Birmingham City Schools elections (2017)

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2021 → ← 2013
Birmingham City Schools Elections
General election date
August 22, 2017
Runoff election date
October 3, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
24,449 students

All nine seats on the Birmingham City Schools Board of Education in Alabama were up for by-district election on August 22, 2017. Runoff elections for Districts 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8 were scheduled for October 3, 2017, after no candidates in those races received a majority of the votes. District 1 former candidate Douglas Ragland defeated newcomer Cedric Small. District 4 incumbent Daagye Hendricks was re-elected after facing former board member Edward Maddox. Newcomer Michael Millsap defeated fellow newcomer David McKinney for the District 5 seat. In District 7, Patricia Spigner McAdory won the seat over Walter Wilson. Sonja Smith defeated Patricia Bozeman-Henderson for the District 8 seat.

Three of the four incumbents who ran for re-election retained their seats. Two incumbents, Cheri Gardner in District 6 and Sandra Brown in District 9, were re-elected in the general election. District 4 incumbent Daagye Hendricks won another term in the runoff election. Incumbent Wardine Alexander was defeated by two challengers and did not advance to the runoff election.

Also elected were six newcomers: Douglas Ragland (District 1), Terri Michal (District 2), Mary Boehm (District 3), Michael Millsap (District 5), Patricia Spigner McAdory (District 7), and Sonja Smith (District 8). Click here for more details about these races.

The general election drew 32 candidates, including four incumbents, eight former candidates, and one former board member. Thirty-one candidates appeared on the ballot. The 2017 general election drew more candidates per seat than the 2013 election. In that year, 26 candidates ran for the district's nine seats and four of the six incumbents who ran were re-elected.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Birmingham City Board of Education consists of nine members elected by district to four-year terms. All nine seats were up for general election on August 22, 2017.

School board candidates had to submit a statement of candidacy to the Jefferson County Judge of Probate Alan King along with a qualifying fee of $100 by July 7, 2017. Each candidate had to be 18 years or older, a resident of the district in which they were running for at least 90 days, and a registered voter. To cast a ballot in the election, citizens had to register 14 days before the election, or by August 8, 2017. For information regarding voter identification requirements in Alabama, please click here.

District 1

Runoff results

Birmingham City Schools, District 1 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Douglas Ragland	51.73%	2,319
Cedric Small	48.27%	2,164
Total Votes		4,483
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "General Municipal Runoff Official Report," accessed October 11, 2017

Runoff Candidates

Douglas Ragland		Cedric Small
	Former candidate

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Cedric Small	37.12%	1,498
Douglas Ragland	25.45%	1,027
Jerry Tate	20.22%	816
Keith Rice	10.36%	418
Bennie Holmes	6.86%	277
Total Votes		4,036
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

General candidates

Bennie Holmes		Douglas Ragland		Keith Rice
			Former candidate		Former candidate

Cedric Small		Jerry Tate
			Former candidate

District 2

Results

Birmingham City Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Terri Michal	50.15%	1,719
Brandon McCray	49.85%	1,709
Total Votes		3,428
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

Candidates

Terri Michal		Brandon McCray

District 3

Results

Birmingham City Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mary Boehm	70.97%	2,763
Larry Contri	29.03%	1,130
Total Votes		3,893
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

Candidates

Mary Boehm		Larry Contri
			Former interim superintendent (2016-2017)

District 4

Runoff results

Birmingham City Schools, District 4 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Daagye Hendricks Incumbent	51.22%	2,185
Edward Maddox	48.78%	2,081
Total Votes		4,266
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "General Municipal Runoff Official Report," accessed October 11, 2017

Runoff candidates

Daagye Hendricks		Edward Maddox
	Incumbent		Former board member (2009-2012)

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Edward Maddox	46.91%	1,791
Daagye Hendricks Incumbent	34.28%	1,309
Amber Courtney	18.81%	718
Total Votes		3,818
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

General candidates

This symbol, , next to a candidate's name indicates his or her participation in Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. Click the image next to a candidate's name to jump to their page detailing their responses.

Daagye Hendricks		Amber Courtney		Edward Maddox
	Incumbent				Former board member (2009-2012)

District 5

Runoff results

Birmingham City Schools, District 5 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michael Millsap	56.57%	2,571
David McKinney	43.43%	1,974
Total Votes		4,545
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "General Municipal Runoff Official Report," accessed October 11, 2017

Runoff candidates

Michael Millsap		David McKinney

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michael Millsap	30.16%	1,236
David McKinney	15.40%	631
Martha McDowell	13.84%	567
Aaisha Muhammad	11.62%	476
Angela Scoggins-Watson	9.18%	376
Andrea Mitchell	8.13%	333
Eloise Manning Crenshaw	8.05%	330
Buford Burks	3.64%	149
Total Votes		4,098
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

General candidates

Martha McDowell		Michael Millsap		Aaisha Muhammad		Eloise Manning Crenshaw
	Former candidate
David McKinney		Buford Burks		Andrea Mitchell		Angela Scoggins-Watson

District 6

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Cheri Gardner Incumbent	79.22%	2,947
Ervin Philemon Hill Sr.	20.78%	773
Total Votes		3,720
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

Candidates

Cheri Gardner		Ervin Philemon Hill Sr.		Lavon Beard
	Incumbent		Former candidate		Withdrew Former candidate

District 7

Runoff results

Birmingham City Schools, District 7 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Patricia Spigner McAdory	60.01%	3,055
Walter Wilson	39.99%	2,036
Total Votes		5,091
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "General Municipal Runoff Official Report," accessed October 11, 2017

Runoff candidates

Patricia Spigner McAdory		Walter Wilson

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Patricia Spigner McAdory	40.21%	1,837
Walter Wilson	33.53%	1,532
Wardine Alexander Incumbent	26.26%	1,200
Total Votes		4,569
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

General candidates

This symbol, , next to a candidate's name indicates his or her participation in Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. Click the image next to a candidate's name to jump to their page detailing their responses.

Wardine Alexander		Patricia Spigner McAdory		Walter Wilson
	Incumbent

District 8

Runoff results

Birmingham City Schools, District 8 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sonja Smith	63.67%	2,837
Patricia Bozeman-Henderson	36.33%	1,619
Total Votes		4,456
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "General Municipal Runoff Official Report," accessed October 11, 2017

Runoff candidates

Patricia Bozeman-Henderson		Sonja Smith
	Former candidate

General results

Birmingham City Schools, District 8 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sonja Smith	31.46%	1,253
Patricia Bozeman-Henderson	29.58%	1,178
Tyrone Silmon	27.44%	1,093
Antwon Womack	11.52%	459
Total Votes		3,983
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

General candidates

Antwon Womack		Patricia Bozeman-Henderson
	Former candidate		Former candidate
Tyrone Silmon		Sonja Smith

District 9

Results

Birmingham City Schools, District 9 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sandra Brown Incumbent	68.10%	3,136
Lawrence Jackson	31.90%	1,469
Total Votes		4,605
Source: Birmingham, Alabama, "Official Summary Report: City of Birmingham Mayoral Election," accessed September 5, 2017

Candidates

Sandra Brown		Lawrence Jackson
	Incumbent

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Alabama elections, 2017

The Birmingham City Schools Board of Education election shared the ballot with the city of Birmingham's municipal elections.

Key deadlines

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

Deadline	Event
July 7, 2017	Candidate filing deadline
August 8, 2017	Deadline to register to vote
August 22, 2017	General election
October 3, 2017	Runoff election

Endorsements

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

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

All candidates for office in the state of Alabama are required to file a campaign finance report if they receive contributions or make expenditures in excess of $1,000, according to the Fair Campaign Practices Act.

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2013 See also: Birmingham City Schools elections (2013) District 1 Birmingham City Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Sherman Collins Jr. 30.3% 970      Nonpartisan Douglas Ragland 27% 862      Nonpartisan Tyrone H. Belcher Sr. Incumbent 24.4% 780      Nonpartisan Jerry Tate 18.3% 585 Total Votes 3,197 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 Birmingham City Schools, District 1 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Sherman Collins Jr. 62.8% 544      Nonpartisan Douglas Ragland 37.2% 322 Total Votes 866 Source: MyFoxAL.com, "Birmingham Election Run Off Results," accessed October 9, 2013 District 2 Birmingham City Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Lyord Watson Jr. 62% 1,510      Nonpartisan Virginia S. Volker Incumbent 38% 927 Total Votes 2,437 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 District 3 Due to lack of opposition, this election was canceled and Brian Giattina was automatically re-elected. District 4 Birmingham City Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Gwen Sykes 41.3% 1,235      Nonpartisan Daagye Hendricks 39.6% 1,185      Nonpartisan Rodney Huntley 19.1% 570 Total Votes 2,990 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 Birmingham City Schools, District 4 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Daagye Hendricks 73.8% 730      Nonpartisan Gwen Sykes 26.2% 259 Total Votes 989 Source: MyFoxAL.com, "Birmingham Election Run Off Results," accessed October 9, 2013 District 5 Birmingham City Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Randall L. Woodfin 70.4% 1,821      Nonpartisan Martha Casey McDowell 29.6% 766 Total Votes 2,587 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 District 6 Birmingham City Schools, District 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Cheri A. Gardner 35.2% 1,231      Nonpartisan Gwendolyn Thomas Bell 25.7% 898      Nonpartisan Lavon Beard 17.1% 598      Nonpartisan Ervin Philemon Hill Sr. 12.9% 450      Nonpartisan Joy A. Smith 9.2% 320 Total Votes 3,497 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 Birmingham City Schools, District 6 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Cheri A. Gardner 65.1% 600      Nonpartisan Gwendolyn Thomas Bell 34.9% 322 Total Votes 922 Source: MyFoxAL.com, "Birmingham Election Run Off Results," accessed October 9, 2013 District 7 Birmingham City Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Wardine T. Alexander Incumbent 51.2% 1,911      Nonpartisan Lawrence Jackson 39.6% 1,480      Nonpartisan Darius Moore 9.2% 343 Total Votes 3,734 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 District 8 Birmingham City Schools, District 8 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan April Myers Williams Incumbent 58.1% 1,785      Nonpartisan Patricia Bozeman-Henderson 34.9% 1,071      Nonpartisan Antwon B. Womack 7% 216 Total Votes 3,072 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013 District 9 Birmingham City Schools, District 9 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Sandra K. Brown Incumbent 70.4% 2,717      Nonpartisan Emanuel B. Ford 29.6% 1,142 Total Votes 3,859 Source: Birmingham Office of the City Clerk, "City Election - August 27, 2013," accessed August 28, 2013

What was at stake?

Election trends

See also: School boards in session: 2016 in brief

As only four incumbents chose to run for re-election, the 2017 Birmingham City Schools Board of Education election was guaranteed to add five newcomers to the board. There was an increase in the number of candidates running per seat, from 2.89 candidates per seat in 2013 to 3.56 candidates per seat in 2017.

Six races drew three or more candidates in 2017—eight candidates filed to run for the open District 5 seat. In the 2013 races, five races drew three or more candidates and District 6 had the highest number of candidates, with five candidates appearing on the ballot.

School board election trends
Year	Candidates per seat	Unopposed seats	Incumbents running for re-election	Incumbent success rate	Seats won by newcomers
Birmingham City Schools
2017	3.56	0.00%	44.44%	75.00%	66.67%
2013	2.89	11.11%	66.67%	66.67%	55.56%
Alabama
2016	1.85	40.74%	85.18%	73.91%	37.04%
United States
2016	1.90	34.05%	71.31%	82.39%	41.04%

Report a story for this election

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Candidate survey

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Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Birmingham City Schools, Alabama

Birmingham City Schools is located in Jefferson County, Alabama.

The Birmingham City Schools school district is located in north-central Alabama in Jefferson County. The county seat is Birmingham. The county was home to an estimated 659,521 residents between 2011 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the fifth-largest school district in the state in the 2014–2015 school year and served 24,449 students.

Demographics

Jefferson County overperformed in comparison to the rest of Alabama in terms of higher education achievement from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.8 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 23.5 percent of state residents. The median household income in Jefferson County was $45,610, while it was $43,623 for Alabama. The county poverty rate was 18.0 percent, compared to the state's 18.5 percent.

Racial Demographics, 2011-2015
Race	Jefferson County (%)	Alabama (%)
White	53.4	69.3
Black or African American	43.4	26.8
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.3	0.7
Asian	1.7	1.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Two or More Races	1.2	1.6
Hispanic or Latino	3.7	4.2

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 Birmingham City Schools Alabama election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Birmingham City Schools elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Birmingham City Schools	Alabama	School Boards
Birmingham City Schools elections (2013) List of school districts in Alabama	Alabama school board elections, 2017 Public education in Alabama Local ballot measures, Alabama	School board elections, 2017 School board elections, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2017 School board election data analysis, 2016

External links

• Birmingham City Schools
• Birmingham city clerk