Beloit School District elections (2015)
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Two seats on the Beloit Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. A primary election would have been held on February 17, 2015, if more than two candidates had filed per seat.
Two at-large board incumbents were up for re-election. The terms of Missy Henderson and Mark Rand ended in April 2015. Rand did not file for re-election, leaving Henderson to run against three candidates, Lisa Anderson-Levy, Dennis Baskin and Kenneth Streeter II, for two seats.[1]
Unofficial vote totals indicated Anderson-Levy and Baskin as the top two vote-getters, with only seven votes separating Baskin and Henderson.[2]
About the district
- See also: Beloit School District, Wisconsin
Beloit School District is located in southern Wisconsin in Rock County. The county seat is Janesville. In 2013, Rock County was home to approximately 160,739 residents according to estimates by the United States Census Bureau.[3] During the 2010-2011 school year, Beloit School District was the 20th-largest school district in Wisconsin and served 6,967 students.[4]
Demographics
Rock County underperformed in comparison to the rest of Wisconsin in terms of higher education achievement in 2010. The United States Census Bureau found that 19.5 percent of Rock County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 26.4 percent for Wisconsin as a whole. Between 2008 and 2012, the median household income in Rock County was $50,316. During that same time period, the median household income for the entire state was $52,627. The poverty rate in Rock County was 13.5 percent from 2008 to 2012, compared to 12.5 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.
Voter and candidate information
The Beloit Board of Education consists of seven members who are elected at-large on a staggered basis to three-year terms. If more than two candidates had filed for any board position, a primary election would have been held on February 17, 2015. Because only four candidates filed for two seats, all four advanced to the general election on April 7, 2015.
To be elected to the board, candidates must reside in the boundaries of the school district for 28 days prior to the filing of a "Declaration of Candidacy" form. Furthermore, at the time of taking office, each candidate must be a resident of the apportioned area he or she is elected to represent.[6] Candidates must also be 18 years old and citizens of the United States. Unless pardoned, those who have been convicted of a felony are not eligible for election to office in Wisconsin.[7]
Candidates had between December 1, 2014, and January 6, 2015, to collect 20 signatures for their nomination papers. The signatures had to come from residents of the district that the candidate sought election to represent, but the petition circulators were not required to reside in the district or municipality. Circulators were required to be U.S. citizens and 18 years or older.[8]
Residents could register to vote in the election at the polling place on the election day. Proof of residence was required when registering to vote.[9] In March 2015, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Wisconsin's voter ID law allowing it to take effect. However, Wisconsin officials stated they would not enforce the law until after the election on April 7, 2015. No photo identification was required to vote in this election.[10]
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
- Missy Henderson
- Incumbent
- Graduate, University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin
- Former social worker
- Volunteer, Todd Elementary School
- Lisa Anderson-Levy
- Professor, Beloit College
- Beloit School District parent
- Dennis Baskin
- Graduate, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Kenneth Streeter II
- Beloit School District parent
Election results
| Beloit School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Lisa Anderson-Levy |
33.1% | 1,802 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dennis Baskin |
27.5% | 1,498 | |
| Nonpartisan | Missy Henderson Incumbent | 27.3% | 1,489 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kenneth Streeter II | 12.2% | 663 | |
| Total Votes | 5,452 | |||
| Source: Rock County Clerk, "2015 Spring NonPartisan Election," accessed May 27, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
Missy Henderson and Lisa Anderson-Levy were endorsed by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE).[11] Henderson was also endorsed by the Beloit Education Association, the Rock County Labor Coalition, the Southern Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council and United Steelworkers 1533.[12]
Campaign finance
Candidates were only required to file campaign finance reports if they did one of the following:
- accepted contributions, made disbursements or incurred obligations in an aggregate amount of more than $1,000 in a calendar year
- accepted more than $100 from a single source in the calendar year, except contributions made by candidates to their own campaigns
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the district
Board of Education opposes governor's proposed budget
The Beloit Board of Education sent a resolution to state lawmakers in March 2015 declaring their opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's (R) proposed budget. If passed, the proposed budget would result in a $1,096,050 decrease in funds for the district, according to Executive Director of Business Services Janelle Marotz.[13]
“A reasonable biennium budget is critical to Beloit schools and school districts across the state,” said Co-Superintendent Dr. Tom Johnson.[13]
According to Board President John Winkelmann, this decrease in funds would result in a total of $5 million in cuts for the district. District officials say they support the Fair Funding for the Future plan that was proposed by Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers. The plan called for $200 per pupil for the 2015-2016 school year and $204 per pupil for the 2016-2017 school year.[13]
District calls for truancy task force
The Beloit City Council and the Beloit Board of Education joined forces in February 2015 to call for a task force to look into the district's 28 percent truancy rate. Though the percentage of truant students in the district has decreased by about 10 percentage points in recent years, interim co-superintendent Tom Johnson said the figure is still unacceptable.[14]
If a student misses five or more days of school in one semester without an excuse, he or she is considered habitually truant. According to Johnson, the district first gets involved after a student has two unexcused absences in a semester. That is when the district sends a letter to parents notifying them of the absences. After five unexcused absences, the district will try to work with the students to figure out why they are not going to class rather than automatically giving them a truancy citation.[14]
The district uses the Student Intervention Team (SIT) and the Students of Concern Meetings programs to deal with truancy issues. Both programs meet once per week to focus on issues in the district. Students of Concern Meetings deal explicitly with truancy issues.[14]
The city of Beloit has a number of programs to work on truancy issues as well, such as the Juvenile First Time Offender Program (JFTO), the Second Chance Program, the Daytime Curfew Program and the Underage Alcohol Program. Of those programs, JFTO has been the most successful, according to Beloit City Attorney Elizabeth Krueger.[14]
Superintendent retires
After 36 years in the education field, Beloit's Superintendent Steve McNeal retired in March 2015. He served the district for three and a half years before submitting his resignation in December 2014. McNeal planned to finish out the school year and officially retire on June 30, 2014, but in January 2015, he announced he would be moving up his retirement to March.[15][16][17]
Rather than hire an interim superintendent, the Beloit Board of Education voted to have an administrative team take over the duties of the superintendent. The team includes four administrators, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Lynee Tourdot, Executive Director of Business Services Janelle Marotz, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Tom Johnson and Special Education Director Emily Pelz. Johnson acts as one of two co-superintendents with Dr. Pamela Kiefert, a retired administrator who previously worked in the district as a teacher, an executive director of curriculum and an interim co-superintendent during the 2005-2006 school year. The team's new duties began January 30, 2015, when McNeal left. He acted as a consultant until he officially retired in March 2015.[17][18]
McNeal's resignation came after the school board issued him a formal reprimand for using an offensive image at a school convocation and a community protest in the fall of 2014 asked him to step down. McNeal said those events did somewhat influence his decision to retire and leave the education field. He started a new job with Corporate Contractors, Inc. to assist school districts in construction project strategies. He started this new job while he was still working as superintendent, which caused "quite a stir," according to McNeal. That backlash influenced his decision to move up the date of his retirement from the district.[15][16]
According to John Acomb, vice president of the school board, McNeal set up the district "beautifully," helping them navigate increased enrollment and new construction projects with funds from a 2012 referendum. Acomb said the district will be looking for a new superintendent who can help them address diversity concerns.[15]
Grant program looks to diversify teaching staff
Beloit School District is looking to implement a minority-recruitment scholarship program, and a $5,000 grant from the National Education Association is going to help them get started.[19]
The scholarship program is designed to award scholarships to Beloit students who agree to major in education and, after graduation, apply for teaching positions in their home school district. A similar program is already underway in the Janesville School District. The reason behind the program is that there is a clear link between student learning and staff diversity, according to Tim Vedra, president of the Beloit Education Association, and the demographics of Beloit's teaching staff doesn't match its students.[19]
The grant from the National Education Association helped pay for fundraising for the program as well as administration costs to increase the scope of the program.[19] The district does not plan to implement the program until a minimum of $50,000 has been raised, in order to ensure students will be fully funded throughout their college education.[20]
Though the district planned to start the program for the 2015-2016 school year, a lack of funding may cause the district to delay its implementation.[20]
Key deadlines
The following were key deadlines for the Beloit School District election in 2015:[8][21]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| December 1, 2014 | Candidate signature gathering period began |
| January 6, 2015 | Signature submission deadline at 5 p.m. |
| February 9, 2015 | Campaign finance report due |
| February 17, 2015 | Primary election day |
| March 30, 2015 | Campaign finance report due |
| April 7, 2015 | Election Day |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Wisconsin elections, 2015
One seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was up for election on April 7, 2015. The general election for city and county offices was also on that date. Statewide, a constitutional amendment question regarding the selection of the state's supreme court chief justice was on the ballot.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Beloit + School + District + Wisconsin"
See also
| Beloit School District | Wisconsin | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, Phone communication with the Beloit School District Office of the Superintendent," January 7, 2015
- ↑ Rock County Clerk, "2015 Spring NonPartisan Election," accessed April 7, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Rock County, Wisconsin," accessed September 10, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed January 27, 2014
- ↑ Government Accountability Board, "Wisconsin Election Results," accessed January 28, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Wisconsin Candidate Eligibility," accessed September 22, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Candidates: Getting on the Ballot," accessed September 22, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wisconsin State Legislature, "State Statutes: CHAPTER 8," accessed September 22, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Voter Registration," accessed September 22, 2014
- ↑ The New York Times, "Wisconsin Decides Not to Enforce Voter ID Law," March 23, 2015
- ↑ AFL-CIO, "April 2015 COPE Endorsed Candidates," accessed April 1, 2015
- ↑ Missy Henderson, "Endorsements," accessed April 3, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Beloit Daily News, "Schools oppose Walker budget," March 13, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Beloit Daily News, "City, schools consider strategies for truancy," February 24, 2015
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Channel 3000, "Beloit superintendent retires for private sector," December 16, 2014
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Beloit Daily News, "McNeal moves up retirement," January 8, 2015
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Beloit Daily News, "Superintendent departure date coming sooner," January 21, 2015
- ↑ Rock County Channel 3000, "Board of Education names two Beloit interim co-superintendents," February 6, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Channel 3000, "Grant will help Beloit diversify teaching staff," December 4, 2014
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Beloit Daily News, "Minority teacher scholarship in need of funds," January 26, 2015
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT DATES," accessed September 22, 2014
| 2015 Beloit School District Elections | |
| Rock County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | General election - April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Missy Henderson • Lisa Anderson-Levy • Dennis Baskin • Kenneth Streeter II |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
