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Clark County School District elections (2016)

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Clark County School District Elections

Primary election date:
June 14, 2016
General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
320,532 students

Four of the seven seats on the Clark County School District school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on June 14, 2016, for Districts A, B, and C. Three of the four incumbents in the race won re-election to their seats. [1]

The district obtained approval to undergo a complete transformation that would restructure the entire district and give more autonomy to individual schools. The school board, including three of the winners of the 2016 election, opposed the plan. The board, along with an appointed task force, was given the responsibility of enacting the restructuring plan starting in 2017. Click here to read more about the restructuring plan.[2]

In District A, incumbent Deanna Wright defeated Richard Vaughan in the general election after defeating James Gartside, Patricia Krajcech, Mallory Levins, and Shawn Mueller in the primary election. Incumbent Christine Garvey won re-election to the District B seat in the primary election after winning more than 50 percent of the vote and defeating Carol McKenzie and Jeffrey Eggman. Evan James originally filed to run for the District B seat but withdrew from the race before the primary election. Linda Young also won re-election to her District C seat in the primary election, winning more than 50 percent of the vote and defeating Antonio Bowen, Russell Davis, Adam Johnson, Walter Jones III, and Mark Melton. District E had the least amount of competition in the race with challenger Lola Brooks winning the seat over incumbent Margaret Patrice Tew. Matthew Tramp withdrew from the District E race keeping the contest off the primary ballot.[3]

This election was one of Ballotpedia's top 10 local-level races in 2016. Click here to read the full list.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Clark County school board consists of seven members elected by district to four-year terms. There was a primary election on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. If a contest had more than twice the number of candidates running than the number of seats up for election, then a primary election was held. Any candidate that won more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary election was deemed elected to that seat. Candidates had to file their declarations of candidacy with the Clark County Registrar of Voters by March 18, 2016. The filing fee for school board candidates in Clark County was $30. Each candidate had to actively reside in the district for at least 30 days prior to the filing deadline.[4][3]

Residents of Clark County could register to vote in the primary election until May 15, 2016. The county elections office administered early voting at various locations throughout the county between May 28, 2016, and June 10, 2016. The elections office also accepted applications for mail ballots through June 7, 2016. To vote in the general election, residents must have registered by October 18, 2016.[5]

Candidates and results

District A

Results

General election

Clark County School District,
District A General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Deanna Wright Incumbent 52.79% 58,431
Richard Vaughan 47.21% 52,261
Total Votes 110,692
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "2016 General Election," accessed November 30, 2016

Primary election

Clark County School District,
District A Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Deanna Wright Incumbent 30.96% 7,594
Green check mark transparent.png Richard Vaughan 21.60% 5,299
Mallory Levins 17.94% 4,402
Patricia Krajchech 14.12% 3,464
Shawn Mueller 8.33% 2,044
James Gartside 7.04% 1,728
Total Votes 24,531
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "Elections Department," accessed July 4, 2016

Candidates

General election candidates

Deanna Wright Green check mark transparent.png Richard Vaughan

Deanna Wright.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2012-2016
  • Bachelor's degree, Fullerton College

Richard Vaughan.jpg

  • Retired educator
  • Bachelor's degree, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Candidates defeated in the primary election

Patricia Krajcech Mallory Levins

Placeholder image.png

Mallory Levins.jpg

  • Program coordinator, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Bachelor's degree, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Master's degree, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Shawn Mueller James Gartside

Shawn Mueller.jpg

  • Senior manager, AT&T
  • Bachelor's degree, Western Illinois University
  • Master's degree, University of Phoenix

Placeholder image.png

District B

Results

Primary election

Clark County School District,
District B Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Christine Garvey Incumbent 54.09% 11,204
Carol McKenzie 26.34% 5,456
Jeffrey Eggman 19.58% 4,055
Total Votes 20,715
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "Elections Department," accessed July 4, 2016

Candidates

General election candidates

Christine Garvey Green check mark transparent.png Carol McKenzie Jeffrey Eggman

Placeholder image.png

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2008-2012
  • Dental hygenist
  • Associates degree, Southern College of Nevada

Placeholder image.png

Placeholder image.png

District C

Results

Primary election

Clark County School District,
District C Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Linda Young Incumbent 51.74% 8,073
Adam Johnson 19.85% 3,098
Antonio Bowen 9.36% 1,461
Russell Davis 7.57% 1,182
Mark Melton 6.65% 1,038
Walter Jones III 4.82% 752
Total Votes 15,604
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "Elections Department," accessed July 4, 2016

Candidates

General election candidates

Linda Young Green check mark transparent.png Adam Johnson Antonio Bowen

Linda Young.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2008-2016
  • Former educator
  • Bachelor's degree, University of Dayton
  • Master's degree, University of Dayton
  • Doctorate degree, Northern Arizona University

Adam Johnson (Nevada).jpg

  • Managing director of growth, development, and partnerships, Teach for America
  • Master's degree, George Washington University
  • Bachelor's degree, Saint Michael's College

Placeholder image.png

Russell Davis Walter Jones III Mark Melton

Placeholder image.png

Placeholder image.png

Placeholder image.png

District E

Results

Clark County School District,
District E General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Lola Brooks 52.01% 50,464
Margaret Patrice Tew Incumbent 47.99% 46,572
Total Votes 97,036
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "2016 General Election," accessed November 30, 2016

Candidates

Margaret Patrice Tew Lola Brooks Green check mark transparent.png

Margaret Tew.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2012-2016
  • Bachelor's degree, Brigham Young University
  • Master's degree, L. Reuben Clark Law School

Placeholder image.png

  • Nonprofit consultant
  • Bachelor's degree, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Master's degree, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Additional elections

See also: Nevada elections, 2016

The Clark County School District election shared the ballot with the federal offices of United States President, United States Senator, and United States Representative. State offices included on the ballot were Nevada State Senator, Nevada State Assembly member, supreme court justice, court of appeals judge, district court judge, state university regents, and state board of education members. The county offices on the ballot were for county commissioner, Moapa Valley water district, Virgin Valley water district, Moapa Valley television maintenance district, and Overton power district. There were also a variety of city-wide elections throughout the district.[6]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Clark County school board elections in 2016:[5]

Deadline Event
March 18, 2016 Candidate filing period
May 15, 2016 Last day to register to vote in the primary election
May 28-June 10, 2016 Early voting period
June 14, 2016 Primary election day
October 18, 2016 Last day to register to vote in the general election
November 8, 2016 Election Day

Endorsements

Candidate endorsements
Candidate Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce[7] Clark County Black Caucus[8] Clark County Education Association[9] Culinary Workers Union[10]
District A
Deanna Wright
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Mallory Levins
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
District B
Christine Garvey
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
District C
Linda Young
{{{1}}}
Adam Johnson
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}

Levins also received official endorsements from the Nevada State Education Association and the Nevada Veteran's Association.[11]

Vaughan received an official endorsement from the Nevada Veterans Council.[12]

Campaign finance

Candidates received a total of $196,837.45 and spent a total of $119,413.69 as of Novemner 3, 2016, according to the Nevada Secretary of State.[13]

Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on hand
District A
Deanna Wright $16,750.00 $5,537.50 $11,212.50
James Gartside $0.00 $87.00 -$87.00
Patricia Krajcech $1,900.0 $0.00 $1,900.00
Mallory Levins $21,626.00 $10,398.78 $11,227.22
Shawn Mueller $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Richard Vaughan $7,480.00 $5,792.90 $1,727.10
District B
Christine Garvey $14,350.00 $15,125.77 -$775.77
Jeffrey Eggman $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Carol McKenzie $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
District C
Linda Young $21,402.57 $24,498.94 -$3,096.37
Antonio Bowen $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Russell Davis $6,950.00 $0.00 $6,950.00
Adam Johnson $48,215.88 $36,079.50 $12,136.38
Walter Jones III $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Mark Melton $4,000.00 $0.00 $4,000.00
District E
Lola Brooks $8,443.00 $6,311.55 $2,131.45
Margaret Patrice Tew $45,720.00 $30,707.52 $15,012.48

Past elections

What was at stake?

2016

Election trends

School Board Election Trends Banner.jpg

The elections for the Clark County school board attracted a large number of candidates in the races for four seats in 2016. The school board is made up of seven members and has three or four seats up for election in even-numbered years. The 2016 election was more competitive than recent years' elections. The four seats had an average of 4.3 candidates running per seat. The last election that attracted a similar number of candidates per seat was 2010 when an average of 4 candidates ran per seat. The 2016 candidate average was larger than the 2014 election (3.3 candidates per seat) and the 2012 election (2.7 candidates per seat).

School board election trends
Year Candidates per seat Unopposed seats Incumbent success rate Seats won by newcomers
Clark County School District
2016 4.3 0.00% TBD TBD
2014 3.3 0.00% 66.67% 33.33%
Nevada
2014 2.6 44.44% 71.43% 33.33%
United States
2015 1.72 32.57% 81.31% 38.24%
2014 1.89 35.97% 82.66% 40.77%

Issues in the district

District obtains approval for reorganization
Clark County School District

Clark County School District obtained the last of three approvals needed to move forward with a complete overhaul of their school district. As the nation's fifth largest school district by enrollment, Clark County sought to reorganize the district of over 350 schools into smaller school-based mini-districts. The plan obtained approval from a bipartisan legislative advisory committee, the Nevada Board of Education, and a legislative commission. The plan called for the implementation of the reorganization to begin at the start of the 2017-2018 school year.[14][15]

Technical meetings regarding reorganization started in October 2015. Input from parents, teachers, administrators, and lawmakers was garnered through a series of town hall meetings. The final version of the plan that was approved by the necessary authorities called for each school to be its own district with the principal acting as the primary decision-maker on issues such as budget, personnel decisions, salary amounts, and curriculum. The principal would be assisted by a committee of parents, teachers, school support staff, and students. The plan also required the central office to cut its budget to 20 percent of the overall district budget, distributing 80 percent of the district's funding to the schools.[16][17]

Despite support from lawmakers, principals, city officials, and the teacher's union, there were concerns from others in the community about the ramifications of the reorganization, specifically in regards to the impact on the achievement gap as a result of the teacher salary policy. Critics of the teacher salary policy expressed concerns over the possibility of low-income area schools having to pay more into a fund for district-wide teacher salaries despite the fact that they typically employ inexperienced teachers or long-term substitutes that make less than the district-wide average.

The Nevada branch of the ACLU and the Clark County School Board expressed disapproval of the timeline for the implementation of the plan. The original implementation date was August 2018, but it was changed to August 2017 in one of the final iterations of the plan. The ACLU sent a letter to Nevada's Attorney General asking for a review of the state board of education's adherence to the open meetings law that requires a certain amount of time between when a plan is presented and when a vote is taken.[18][19]

The reorganization plan also included measures and oversight to be completed by the legislative commission through 2019.

Candidate survey

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Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Clark County School District, Nevada
Clark County School District is located in Clark County, Nevada.

Clark County School District is located in southern Nevada in Clark County. Las Vegas is the county seat. Clark County was home to 2,114,801 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[20] The district was the largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 320,532 students.[21]

Demographics

Clark County underperformed in comparison to Nevada as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in the years 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 22.2 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 22.5 percent of state residents. The median household income in Clark County was $52,070, compared to $52,205 for the state. The poverty rate in the county was 15.6 percent, compared to 15.2 percent for the entire state.[20]

Racial Demographics, 2014[20]
Race Clark County (%) Nevada (%)
White 72.2 76.2
Black or African American 11.6 9.1
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2 1.6
Asian 9.9 8.3
Two or More Races 4.3 4.0
Hispanic or Latino 30.3 27.8

Party registration, 2016[22]
Party Number of registered voters
Democratic 388,653
Republican 272,919
Nonpartisan 177,733
Other 50,433
Total 889,738

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 'Clark County School District' 'Nevada'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

Clark County School District Nevada School Boards
School Board badge.png
Seal of Nevada.png
School Board badge.png

External links

Footnotes

  1. Clark County, Nevada, "Election Department:Candidate Filing in Clark County," accessed March 21, 2016
  2. KTNV, "UPDATED: Clark County School District overhaul gets final approval," September 9, 2016
  3. 3.0 3.1 Clark County, Nevada, "Candidates that will not appear on the ballot in the June 14, 2016 primary election," accessed June 7, 2016
  4. Clark County Registrar of Voters, "2014 Candidate Guide," accessed April 22, 2014
  5. 5.0 5.1 Clark County Election Department, "Important Dates," accessed June 7, 2016
  6. Clark County, Nevada, "All Offices up for Election in 2016," accessed June 7, 2016
  7. Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, "Metro chamber endorses candidates for education boards," May 23, 2016
  8. Clark County Black Caucus, "2016 Primary Candidate Endorsements," accessed June 9, 2016
  9. Clark County Education Association, "2016 Endorsements," accessed June 9, 2016
  10. Facebook, "Adam Johnson," May 23, 2016
  11. Vote Mallory Levins for CCSD Trustee, "Endorsements," accessed June 9, 2016
  12. Facebook, "Richard Vaughan for Clark County School Board Trustee," April 17, 2016
  13. Nevada Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed October 25, 2016
  14. KTNV, "UPDATED: Clark County School District overhaul gets final approval," September 9, 2016
  15. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Reorganization of Clark County School District gets final approval," September 9, 2016
  16. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Plan to overhaul Clark County School District passes second crucial vote," September 1, 2016
  17. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "CCSD overhaul plan gets first of three critical votes," August 16, 2016
  18. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Lawmakers avoid showdown over Clark County school system breakup plan," August 13, 2016
  19. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Clark County School Board taps the brakes on breakup plan," August 3, 2016
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 United States Census Bureau, "Quickfacts: Clark County, Nevada," accessed June 7, 2016
  21. National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
  22. Clark County Elections Department, "Home," accessed June 7, 2016