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Donna Brightman
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Donna Brightman is a former at-large representative on the Washington County Board of Education in Maryland. She first joined the board in May 2007. Brightman sought another term in the primary election on April 26, 2016. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1]
Biography
Brightman has been a horticultural consultant, a landscape designer with Rivers Edge Landscapes, and a landscape manager at Overbrook Nursery. She and her husband, Courtney, have two children.[2]
Elections
2016
Four of the seven seats on the Washington County Board of Education were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on April 26, 2016, with the top eight vote recipients advancing to the general election. Incumbents Donna Brightman, Wayne Ridenour, and Melissa Williams filed for re-election. They faced challengers Al Martin, Pieter Bickford, Joseph Chandler, Linda Murray, Stan Stouffer, and Robin Lynne Wivell in the primary election. All of these candidates except Chandler advanced to the general election. Ridenour, Bickford, Williams, and Stouffer won on November 8, 2016.[3] Wivell withdrew from the election on June 15, 2016.[4]
Results
| Washington County Public Schools, At-large General Election, 4-Year Terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Wayne Ridenour Incumbent |
15.61% | 26,949 |
| Pieter Bickford |
15.26% | 26,344 |
| Melissa Williams Incumbent |
14.96% | 25,835 |
| Stan Stouffer |
14.13% | 24,402 |
| Donna Brightman Incumbent | 13.71% | 23,669 |
| Linda Murray | 13.65% | 23,571 |
| Al Martin | 12.34% | 21,311 |
| Write-in votes | 0.33% | 572 |
| Total Votes | 172,653 | |
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2016 Presidential General Election Results," accessed December 14, 2016 | ||
| Washington County Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 4-Year Terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Wayne Ridenour Incumbent |
14.87% | 13,871 |
| Pieter Bickford |
13.80% | 12,878 |
| Donna Brightman Incumbent |
12.73% | 11,881 |
| Melissa Williams Incumbent |
12.39% | 11,564 |
| Stan Stouffer |
12.27% | 11,447 |
| Linda Murray |
9.99% | 9,326 |
| Al Martin |
9.51% | 8,875 |
| Robin Lynne Wivell |
9.51% | 8,874 |
| Joseph Chandler | 4.92% | 4,592 |
| Total Votes | 93,308 | |
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Unofficial 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Washington County," accessed April 26, 2016 | ||
Funding
Candidates for public office in Maryland had until March 22, 2016, to submit their first contributions and expenditure report of the primary campaign. The final campaign finance deadline of the 2016 campaign was November 22, 2016.[5] State law allows candidates to file Affidavits of Limited Contributions and Expenditures (ALCE) if their campaigns did not accept $1,000 in contributions or spend $1,000 in a particular reporting period.[6]
October 28 filing
Candidates received a total of $3,636.71 and spent a total of $8,736.16 as of October 28, 2016, according to the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System.[7]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donna Brightman (incumbent) | $475.00 | $2,739.68 | $51.37 |
| Wayne Ridenour (incumbent) | ALCE | ALCE | ALCE |
| Melissa Williams (incumbent) | $775.00 | $1,203.17 | $671.83 |
| Al Martin | $150.00 | $2,521.19 | $243.09 |
| Pieter Bickford | $500.00 | $424.28 | $629.93 |
| Linda Murray | $415.00 | $752.25 | $188.47 |
| Stan Stouffer | $1,321.71 | $1,095.59 | $262.18 |
March 22 filing
Candidates received a total of $8,516.98 and spent a total of $2,511.71 as of March 22, 2016, according to the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System.[8]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donna Brightman (incumbent) | $2,540.00 | $119.71 | $2,420.29 |
| Wayne Ridenour (incumbent) | ALCE | ALCE | ALCE |
| Melissa Williams (incumbent) | $300.00 | $0.00 | $300.00 |
| Al Martin | $1,700.00 | $0.00 | $1,700.00 |
| Pieter Bickford | $1,000.00 | $0.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Joseph Chandler | ALCE | ALCE | ALCE |
| Linda Murray | $1,476.98 | $898.46 | $578.52 |
| Stan Stouffer | $1,500.00 | $1,493.54 | $36.06 |
| Robin Lynne Wivell | ALCE | ALCE | ALCE |
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Donna Brightman |
21.8% | 34,647 | |
| Nonpartisan | Wayne Ridenour |
21.5% | 34,273 | |
| Nonpartisan | Melissa Williams |
21.1% | 33,643 | |
| Nonpartisan | Justin Hartings |
19% | 30,180 | |
| Nonpartisan | Travis W. Poole | 16.2% | 25,868 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 577 | |
| Total Votes | 159,188 | |||
| Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "2012 Presidential General Election Results," November 28, 2012 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Brightman's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:
| “ |
I believe in the idea of Washington County. The idea that quality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not a thing of the past, but rather ingrained in the very fabric of our county. We believe in hard work, self-sufficiency, civility, helping our neighbors, and equal opportunity. We believe our children are our future and if they don’t succeed as productive members of society and engaged citizens, the idea of Washington County will disappear. We are at a point in time of major upheaval throughout this country. So much seems out of our control. So much economic and societal uncertainty breeds fear, anger and irrationality, and Washington County appears on the brink of submission to this same national panic. As Pogo said, “we have met the enemy and he is us”. As a member of the Board of Education, I have been tasked with a great trust and responsibility. I have committed myself for the past eight and one-half years to the idea of Washington County and will not stand by and watch a small faction of anti-progress, naysayers write the story of Washington County. We are better than that. Rather this campaign will be about using that fear and anger as a force for constructive change and practical solutions. Stop scapegoating and start empowering those who believe in the idea of Washington County. I) Diversity Uncomfortable with the diversity discussion? Me too. Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable with issues around diversity is the only place to start. Last year, when I attended a meeting held by the Zion Baptist Church community, I was reminded how difficult these discussions can be and struggled to know how to effectively express my thoughts and concerns. Simply listening to the comments from parents was often heartbreaking, and without a doubt, sobering. As a sixty-four-year-old white woman, who started life in upstate New York, moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1956, and remained in the Deep South (Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia) until 1972, I was taken aback by how we are having the same conversations, today, as I remember from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. My oldest brother was a freshman at Ole Miss in 1962 when James Meredith integrated the university. We were living in Columbus, Mississippi at the time, not very far from Ole Miss. Most folks stopped, watched, and wondered while others participated in the riots that erupted. These memories beg the question; what does it take to finally solve the inequity of opportunity in education whether k-12 or higher ed? We must start with acknowledging the problem, listening to all voices and perspectives, working collectively to develop an action list, hold ourselves accountable, and become comfortable with being uncomfortable. II) High-Stakes Testing is not Common Core’s Fault. Fact check: the Common Core Standards were developed by all our state Governors and Superintendents years ago and then put on the shelf for lack of funding and political will to initiate. High-stakes testing as we think of it today is a result of Race to the Top, a federally funded competitive grant that Maryland applied for and won in 2010. That same grant application was supported by the Education Reform Act of 2010, developed and voted on by 98% of our Maryland State legislators. Maryland is one of only a handful of States that require particular test results as part of graduation requirements. Our Congress’s inability to reauthorize No Child Left Behind left a void in education policy, a void that the Race to the Top grant was available to fill. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan was more than happy to attach high stakes testing to the Race to the Top application and he also required that states use the Common Core Standards developed years earlier. Again, Common Core standards have nothing to do with testing or the controversy over testing. Each should be considered separately on their individual merit. III) Who We Are Who are we…? Governmental command and control at federal, state and local level is not always apparent at first glance and easily misunderstood, and checks, balances and areas of authority are important to understand. Our school system much like the Sheriff’s Department, is a state agency. School employees, including Board of Education members, are considered State employees. For example, we are required to pay into the State Pension Fund the same as all state employees. Furthermore, the school system’s assets (facilities) are reflected on the County books for accounting purposes only, to offset debt funding for construction. Other than that, the school system is a line item on the County budget as Maintenance of Effort – which is a state required funding floor that all counties must pay to their school systems based on enrollment. It is important to note that our school system’s operating budget is funded by 63.1% state dollars, 36.6% local dollars and .3% Federal dollars. In fact, over the last nine years, local spending on education has declined by 10% while state funding has increased by the same amount. While local spending declined, enrollment has increased by 614 students and we have increased what we spend per pupil by $2,204. Or stated differently, per pupil spending increased from $11,598.00 in 2007 to $13,802.00 in 2016. Bottom line and data proven, Washington County Public School System has budgeted in an effective and efficient manner so we can push our resources to our children and the classroom. Through cuts in other areas of our budget and without additional money from the county taxpayer, we have met and continue to meet our obligations under state law to set policy to educate our children and protect their health and safety. |
” |
| —Donna Brightman (2016), [10] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Donna Brightman' 'Washington County Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedwashington - ↑ Donna Brightman, "Bio," accessed April 11, 2016
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "Washington County 2016 Presidential Primary Election Local Candidates List," February 11, 2016
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "Washington County 2016 Presidential General Election Local Candidates List," October 28, 2016
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "Reporting Schedule," accessed February 10, 2016
- ↑ Maryland State Board of Elections, "EAffidavit Filing," accessed February 10, 2016
- ↑ Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, "View Filed Reports Information," accessed October 30, 2016
- ↑ Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System, "View Filed Reports Information," accessed April 19, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Donna Brightman, "Issues," accessed April 11, 2016
| 2016 Washington County Public Schools Elections | |
| Washington County, Maryland | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Donna Brightman • Incumbent, Wayne Ridenour • Incumbent, Melissa Williams • Pieter Bickford • Joseph Chandler • Al Martin • Linda Murray • Stan Stouffer |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
