survey, the recall effort said they misled voters on the 2015 bond reimbursement vote. Nees said that the board members "failed to acknowledge that the state Legislature might not reimburse the most recent school bond package," according to the Alaska Dispatch News. "We thought it was disingenuous and not honest," said Nees.[2]
Perez-Verdia, Agosti-Gisler, Higgins and Plunkett were targeted for recall because they were the only four members who could be targeted. The other three members on the board—Eric Croft, Bettye Davis and Elisa Snelling—were either too close to their terms being up for re-election or were too recently elected to the board.[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Alaska
Anchorage's Assistant Municipal Attorney Dean Gates rejected the recall petition because two of the three allegations against the board members were not illegal, and the other could not be proven. Gates said that the bond reimbursement ballot did contain language detailing the possibility of the state not reimbursing the bond package. He also said that the school board was allowed to pay for public surveys. In regards to the accusations about the signs on school grounds, Gates said that the city could not take action against the board members without confirming that they were promotional rather than informational. He said that informational signs are allowed on school grounds.[2]
About the district
- See also: Anchorage School District, Alaska
The Anchorage School District is located in Anchorage in southern Alaska. Anchorage was home to an estimated 301,010 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] The Anchorage School District was the largest school district in Alaska, serving 48,159 students during the 2013-2014 school year.[4]
Demographics
Anchorage outperformed the rest of Alaska in terms of education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 32.8 percent of Anchorage residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.5 percent for Alaska as a whole. The median household income for Anchorage was $77,454, compared to $70,760 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 7.9 percent, while it was 9.9 percent statewide.[3]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Anchorage School District' recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Anchorage School District, Alaska
- Anchorage School District elections (2015)
- Recall campaigns in Alaska
- Political recall efforts, 2015
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Recall Elections Blog, "Alaska: Petitions against Four Anchorage School Board members rejected by city," November 18, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Alaska Dispatch News, "Municipality denies recall petition to oust 4 Anchorage School Board members," November 16, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Anchorage (municipality), Alaska," accessed December 1, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Anchorage Daily News, "Alaska Party Affiliation," July 3, 2010
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