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Bellingham School District elections (2017)

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Bellingham School District Elections
General election date
November 7, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
11,117 students

Two of the five seats on the Bellingham School District school board in Washington were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. Two candidates filed for the open Position 4 seat, with Teri Hill-McIntyre defeating Jenn Mason. Position 5 board member Douglas Benjamin filed for re-election and ran unopposed, winning another term.[1]

Elections

Voter and candidate information

Bellingham Logo.jpg

The Bellingham school board is a five-member board with each member elected at large to a four-year term. Each member can be compensated $50 per day for district matters with a maximum compensation of $4,800 per year.

In order to run for a school board in Washington, candidates must be U.S. citizens, legal residents of Washington, at least 18 years old by the election day, and registered voters of the district in which they run.[2]

Voter registration

To vote in Washington, one must be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Washington, and at least 18 years old.[3] One may register to vote online, by mail, or in person at a county elections department. Registration must be completed 29 days prior to an election if done by mail or online and eight days prior to the election if done in person.[4]

Washington is a vote-by-mail only state. Ballots are mailed to voters at least 18 days before an election. Voters must postmark their ballots by election day or return them to a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. on the election day in order for them to count.[5]

See also: Voting in Washington and Voter identification laws by state

Candidates and results

Position 4

Results

Bellingham School District,
Position 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Jenn Mason 67.42% 18,724
Teri Hill-McIntyre 32.58% 9,049
Total Votes 27,773
Source: Whatcom County, "November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed November 22, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Candidates

Teri Hill-McIntyre Jenn Mason Green check mark transparent.png

Teri Hill-McIntyre.jpg

  • Health educator

Jenn Mason.jpeg

  • Small business owner

Position 5

Results

Bellingham School District,
Position 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Douglas Benjamin Incumbent (unopposed) 100.00% 20,619
Total Votes 20,619
Source: Whatcom County, "November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed November 22, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Candidates

Douglas Benjamin Green check mark transparent.png

Douglas Benjamin.png

  • Incumbent (Appointed 2014)
  • Licensed mental health counselor and healthcare administrator

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Washington elections, 2017

This Washington school board election in 2017 shared the ballot with elections for:[1]

  • County council
  • Port of Bellingham commissioner
  • City council
  • Fire protection district
  • Water district
  • Cemetery district

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for this Washington school board election in 2017:

Endorsements

Jenn Mason received official endorsements from the Whatcom Democrats, 40th District Democrats, 42nd District Democrats, Young Democrats of Whatcom County, Riveters Collective, Bellingham City Council members April Barker, Dan Hammill, Roxanne Murphy, and Pinky Vargas, Whatcom County Council member Ken Mann, former school board member Dr. Ken Gass, and former Mayor Dan Pike.[6] Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

Reports

All candidates in this race opted for mini reporting, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.[7]

General information

See also: Campaign finance requirements in Washington and List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017
Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png

Washington school board candidates must file a statement of organization within two weeks of filing for office. A statement of organization establishes a candidate's committee, treasurer, and bank the committee will use for its transactions.[8]

Candidates who raise and spend no more than $5,000 in aggregate and who do not receive more than $500 from any one contributor, including themselves, can participate in mini reporting. These candidates must keep a record of their contributors and expenditures but they are not required to report them unless they exceed the stated thresholds. In those cases, they must switch their filing status from mini to full reporting.[9]

The table below details campaign finance deadlines for 2017 Washington school board candidates:

Past elections

What was at stake?

Washington state seal.png

Education budget adds $7.3 billion to public school funding

Washington added $7.3 billion over four years to public school funding with the budget signed by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on June 30, 2017. The funding was passed to comply with the 2012 McLeary v. State of Washington decision which ruled that the state was violating its state constitutional duty to fund K-12 education.[10]

Under the plan, property taxes were raised in areas with high property values, while taxes in other areas were decreased. These raises accounted for approximately $4 billion of the total $7.3 billion. According to state Sen. Kevin Ranker (D), the property tax increases would add approximately $400 a year to the average Washington household's taxes.[11]

Budget details

Washington teachers can receive two salaries: one from the state government and one from their school district. The new budget provisions included a minimum starting state salary for teachers of $40,000 (with adjustment for inflation and regional discrepancies), which was a 17 percent increase. The average minimum salary for instructional staff was $64,000 under the plan. School districts could also issue a salary over the previous maximum of $90,000 by up to 10 percent for educational staff associates or instructors who teach science, technology, engineering, and math, or in bilingual or special education programs. Below are a few other details of the new measure, according to Q13 Fox:

“
  • There’s a mandatory 10 percent [salary] increase after 5 years of employment.
  • Starting in 2020-21, the minimum state allocations for salaries must be adjusted annually for inflation.
  • Starting with the 2023 session, and every six years after that, the Legislature must review compensation to make sure they are adequate based on the market and economic differences between school districts.[12][13]
 ”
Reactions

“It’s absolutely helping the middle class and 73% of Washington,” state Sen. John Braun (R) said about the budget. He also said that it found a solution to comply with the McLeary ruling fairly. State Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D) disagreed. “It’s a stressful situation; it looks like property taxes are a major component of this and I think it’s safe to say it’s a Democratic budget with a Republican tax plan,” Carlyle said. He called the budget “the good, bad and the ugly.”[12]

McLeary v. State of Washington

The 2017 budget was passed in light of the McLeary ruling. When the decision was made in 2012, the Washington Supreme Court ordered the state to fully fund K-12 education by 2018. In September 2014, the Court held Washington in contempt for not making adequate progress. After the state still did not make adequate progress and produce a plan to comply with the Court's orders in 2015, the Supreme Court fined the state $100,000 a day until it complied.[10] Those fines totaled $80.3 million as of October 24, 2017.[14]

The State Supreme Court heard oral arguments on that day to determine whether or not the additional funding was enough for the state to be in full compliance with the court's ruling. An attorney for the state argued that the newest education budget was enough to pay for what the state's constitution calls for: a basic education for each child in Washington. The plaintiffs' lawyer argued that the Legislature was still far removed from reaching that goal. As of October 26, 2017, the court had not made a final decision.[15]

Report a story for this election

Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.

Candidate survey

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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey.
Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Bellingham School District, Washington
Bellingham School District is located in Whatcom County, Washington.

Bellingham School District is located in Whatcom County in northwestern Washington. The seat of county government is Bellingham. Whatcom County was home to an estimated 216,800 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[16] The district was the 29th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 11,117 students.[17]

Demographics

Whatcom County underperformed compared to Washington as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 32.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 32.9 percent for all state residents. The median household income in the county was $53,145, while it was $61,062 for the entire state. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 14.4 percent, while that rate was 12.2 percent for all state residents.[16]

Racial Demographics, 2015[18]
Race Whatcom County (%) Washington (%)
White 87.0 80.3
Black or African American 1.2 4.1
American Indian and Alaska Native 3.2 1.9
Asian 4.4 8.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.3 0.7
Two or More Races 3.8 4.6
Hispanic or Latino 9.2 12.4

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 Bellingham School District Washington election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Bellingham School District elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Bellingham School District Washington School Boards
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Seal of Washington.png
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Whatcom County, "Candidate Ballot Order for Primary and General Election 2017," accessed May 24, 2017
  2. ↑ Washington State School Directors' Association, "Running for school board," accessed June 5, 2017
  3. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Voter Eligibility," accessed June 10, 2014
  4. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Voters," accessed June 10, 2014
  5. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Frequently Asked Questions on Voting by Mail," accessed June 5, 2017
  6. ↑ Jenn Mason 2017 campaign website, "Endorsements," accessed September 27, 2017
  7. ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission, "Local Candidates," accessed October 10, 2017
  8. ↑ Washington Election Code, "Chapter 42.17A.205," accessed March 10, 2014
  9. ↑ Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, "New Candidates," accessed June 22, 2017
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Network for Excellence in Washington Schools, "‘The State has consistently failed to provide adequate funding’," accessed July 3, 2017
  11. ↑ Seattle Times, "New Washington state budget would provide $7.3B more to public schools over four years," June 29, 2017
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Q13 Fox, "Budget: Biggest education reform in state history will rely heavily on property taxes," June 29, 2017
  13. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  14. ↑ Seattle Times, "Live updates from Washington State Supreme Court hearing on $7.3 billion education budget," October 24, 2017
  15. ↑ Union-Bulletin, "Wash. Supreme Court justices appear frustrated at McCleary hearing," accessed October 26, 2017
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 U.S. Census, "Quick Facts: Whatcom County," accessed June 7, 2017
  17. ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
  18. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Census
Bellingham School District elections in 2017
Whatcom County, Washington
Election date:November 7, 2017
Candidates:Position 4: Teri Hill-McIntyre • Jenn Mason
Position 5: Incumbent, Douglas Benjamin
Important information:What was at stake?
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