Boulder Valley School District elections (2017)
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Three of the seven seats on the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education in Colorado were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. In her bid for re-election, incumbent Tina Marquis ran unopposed and won re-election to the District B seat. Donna Miers, Raj Rawat, and Dean Vlachos ran for the open District E seat, and Alexandra Eddy and Kitty Sargent ran for the open District F seat. Miers and Sargent won election to the board.[1][2] Andrew Hendrickson initially filed to run for the District F seat, but he withdrew from the race.[3]
Miers, Rawat, and Sargent participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
The 2017 election attracted more candidates than the district's previous two elections. For information on election trends in the district, click here.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Boulder Valley Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis so that three or four seats are up for election every odd-numbered year in November. Though board members must run for seats in specific geographic districts, elections are held at large.[4]
To qualify to run for school board, candidates had to be residents of the school district and registered voters for a minimum of 12 consecutive months before the election. They also could not have been convicted of a sexual offense against a child. To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file nomination petitions containing 50 signatures of eligible voters in the school district by September 1, 2017.[5]
Colorado voters were allowed to register to vote through election day.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in Colorado.[7]
Candidates and results
District B
Results
| Boulder Valley School District, District B General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Tina Marquis Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 35,975 |
| Total Votes | 35,975 | |
| Source: Boulder County Elections, "2017 Coordinated Election November 7, 2017 Official Results," accessed November 27, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Tina Marquis 
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District E
Results
| Boulder Valley School District, District E General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Donna Miers |
47.17% | 19,893 |
| Dean Vlachos | 35.58% | 15,005 |
| Raj Rawat | 17.24% | 7,272 |
| Total Votes | 42,170 | |
| Source: Boulder County Elections, "2017 Coordinated Election November 7, 2017 Official Results," accessed November 27, 2017 | ||
Candidates
 Donna Miers
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Raj Rawat
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Dean Vlachos | |||
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District F
Results
| Boulder Valley School District, District F General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kitty Sargent |
66.87% | 23,559 |
| Alexandra Eddy | 33.13% | 11,672 |
| Total Votes | 35,231 | |
| Source: Boulder County Elections, "2017 Coordinated Election November 7, 2017 Official Results," accessed November 27, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Alexandra Eddy | Kitty Sargent
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Colorado elections, 2017
The Boulder Valley Board of Education election shared the ballot with elections for Boulder City Council and six ballot issues for the city.[8]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the 2017 Colorado school board elections.[9][10]
Endorsements
The Boulder Valley Education Association endorsed District B incumbent Tina Marquis, District E candidate Dean Vlachos, and District F candidate Kitty Sargent.[11] The Daily Camera endorsed District E candidate Donna Miers and District F candidate Alexandra Eddy.[12]
Vlachos and Sargent were also endorsed by the following elected officials:[13][14]
- State Rep. KC Becker (D-13)
- State Rep. Matt Gray (D-33)
- State Rep. Edie Hooton (D-10)
- Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett
Vlachos was also endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[13]
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Sargent was also endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[14]
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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
Candidates received a total of $26,419.05 and spent a total of $22,860.50 in the election, according to the Colorado Secretary of State.[15]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| District B | |||
| Tina Marquis | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| District E | |||
| Donna Miers | $4,430.00 | $4,430.00 | $0.00 |
| Raj Rawat | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Dean Vlachos | $10,700.00 | $10,700.00 | $0.00 |
| District F | |||
| Alexandra Eddy | $3,755.00 | $3,755.00 | $0.00 |
| Kitty Sargent | $7,534.05 | $3,975.50 | $3,558.55 |
Reporting requirements
School board candidates in Colorado were required to file three campaign finance reports. The reports were due on October 17, 2017, November 3, 2017, and December 7, 2017.[10]
Past elections
To see results from past elections in the Boulder Valley School District, click here.
What was at stake?
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. |
Survey responses
Three candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from District E candidates Donna Miers and Raj Rawat and District F candidate Kitty Sargent.
Hope to achieve
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Miers stated:
| “ | My priorities are: • Equity for our students, teachers, and parents including the correct targeted interventions and support systems • Quality instruction and learning environment, also with providing needed resources and support • Teacher retention, especially in this time of a shrinking pool of qualified candidates • Assure that our school district’s money is spent wisely and our budget is sustainable • Seek and develop common assessments so our district’s progress can be reliably monitored and measured • Providing the best professional development and new teacher training possible I believe that these are the things that move our students to academic proficiency. Two Years: In the next 2 years we must hire a new superintendent. We must look for the best qualified candidate that can lead us, encourage us, develop and implement plans that match our mission and vision and goals. Then, finally progress monitor these plans so that we can be assured we are moving our students to successful outcomes. I would support a superintendent candidate that agrees with my priorities and one who is not only capable of moving these forward, but shares my excitement and urgency. Five Years: In the next 5 years we must continue our bond work. We must create and manage a budget that is sustainable. We must hire and retain high quality teachers. We must narrow the achievement gap so that all students are moving toward successful outcomes. We must also provide growth opportunities for all of our students, not just the ones that struggle. Again, I believe that by embedding these priorities into our culture and practices, we can meet the instructional needs of all students.[16] | ” |
| —Donna Miers (October 12, 2017)[17] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Rawat stated:
| “ | Improve teacher quality of life, more career advancement options, more time for creative experimentation and entrepreneurial initiatives.[16] | ” |
| —Raj Rawat (September 23, 2017)[18] | ||
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Sargent stated:
| “ | I would like to do the following: heal the rift in the community resulting from the firing of the superintendent, expand full day kindergarten to all schools, expand preschool to all schools, improve outcomes in our lowest performing students.[16] | ” |
| —Kitty Sargent (September 27, 2017)[19] | ||
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 their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue | Miers' ranking (District E) |
Rawat's ranking (District E) |
Sargent's ranking (District F) | |
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The 2017 Boulder Valley Board of Education election attracted a higher average number of candidates per seat than the district's previous two elections attracted. Seven candidates ran for three seats in 2017 for an average of 2.33 candidates per seat. In 2013 every seat on the ballot was unopposed, so there was an average of one candidate per seat. In 2015 six candidates ran for four seats for an average of 1.5 candidates per seat.
The 2017 election was guaranteed to have a 100 percent incumbent success rate as the only incumbent who filed to run was unopposed. The district's 2013 and 2015 elections also had 100 percent incumbent success rates. The newcomers elected each of those years won open seats.
| School board election trends | ||||||
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| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Boulder Valley School District | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.33 | 33.33% | 33.33% | 100.00% | 66.67% | |
| 2015 | 1.50 | 50.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| 2013 | 1.00 | 100.00% | 66.67% | 100.00% | 33.33% | |
| Colorado | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.77 | 30.77% | 55.38% | 83.33% | 53.85% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
About the district
- See also: Boulder Valley School District, Colorado
The Boulder Valley School District is located in Boulder County in north-central Colorado. The county seat is Boulder. Boulder County was home to an estimated 322,226 residents in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[20] The district was the eighth-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 30,908 students.[21]
Demographics
Boulder County outperformed Colorado as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 58.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 38.1 percent of state residents. The median household income in the county was $70,961, compared to $60,629 statewide. The poverty rate in the county was 12.3 percent, while it was 11.5 percent for the entire state.[20]
| Racial Demographics, 2016[20] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Boulder County (%) | Colorado (%) |
| White | 90.7 | 87.5 |
| Black or African American | 1.1 | 4.5 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Asian | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Two or More Races | 2.7 | 3.0 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 13.8 | 21.3 |
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 Boulder Valley School District Colorado election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Boulder Valley School District | Colorado | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Boulder Valley School District, "BVSD BOE Candidate Information," accessed September 5, 2017
- ↑ Boulder County Elections, "2017 Coordinated Election November 7, 2017 Unofficial Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Boulder County Elections, "2017 Candidates and Ballot Issues," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Boulder Valley School District, "Board Members," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Association of School Boards, "2017 Elections School Board Candidate Guide," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Voter Registration FAQs," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Acceptable Forms of Identification," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ City of Boulder, "Election Information," accessed September 11, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "2017 Election Calendar," accessed August 28, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Colorado Secretary of State, "2017 Biennial School Election Calendar," accessed August 28, 2017
- ↑ Boulder Valley Education Association, "Press Release: BVEA releases recommendations for BVSD School Board Election 2017," September 7, 2017
- ↑ Daily Camera, "Editorial: For Boulder Valley School Board," October 10, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Dean Vlachos for BVSD School Board, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2017
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kitty Sargent BVSD School Board, "Endorsements," accessed October 30, 2017
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "TRACER: Candidate Search," accessed December 11, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Donna Miers responses," October 12, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Raj Rawat responses," September 23, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Kitty Sargent responses," September 27, 2017
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Boulder County, Colorado; Colorado," accessed August 30, 2017
- ↑ 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
| Boulder Valley School District elections in 2017 | |
| Boulder County, Colorado | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | District B: • Incumbent, Tina Marquis District E: • Donna Miers • Raj Rawat • Dean Vlachos District F: • Alexandra Eddy • Kitty Sargent |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
