Daniel Walther
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Daniel Walther was the District 3 representative on the Peoria Board of Education in Illinois. He defeated Terry Spayer in the general election that was held on March 15, 2016.[1]
Walther issued the following statement regarding his bid for office: "I am a believer in public education that it is the lifeline to break people out of poverty and give them an opportunity for a better life.. Peoria Disrtict 150 did that for me and I would like to see that same oppertunity for others."[sic][2]
Walther was a 2015 candidate for the District 3 seat on the Peoria Public Schools District 150 Board of Education in Illinois. He ran for a four-year term in the general election on April 7, 2015.[3] He lost the election.[4]
Biography
Walther is a retired guidance counselor. He worked for the Illini Bluffs Community Unit School District 327. Walther is also a retired union organizer and representative for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. He also previously was a representative of the Illinois Education Association, and he formerly served on the St. Vincent de Paul School Board and the Peoria Business Boosters. Walther earned both his bachelor's degree in social science and his master's degree in guidance counseling and psychology from Illinois State University. He has four grown daughters.[5]
Elections
2016
Two of the seven seats on the Peoria Board of Education were up for general election on March 15, 2016. District 2 incumbent Debbie Wolfmeyer and District 3 incumbent Rick Cloyd did not file for re-election. Robert Aviles ran unopposed and won the District 1 seat. In District 3, Daniel Walther defeated Terry Spayer.[1]
Results
| Peoria Public Schools District 150, District 3 General Election, 5-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Daniel Walther |
64.91% | 6,949 |
| Terry Spayer | 35.09% | 3,757 |
| Total Votes | 10,706 | |
| Source: Peoria County Elections Commission, "3/15/16 General Primary Precinct," accessed May 20, 2016 | ||
Funding
Walther reported no contributions or expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections during the election.[6] School board candidates in Illinois are only required to file campaign finance reports if they accept contributions or make expenditures in excess of $5,000 in a 12-month period.[7]
Endorsements
Walther received the following endorsements during the election:[8][9]
- local advocacy group, Change150
- Peoria Federation of Teachers,
- Peoria Federation of Support Staff
- Peoria mayor Jim Ardis
- Carl Cannon, founder of ELITE Youth Program
- Peoria Journal Star
2015
Two of the seven seats on the Peoria Public Schools District 150 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. Both seats represented District 3. One was an unexpired four-year term, and the other was a full five-year term.
The seats of District 3 incumbents Jon Bateman and Chris Crawford were on the ballot. Bateman ran for re-election to a four-year term after getting appointed in August 2014. He faced three challengers, Ernestine Jackson, Daniel Walther and Brenda Wilson. Jackson defeated Bateman to win the four-year term. Crawford did not file to run for re-election, leaving five challengers, Dan Adler, Jeffrey R. Campbell, Josh Haywood, Phil Romanus and Terry Spayer, to run for the open five-year term. Adler was elected to the seat.
Results
| Peoria Public Schools District 150, District 3 Special Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Ernestine Jackson |
34.5% | 1,933 | |
| Nonpartisan | Brenda Wilson | 23.2% | 1,303 | |
| Nonpartisan | Daniel Walther | 28.2% | 1,582 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jon Bateman Incumbent | 14.1% | 788 | |
| Total Votes | 5,606 | |||
| Source: Peoria County Clerk, "Cumulative Report — Official," accessed April 28, 2015, Peoria Election Commission, "04/07/15 Official Cumulative," accessed April 28, 2015 | ||||
Funding
School board candidates in Illinois are only required to file campaign finance reports if they accept contributions or make expenditures in excess of $5,000 in a 12-month period.[10]
Walther reported no contributions or expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections in this election.[11]
Endorsements
Walther received endorsements from the Peoria Federation of Support Staff (IFT Local 6099) and the Peoria Federation of Teachers (IFT Local 780).[5]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Daniel Walther participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on March 14, 2016:
| “ | Improve syudent discipline,improve test scores so students are better prepared for both standardized tests and college preparedness. Improve the number of dual credit classes for high school students.[12][13] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Illinois. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Improving college preparedness is important because of a local initiative called Peoria Promise where private sources pay to go the community college. Students are having to take remedial courses to be readu to take college courses which uses up their funds.[13] | ” |
| —Daniel Walther (March 14, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. We have a charter school in our district and I would like to work out the issues with this school before expanding to another charter. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. As a former counselor I like having a test that is the same for all students so you can see how all students measure up.We in Illinois use Common Core and it still has many flaws in it. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| The overall goals of Common Core I support but the actual implementation in Illinois is not very good. Too much time to take the tests.Many flaws in software. I wish we would opt out with another better alternative. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I'm actually not opposed to a fair merit pay system, I just have not seen a workable method mainly because of the overall systemic underfunding of teacher salaries. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Only in severe cases and provide alternative education for these behavior challenged children. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Excellant teachers with support from both the parents and the school system |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Daniel Walther' 'Peoria Board of Education'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Peoria Public Schools District 150, Illinois
- Peoria Public Schools District 150 elections (2015)
- Peoria Public Schools District 150 elections (2016)
- Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state budget... (April 8, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Peoria County Election Commission, "District 150 candidates," accessed January 5, 2016
- ↑ Information submitted through Ballotpedia's biographical submission form on March 3, 2016
- ↑ Peoria County Clerk, "School Board and Regional Board of School Trustees Candidate Filings," accessed January 20, 2015
- ↑ Peoria County Clerk, "Cumulative Report — Official," accessed April 7, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Peoria Journal Star, "Nine candidates seeking two District 150 school board seats," March 14, 2015
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate Disclosure Search," accessed February 10, 2016
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "A Guide to Campaign Disclosure," accessed March 31, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Change150," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Mandy Gillip, "Email correspondence with Dan Walther," March 10, 2016
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "A Guide to Campaign Disclosure," accessed March 31, 2015
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate Disclosure Search," accessed April 3, 2015
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Daniel Walther's responses," March 14, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Peoria Public Schools District 150 Elections | |
| Election date: | March 15, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 2: Robert Aviles District 3: Terrance Spayer • Daniel Walther |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
| 2015 Peoria Public Schools District 150 Elections | |
| Peoria County, Illinois | |
| Election date: | April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 3 four-year term: • Incumbent, Jon Bateman • Ernestine Jackson • Daniel Walther • Brenda Wilson District 3 five-year term: • Dan Adler • Jeffrey R. Campbell • Josh Haywood • Phil Romanus • Terry Spayer |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
