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Betts Putnam-Hidalgo
Betts Putnam-Hidalgo was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Tucson Unified School District school board in Arizona. Putnam-Hidalgo was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Putnam-Hidalgo was a candidate for at-large representative on the Tucson school board in the general election on November 4, 2014. She lost the general election.
In 2012, Putnam-Hidalgo also ran unsuccessfully for the board. While the board is a nonpartisan political body, Putnam-Hidalgo is a Democrat.[1]
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the Tucson Unified School District school board were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Incumbents Kristel Foster, Cam Juarez, and Mark Stegeman filed for re-election and were joined by four challengers: Lori Riegel, Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, Rachael Sedgwick, and Brett Rustand. Stegeman and Foster won additional terms on the board and were joined in their victory by Sedgwick. There was no primary.[2][3]
Results
| Tucson Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Mark Stegeman Incumbent |
16.41% | 57,466 |
| Kristel Foster Incumbent |
15.52% | 54,352 |
| Rachael Sedgwick |
14.34% | 50,205 |
| Betts Putnam-Hidalgo | 14.14% | 49,519 |
| Brett Rustand | 13.62% | 47,683 |
| Cam Juarez Incumbent | 13.55% | 47,444 |
| Lori Riegel | 11.92% | 41,734 |
| Write-in votes | 0.49% | 1,721 |
| Total Votes (100) | 350,124 | |
| Source: Pima County Elections Department, "Offiical Canvass," accessed December 7, 2016 | ||
Funding
School board candidates in Arizona were not required to file a campaign finance report if they did not raise or spend more than $500. If they planned to stay under this threshold, they were permitted to file an exemption statement. This rendered them exempt from all other campaign finance reporting, provided they did not exceed the $500 threshold. Otherwise, candidates were not required to file any report until they raised or spent more than the threshold limit. At that point, they had to file a Statement of Organization within five business days from when the threshold was reached. The pre-general campaign finance report was due November 4, 2016. All campaign finance filing was handled by the Arizona Secretary of State.[4]
Endorsements
Putnam-Hidalgo was endorsed by TUSD Kids First.[5]
2014
Incumbents Michael Hicks and Adelita Grijalva faced a wide field of challengers in the November 4, 2014, general election. Don Cotton, Jen Darland, Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, Debe Campos-Fleenor, Francis Saitta, Rene Bernal and Miguel Cuevas ran to unseat the at-large board members.[6]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Adelita Grijalva Incumbent |
19.5% | 34,347 | |
| Nonpartisan | Michael Hicks Incumbent |
16.3% | 28,708 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jen Darland | 16% | 28,191 | |
| Nonpartisan | Don Cotton | 10.7% | 18,944 | |
| Nonpartisan | Debe Campos-Fleenor | 10% | 17,647 | |
| Nonpartisan | Betts Putnam-Hidalgo | 9.6% | 16,927 | |
| Nonpartisan | Rene Bernal | 8.7% | 15,424 | |
| Nonpartisan | Miguel Cuevas | 6.6% | 11,581 | |
| Nonpartisan | Francis Saitta | 2.2% | 3,952 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.3% | 585 | |
| Total Votes | 176,306 | |||
| Source: Pima County Elections, "Official Results," accessed December 30, 2014 | ||||
Funding
As of October 28, 2014, Putnam-Hidalgo had reported $6,303.29 in contributions and $2,196.85 in expenditures according to the Pima County Elections Department, which left her campaign with $4,106.44 on hand.[7]
Endorsements
Putnam-Hidalgo was endorsed by the Arizona Daily Star.[8]
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Kristel Ann Foster |
13% | 41,372 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mark Stegeman Incumbent |
12.4% | 39,538 | |
| Nonpartisan | Cam S. Juarez |
10.6% | 33,863 | |
| Nonpartisan | Miguel Cuevas Incumbent | 9.6% | 30,757 | |
| Nonpartisan | Debe Campos-Fleenor | 9% | 28,776 | |
| Nonpartisan | John A. Hunnicutt | 8.9% | 28,326 | |
| Nonpartisan | Betts Putnam-Hidalgo | 8.1% | 25,802 | |
| Nonpartisan | Don Cotton | 7.7% | 24,418 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ralph E. Ellinwood | 7% | 22,287 | |
| Nonpartisan | Alexandre Sugiyama | 6.5% | 20,609 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Medler | 4.7% | 14,874 | |
| Nonpartisan | Menelik Bakari | 2.2% | 6,993 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 1,406 | |
| Total Votes | 319,021 | |||
| Source: Pima County Elections Department, "General Election November 6, 2012, Results," accessed August 29, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2014
Putnam-Hidalgo provided the following statement to the Pima County School Superintendent's office:
| “ | Apoyo la educación pública de todas las maneras que puedo.
Durante ocho años, he participado en todas las escuelas del TUSD a las que, Danilo, mi hijo ha asistido. He estado en Consejos de Centro y en PTOs, en SCPC y en comités de distrito. He enseñado Exploración del Exterior a niños e Inglés como Segundo Idioma a padres. Como una persona que habla inglés y español, he trabajado duro para hacer significativa la participación de los padres. He organizado encuestas bilingües, organizado grupos diversos de padres, invitado a vecinos a las reuniones escolares y de la comunidad caminando en los vecindarios y llamando a las puertas y he trabajado como una Representante de la Comunidad. Hace cinco años, fui parte de un diverso grupo de padres que se opuso con éxito al cierre de la escuela de primaria de Danilo. Comencé a asistir a las reuniones de la Junta y nunca me detuve. Asistiendo a las reuniones y siendo voluntaria, estudié el proceso de la Junta del TUSD y vi sus políticas desarrollándose en las escuelas para lo mejor o lo peor. Aprendí que las buenas ideas pueden venir de cualquiera; tu oponente en el último asunto puede ser tu aliado en el próximo. Aprendí a mantener el enfoque en mejorar la calidad de la educación para todos los estudiantes. Si soy elegida, trabajaré para:
• Reducir el tamaño de las clase de K al 3 Para mejorar la educación en el TUSD, también necesitamos aumentar nuestra credibilidad y volver a obtener un amplio apoyo de la comunidad. Aumentaremos la transparencia financiera del TUSD contratando un auditor interno independiente que reporte a la Junta. Colaborando con los vecindarios, negocios y los asociados comunitarios, ganaremos de nuevo la confianza de la gente cuyo apoyo no podemos permitirnos perder. Por ocho años, he trabajado en estos asuntos aquí en Tucson, aquí en el TUSD. He visto ir y venir a Juntas y a Superintendentes. Como participante activa de la audiencia, sé que nuestra Junta realmente necesita gente que haga las preguntas difíciles, que piense de forma creativa y que rechace dejar que los divisionistas juegos políticos determinen los importantes resultados que afectan a la vida de nuestros estudiantes y de nuestros maestros. La Junta del TUSD es un lugar para mejorar la educación de los estudiantes y el entorno educativo de los maestros, personal y administradores, no para el partidismo. No soy una aspirante política o cabildera buscando un trampolín de lanzamiento. Quiero estar en la Junta para trabajar juntos en los asuntos, para compartir mi liderazgo y visión.[9] |
” |
| —Betts Putnam-Hidalgo (2014)[10] | ||
| “ | I support public education in every way that I can. For eight years, I’ve participated in every TUSD school that my son, Danilo, attended. I’ve been on Site Councils and PTOs, in SCPC and district committees. I’ve taught Outdoor Inquiry to kids and ESL to parents. As an English and Spanish speaker, I’ve worked hard to make parent participation meaningful. I’ve put together bilingual surveys, organized diverse groups of parents, invited neighbors to school/community meetings by walking the neighborhood and knocking on doors, and worked as a Community Representative.
Five years ago, I was part of a diverse parent group that successfully opposed the closure of Danilo’s elementary school. I started to attend Board meetings and never stopped. Attending meetings and volunteering, I studied TUSD Board process and saw its policies roll out in schools, for better or worse. I learned that good ideas can come from anyone; your opponent on the last issue may be on ally on the next. I learned to keep the focus on improving the quality of education for all students. If elected, I will work to:
To improve education in TUSD, we also need to increase our credibility and regain broad community support. We’ll increase TUSD’s financial transparency by hiring an independent internal auditor who reports to the Board. By collaborating with neighborhoods, businesses, and the community partnerships, we’ll regain the trust of people whose support we can’t afford to lose. For eight years, I’ve worked on these issues right here in Tucson, right here at TUSD. I’ve seen Boards and Superintendents come and go. As an active audience participant, I know our Board really needs people who will ask the hard questions, who will think outside of the box and who will refuse to let divisive political games determine important outcomes that affect our students’ and our teachers’ lives. The TUSD Board is a place for improving student education and the workplace environment of teachers, staff and administrators, not for partisanship. I am not an aspiring politician or lobbyist looking for a stepping stone. I want to be on the Board to work together on issues, to share my leadership and vision.[9] |
” |
| —Betts Putnam-Hidalgo (2014)[10] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Betts Putnam-Hidalgo Tucson Unified School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Tucson Unified School District, Arizona
- Tucson Unified School District elections (2016)
- Tucson Unified School District elections (2014)
External links
- Betts Putnam-Hidalgo 2016 campaign website
- Tucson Unified School District
- Betts Putnam-Hidalgo 2014 Facebook campaign page
Footnotes
- ↑ Blog for Arizona, "5 of 7 Democratic TUSD board candidates to speak at DGT," September 13, 2014
- ↑ Pima County Schools, "School Board Candidates for General Election," accessed August 11, 2016
- ↑ Pima County, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016
- ↑ Arizona Campaign Finance Guide, "Questions & Answers," accessed October 6, 2016
- ↑ TUSD Kids First, "TUSD Kids First announces Endorsements for the 2016 Tucson Unified School District Governing Board Election," September 15, 2016
- ↑ Pima County School Superintendent's Office, "Official list of 2014 governing board candidates," accessed August 18, 2014
- ↑ Pima County Elections Department, "Welcome to Campaign Finance Web," accessed October 28, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Daily Star, "Star 2014 general election endorsements," October 23, 2014
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pima County School Superintendent, "Governing Board Candidate Statement Tucson Unified School District No. 1: Betts Putnam-Hidalgo," accessed September 30, 2014
| 2016 Tucson Unified School District Elections | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Kristel Foster • Incumbent, Cam Juarez • Incumbent, Mark Stegeman • Lori Riegel • Betts Putnam-Hidalgo • Rachael Sedgwick • Brett Rustand |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
