Coppell Independent School District elections (2017)
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Two of the seven seats on the Coppell Independent School District board of trustees were up for general election on May 6, 2017. Incumbent Thom Hulme defeated former candidate Ronald Hansen for the Place 4 seat. David Caviness defeated Vara Kuppam for the open Place 5 seat, for which no incumbent filed.[1][2]
One new member was guaranteed to join the board in 2017 due to the open Place 5 seat. The district added two new members to the board in 2016, but no new members were elected in 2014 or 2015. Click here to read about more election trends in the district.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Coppell Independent board of trustees consists of seven members elected at-large to three-year terms, but they run for specific seats. Elections are held on a staggered basis every year in May. Three seats—Places 1, 2, and 3—were up for election on May 7, 2016, and two seats—Places 4 and 5—were up for election on May 6, 2017.[3]
To qualify for the ballot, candidates for the board of trustees had to be at least 18 years old, U.S. citizens, residents of the school district, and registered voters. They could not be convicted of a felony. To get on the ballot, they had to file an application with the school district by February 17, 2017.[3][4]
To vote in this election, citizens of the school district had to register by April 6, 2017.[5]
Place 4
Results
| Coppell Independent School District, Place 4 General Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Thom Hulme Incumbent |
52.52% | 1,780 |
| Ronald Hansen | 47.48% | 1,609 |
| Total Votes | 3,389 | |
| Source: Dallas County Elections, "2017 Joint Election," accessed September 20, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Thom Hulme 
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Ronald Hansen | ||
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Place 5
Results
| Coppell Independent School District, Place 5 General Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
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|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| David Caviness |
66.40% | 2,277 |
| Vara Kuppam | 33.60% | 1,152 |
| Total Votes | 3,429 | |
| Source: Dallas County Elections, "2017 Joint Election," accessed September 20, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| David Caviness
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Vara Kuppam | ||
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Texas elections, 2017
The Coppell Independent board of trustees election shared the ballot with elections for the Place 1, 3, 5, and 7 seats on the Coppell City Council.[6]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Coppell Independent board of trustees election.[1][7][8]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| February 17, 2017 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 6, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
| April 6, 2017 | Voter registration deadline |
| April 24, 2017 - May 2, 2017 | Early voting period |
| April 28, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
| May 6, 2017 | General election date |
| July 17, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
Endorsements
Empower Texans endorsed Place 4 challenger Ronald Hansen.[9]
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
There were three campaign finance deadlines for Texas school board candidates in 2017:[10]
- The 30th day report was due on April 6, 2017,
- The 8th day report was due on April 28, 2017, and
- The July semiannual report was due on July 17, 2017.
All school board candidates in the state were also required to file July semiannual campaign finance reports. Opposed school board candidates could choose "modified reporting" if they did not plan to exceed either $500 in contributions or $500 in expenditures in the election. Modified reporting exempts a candidate from filing the 30th and 8th day reports normally due before an election. If a candidate opted for modified reporting but exceeded the threshold before the 30th day prior to the election, he or she had to file the 30th and 8th day reports. Unopposed school board candidates were only required to file a campaign finance report on the July semiannual deadline.[11]
Reports
No contributions or expenditures were reported as of May 1, 2017, according to the Dallas County Elections Office.[12]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2016
2015Incumbent Judy Barbo won re-election without opposition. Incumbent Tracy Fisher won re-election without opposition. 2014
2013The election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Anthony Hill, Susie Kemp, and David Apple won election to the board by default.[13] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2017
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The 2017 election for the Coppell Independent board of trustees added one newcomer to an open seat. An incumbent won re-election to the other seat on the ballot. In the district's 2016 race, two new members were elected after winning two open seats. The one incumbent who ran that year won re-election to the board after defeating two challengers.
No newcomers were elected to the board in 2014 or 2015. In 2015, no one filed to challenge the incumbents, and they won re-election unopposed. In 2014, one challenger filed, but was defeated by an incumbent.
| School board election trends | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Coppell Independent School District | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.00 | 0.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| 2016 | 2.67 | 0.00% | 33.33% | 100.00% | 66.67% | |
| 2015 | 1.00 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2014 | 1.50 | 50.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| Texas | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.69 | 48.62% | 77.98% | 83.53% | 34.40% | |
| 2014 | 1.86 | 37.61% | 75.22% | 81.76% | 38.05% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
| 2014 | 1.89 | 32.57% | 75.51% | 81.31% | 38.24% | |
Issues in the district
Voting rights lawsuit dropped
A voting rights lawsuit filed against the Coppell Independent School District in September 2016 was dropped in January 2017. The lawsuit was filed by The Brewer Storefront on behalf of Pankaj Jain, a district parent and unsuccessful 2016 candidate for the Coppell board of trustees. In the lawsuit, Jain said the district's at-large voting process discriminated against Asian Americans. At the time the lawsuit was filed, candidates for the board ran for specific seats, but voters across the district could vote for every seat on the ballot. Jain said that the at-large voting process had denied Asian Americans in the district the opportunity to win a seat on the board.[14][15]
During the 2015-2016 school year, Coppell ISD's student population was 41 percent Asian, according to the Texas Education Agency. In the lawsuit, Jain said that was the first year the Asian student population was larger than the white student population.[14] “The Asian American population in Coppell represents a huge part of the Coppell ISD student population, and yet these students and their community are denied representation on this school board,” Jain said when he filed the lawsuit.[15]
William A. Brewer III, one of Jain's attorneys, said Jain had "voluntarily dismissed his Voting Rights Act lawsuit in order to provide an opportunity to establish a dialogue with the district.”[14]
"I am pleased the lawsuit filed against CISD has been dismissed by Judge Fitzwater at the request of Dr. Pankaj Jain and his legal team,” said Anthony Hill, president of the Coppell board of trustees. Hill defeated Jain in his bid for re-election in 2016 by 1,087 votes. “The board and I will continue to assist the CISD administration in offering an innovative and quality public education for the families in our district," said Hill.[14][16]
Candidate survey
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About the district
The Coppell Independent School District is located in Coppell, a city in Dallas County, Texas. Coppell was home to an estimated 41,159 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[17] The district was the 98th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 11,570 students.[18]
Demographics
Coppell outperformed Texas as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 64.1 percent of city residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.6 percent of state residents. The median household income in the city was $111,817, compared to $53,207 for the entire state. The poverty rate in the city was 4.8 percent, while it was 15.9 percent statewide.[17]
| Racial Demographics, 2010[17] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Coppell (%) | Texas (%) |
| White | 73.8 | 70.4 |
| Black or African American | 4.5 | 11.8 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Asian | 15.9 | 3.8 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 11.3 | 37.6 |
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 Coppell Independent School District Texas election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Coppell Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Coppell Independent School District, "Board Elections 2017," accessed February 17, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "Unofficial Cumulative Results," accessed May 6, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Coppell Independent School District, "Coppell ISD Board of Trustees," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ Coppell Independent School District, "Board Members Eligibility/Qualifications," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "Joint Election- Saturday, May 6, 2017," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "Sample Ballot: Joint Election May 6, 2017," accessed March 23, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule For Reports Due In Connection With Elections Held On Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 7, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "2017 Important Election Dates," accessed March 7, 2017
- ↑ Empower Texans, "May 2017 Endorsements," accessed April 6, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "Campaign Reporting," accessed May 1, 2017
- ↑ Coppell Independent School District, "Approved CISD Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes," accessed February 20, 2014
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Coppell Gazette, "Discrimination lawsuit against Coppell schools dropped," January 20, 2017
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 NBCDFW.com, "Coppell ISD Sued Over Lack of Asian-Americans on School Board," September 23, 2016
- ↑ Coppell Independent School District, "Minutes of the May 16, 2016 - Special School Board Meeting," accessed April 7, 2017
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Coppell city, Texas," accessed March 9, 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
| Coppell Independent School District elections in 2017 | |
| Dallas County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 6, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Place 4: • Incumbent, Thom Hulme • Ronald Hansen Place 5: • David Caviness • Vara Kuppam |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
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