Coachella Valley Unified School District elections (2014)
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Three seats on the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014. Seven candidates, including incumbent Anna Lisa Vargas, ran for two seats in Trustee Area 1, and incumbent Meagan Caress ran unopposed for Trustee Area 2.[1]
Newcomers Joey Acuña Jr. and Blanca Torres Hall won in Trustee Area 1, and incumbent Meagan Caress won re-election to Trustee Area 2 by default.
About the district
Coachella Valley Unified School District is located in Riverside County, California. The county seat of Riverside County is Riverside. Riverside County was home to 2,292,507 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[2] In the 2011-2012 school year, Coachella Valley Unified School District was the 88th-largest school district in California and served 18,406 students.[3]
Demographics
Riverside County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 20.5 percent of Riverside County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 30.5 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Riverside County was $57,096 compared to $61,400 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level for Riverside County was 15.6 percent while it was 15.3 percent statewide.[2]
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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 Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms by specific geographic districts. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. Three seats were up for election in 2014, and four seats will be up for election in 2016.[1][5]
School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period. The filing period began July 14, 2014, and ended August 8, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 20, 2014. Voters could request vote-by-mail ballots from October 6, 2014, through October 28, 2014.[6]
Elections
2014
Candidates
Trustee Area 1
- Anna Lisa Vargas
- Incumbent
- Graduate, University of California at Irvine
- Health program coordinator
- Joey Acuña Jr.
- Trinidad Arredondo
- Graduate, University of California at Santa Cruz
- Program officer, Regional Access Project Foundation
- Rudy Gutierrez
- Branch manager, Kimco Staffing
- Veteran, U.S. Navy
- Blanca Torres Hall
- Educator and social worker
- Karen C. Hernandez
- Graduate, La Sierra University
- Former teacher, Coachella Valley Unified School District
- Alma Delia Silva
- Youth development specialist, Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley at Mecca
Trustee Area 2
- Meagan Caress
- Incumbent
Election results
Trustee Area 1
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Joey Acuña Jr. |
17.3% | 1,984 | |
| Nonpartisan | Blanca Torres Hall |
17.1% | 1,963 | |
| Nonpartisan | Anna Lisa Vargas Incumbent | 17% | 1,952 | |
| Nonpartisan | Karen C. Hernandez | 15.3% | 1,761 | |
| Nonpartisan | Trinidad Arredondo | 12.9% | 1,478 | |
| Nonpartisan | Alma Delia Silva | 12% | 1,377 | |
| Nonpartisan | Rudy Gutierrez | 8.5% | 980 | |
| Total Votes | 11,495 | |||
| Source: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated General Election, November 4, 2014," accessed December 22, 2014 and Imperial County Elections, "Official Final Results," accessed November 23, 2015 | ||||
Trustee Area 2
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Trustee Area 2 incumbent Meagan Caress won re-election by default.[7]
Endorsements
The Desert Sun endorsed challengers Alma Delia Silva and Joey Acuña Jr.[8]
Acuña was also endorsed by the Riverside County Democratic Party, the Desert Stonewall Democrats, the Democratic Women of the Desert, the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties Central Labor Council, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest and the Coachella Valley Teachers Association.[9][10][11][12]
Campaign finance
Candidates had to file contribution reports within 24 hours of receiving an aggregate total of $1,000 or more from a single source. The first scheduled pre-election report filing deadline was October 6, 2014. If candidates raised or spent less than $1,000 during the 2013 and 2014 calendar years, they had to file Form 470 at that time. If candidates raised or spent more during that time, they had to file Form 460 by the pre-election report filing deadline.[13]
Candidates required to file Form 460 also had to file a second pre-election report on October 23, 2014, and they had to file termination reports by December 31, 2014. If a termination report was not filed, candidates had to file a semi-annual report by February 2, 2015.[13]
Reports
Candidates for Trustee Area 1 reported $5,678.04 in total contributions and $4,518.00 in total expenditures, according to campaign finance reports published by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters as of October 26, 2014.[14][15][16][17][18] Hall and Silva filed Form 470 with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, indicating they did not intend to raise or spend more than $1,000 for their 2014 campaigns. Because of this, they did not have to file any additional campaign finance reports.[19][20]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Lisa Vargas | $0.00 | $997.02 | $0.00 |
| Joey Acuña Jr. | $3,368.04 | $1,651.41 | $1,716.63 |
| Trinidad Arredondo | $2,310.00 | $725.25 | $1,584.75 |
| Rudy Gutierrez | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Blanca Torres Hall | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Karen C. Hernandez | $0.00 | $1,144.32 | -$1,144.32 |
| Alma Delia Silva | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Trustee Area 2 incumbent Meagan Caress filed Form 470 with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, indicating she did not intend to raise or spend more than $1,000 for her 2014 campaign. Because of this, Caress did not have to file any additional campaign finance reports.[21]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meagan Caress | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2012Trustee Area 1This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Manuel Jarvis-Martinez was re-elected to his seat by default.[22] Trustee Area 2This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Meagan Caress was re-elected to her seat by default.[23] Trustee Area 3
Trustee Area 4This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Maria G. Machuca was re-elected to her seat by default.[24] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
Issues in the district
Recall effort falls short
Five members of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Education were targeted in a 2013 recall effort that failed to get enough signatures. A group of parents in the district served the board members recall notices on May 2, 2013, citing poor spending choices, intimidation tactics and destabilizing school sites by firing or reassigning 40 school administrators since 2011 as reasons for the recall. Election laws required the group to collect at least 4,109 signatures by December 2, 2013, but the group was short of 4,000 signatures at the deadline.[25][26] Incumbent Anna Lisa Vargas was the only board member up for re-election in 2014 who was targeted in the recall effort.[27] She won her bid for re-election in the general election on November 4, 2014.[28]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Coachella Valley Unified School District election in 2014:[13][29]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| July 14, 2014 | First day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| August 8, 2014 | Last day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| October 6, 2014 | First day to request vote-by-mail ballot |
| October 6, 2014 | First pre-election report due |
| October 20, 2014 | Last day to register to vote |
| October 23, 2014 | Second pre-election report due |
| October 28, 2014 | Last day to request vote-by-mail ballot |
| November 4, 2014 | Election Day |
| December 31, 2014 | Termination report due |
| February 2, 2015 | Semi-annual report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2014
This election shared the ballot with general elections for several state executive offices, four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, one state Senate seat, seven state Assembly seats, six statewide ballot measures and a number of municipal elections.[1][30]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Coachella + Valley + Unified + School + District + California"
See also
- California
- Coachella Valley Unified School District, California
- California school board elections, 2014
- List of school board elections in 2014
- School board elections, 2014
- Riverside County, California ballot measures
- California ballot measures
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List, Consolidated General Election," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United States Census Bureau, "Riverside County, California," accessed July 3, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
- ↑ County of Riverside Registrar of Voters, "Past Elections," accessed July 3, 2014
- ↑ Coachella Valley Unified School District, "Members," accessed July 16, 2014
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Summary of November 4, 2014, General Election Calendar," accessed July 14, 2014
- ↑ California Election Code, "Section 10229," accessed October 13, 2014
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Our Voice: CVUSD board needs strong new voices," October 7, 2014
- ↑ Desert Stonewall Democrats, "2014 Candidate Endorsements," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California Action Funds, "Election Info From PPAFPSW," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ The Desert Sun, "Meet Coachella Valley candidates at 'political pop up,'" September 20, 2014
- ↑ Joey Acuña, "Endorsements," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 4, 2014," accessed August 19, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Vargas, Anna Lisa," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Acuna, Joey," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Arredondo, Trinidad," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Welcome to the County of Riverside Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Hernandez, Karen," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Torres Hall, Blanca," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Silva, Alma D," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Viewing filing activity for Caress, Meagan," accessed October 26, 2014
- ↑ Smart Voter, "Trustee; Coachella Valley Unified School District; Trustee Area 1 Voter Information," accessed July 16, 2014
- ↑ Smart Voter, "Trustee; Coachella Valley Unified School District; Trustee Area 2; 4 Year Short Term Voter Information," accessed July 16, 2014
- ↑ Smart Voter, "Trustee; Coachella Valley Unified School District; Trustee Area 4 Voter Information," accessed July 16, 2014
- ↑ Channel 3 News, "Community calls for CVUSD school board recall," May 2, 2013
- ↑ Riverside County Office of Education, "Coachella Valley Unified School District recall effort falls short," December 2, 2013
- ↑ Desert Sun, "Valley school board races heating up," July 19, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated General Election, November 4, 2014," accessed December 22, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Uniform District Election Law, November 4, 2014," accessed July 16, 2014
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "Tentative Annual Election Calendar Riverside County 2014," accessed September 2, 2014
| 2014 Coachella Valley Unified School District Elections | |
| Riverside County, California | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Anna Lisa Vargas • Joey Acuña Jr. • Trinidad Arredondo • Rudy Gutierrez • Blanca Torres Hall • Karen C. Hernandez • Alma Delia Silva Trustee Area 2: • Meagan Caress |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
