Bentonville School District elections (2015)
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One seat on the Bentonville School District Board of Education was up for general election on September 15, 2015.
The seat of Zone 1 incumbent Rebecca Powers was up for election.[1] She defeated challenger Eowyn Francis-Moore.[2] In the last days of the campaign, a debate over the school's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy pitted Powers against supporters of Francis-Moore. Learn more about this debate here.
Francis-Moore participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
About the district
- See also: Bentonville School District, Arkansas
Bentonville School District is located in Benton County in northern Arkansas. The county seat is Bentonville. Benton County was home to 237,301 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] During the 2012-2013 school year, Bentonville School District was the fourth-largest school district in Arkansas and served 14,880 students.[4]
Demographics
Benton County outperformed the rest of Arkansas in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 28.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 20.1 percent for Arkansas as a whole. The median household income was $54,515 compared to $40,768 for the state of Arkansas. The poverty rate in Benton County was 12.2 percent compared to 19.2 percent for the entire state.[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 Bentonville School Board consists of seven members elected to five-year terms by geographic electoral districts. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on September 15, 2015. One seat was on the ballot in 2015.[6]
Individuals interested in running for the board began filing for candidacy on June 7, 2015. The filing deadline for the 2015 general election was July 7, 2015. Each candidate had to file a petition of candidacy, political practices pledge, affidavit of eligibility and nomination petitions with at least 20 valid signatures to the county clerk.[7]
Elections
2015
Candidates
Zone 1
Rebecca Powers 
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Eowyn Francis-Moore | ||
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Election results
This election was held September 15, 2015.
| Bentonville School District, Zone 1, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Rebecca Powers Incumbent |
82.8% | 202 |
| Eowyn Francis-Moore | 17.2% | 42 |
| Total Votes (71.4% of precincts reporting) | 244 | |
| Source: Benton County Clerk, "2015 Annual School Election," accessed September 15, 2015 | ||
Endorsements
No endorsements were made in this election.
Campaign finance
Candidates received a total of $4,831.00 and spent a total of $2,597.00 as of September 1, 2015, according to the Benton County Election Commission.[8]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the election
EEO policy and campaign donations
Zone 1 incumbent Rebecca Powers was part of a four-member majority who voted against inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class under the district's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy. Powers objected to repeated efforts to amend the policy based on religious grounds.[9] The August 2015 vote led Bentonville Public Schools Citizens for Equality, a group supporting the policy change, to back challenger Eowyn Francis-Moore in the September general election because they supported the proposed policy change. As the election concluded, Powers's acceptance of $1,000 apiece from Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar renewed discussion in the district about the ramifications of the EEO policy debate.[8]
The Duggars were featured in a television show called 19 Kids and Counting about the Springdale family's daily lives and Baptist faith.[10] The show was cancelled by TV network TLC earlier in 2015 due to an admission by oldest son Josh Duggar that he molested four of his sisters.[11][12] The donations to Powers represented nearly a quarter of the incumbent's $4,055 in reported contributions through September 1 compared to $776 in total contributions for Francis-Moore.[8] The Citizens for Equality criticized Powers for accepting the donations in a public statement:
| “ |
The substantial donation by the Duggars in a campaign for public school board of education in a district in which they do not reside signifies that this campaign, on their part, is less about electing the most qualified candidate and more about a specific religious and anti-gay political agenda. We question Ms. Powers' judgment in accepting the Duggar contribution, considering the diverse population for which she is seeking another term to serve. [13] |
” |
| —Citizens for Equality, (2015), [8] | ||
Powers responded to the group's criticisms in the following public statement:
| “ |
Many people have a continued love and respect for them in our community and around the nation and world...They have boldly stood for Christian family values. For Gretchen Bellamy, Amy Gillespie, Bentonville Citizens for Equality, and my opponent to come out and try to attack myself and the Duggar family at this time is typical, but not surprising due to their Name and Shame Campaign against me on their Facebook page. Their actions suggest they are against anyone who is a Christian, or anyone who supports Christian conservative values, who are also a part of the constituents in my zone. [13] |
” |
| —Rebecca Powers, (2015), [8] | ||
Ballotpedia survey responses
Eowyn Francis-Moore participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions.
Top priorities
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Francis-Moore stated:
| “ | My top priorities are building a 12th elementary school in West Bella Vista with capacity of at least 700 using funds the district already has and without going back to the tax payers. I am committed to finding creative solutions for the district's over crowding challenges while only rezoning when new schools open. Another top priority is improving graduation rates and implementing programs for at-risk students.[13] | ” |
| —Eowyn Francis-Moore (2015)[14] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays the candidates' rankings from most to least important:
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts education | |
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. Links to the candidates' responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Bentonville School District election in 2015:[1]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| June 7, 2015 | First day to file for place on general election ballot |
| July 7, 2015 | Last day to file for place on general election ballot |
| Last day for write-in candidates to file | |
| September 15, 2015 | General election day |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Arkansas elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with a proposed millage rate increase to fund district school improvements. The millage rate increase was approved with 56 percent of the vote.[15]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Bentonville School District Arkansas. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Bentonville School District | Arkansas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bentonville School District, "Board Member Contact Information," accessed January 26, 2015
- ↑ Arkansas Online, "Benton County school board races set," July 8, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Benton County, Arkansas," accessed July 17, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed February 18, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed July 17, 2014
- ↑ Bentonville Public Schools, "Board of Education Policies 2014-15," accessed August 12, 2015
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "2015 Annual School Board Election Dates," accessed August 12, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 ArkansasOnline, "Powers leads in money raised in Bentonville School Board race," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Arkansas Times, "UPDATE: Bentonville schools again to consider equal employment policy," June 1, 2015
- ↑ KNWA, "City of Springdale Responds to Duggar Claims," June 4, 2015
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Inside The Duggars' Deep Ties With A Once-Powerful, Now-Scorned Ministry," September 10, 2015
- ↑ KTLA, "Four of the 5 Girls Josh Duggar Molested Were His Sisters: Parents," June 3, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Eowyn Francis-Moore's responses," August 26, 2015
- ↑ Benton County Clerk, "2015 Annual School Election," September 15, 2015
| 2015 Bentonville School District Elections | |
| Benton County, Arkansas | |
| Election date: | September 15, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Zone 1: Incumbent, Rebecca Powers • Eowyn Francis-Moore |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
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