El Paso Independent School District elections (2017)
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Four of the seven seats on the El Paso Independent School District board of trustees in Texas were up for general election on May 6, 2017. In his bid for re-election to District 1, incumbent Robert Geske defeated Mariah Lauritzen. District 3 incumbent Susannah Byrd ran unopposed and won another term on the board by default. District 4 incumbent Diane Dye and former board member Russell Wiggs defeated Timothy Groover, but neither of them received a majority of the votes cast. Because of this, a runoff election was held on June 10, 2017, where Dye defeated Wiggs to retain her seat. The race for the District 5 seat included incumbent Chuck Taylor and challenger Miguel Rueda. Taylor won re-election to the seat.[1][2][3]
The 2017 election contrasted with the district's last election, which was held in 2015. All four incumbents up for re-election ran to retain their seats in 2017, while no incumbents ran for re-election in 2015. Click here to read more about elections trends in the district.
All four incumbents running for re-election in 2017 were initially elected to the board in 2013, but they were not sworn into office at the time. Texas Commissioner of Education Michael Williams removed all elected trustees and replaced them with a board of managers due to a cheating scandal that ultimately led to the indictment of the district's former superintendent Lorenzo Garcia. Geske, Byrd, Dye, and Taylor were appointed to replace the board of managers in 2015.[4] Wiggs was one of the seven board members who was removed from office by Williams.[5]
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The El Paso Independent board of trustees consists of seven members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every May of odd-numbered years. Three seats—Districts 2, 6, and 7—were up for election on May 9, 2015, and four seats—Districts 1, 3, 4, and 5—were up for election on May 6, 2017.[6] A runoff election was held on June 10, 2017, for the District 4 seat as no candidate received a majority of votes in the general election.[7]
To qualify for the ballot, board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, U.S. citizens, registered voters, and residents of the board of trustees district they sought to represent. They could not be convicted of a felony. To get on the ballot, they had to file their candidacy applications with the school district by February 17, 2017.[8]
To vote in this election, citizens of the school district had to register by April 6, 2017.[9]
District 1
Results
| El Paso Independent School District, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Robert Geske Incumbent |
59.21% | 1,222 |
| Mariah Lauritzen | 40.79% | 842 |
| Total Votes | 2,064 | |
| Source: El Paso County Elections, "May 6, 2017 - Official Final Election Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Robert Geske 
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Mariah Lauritzen | ||
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District 3
Results
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Susannah Byrd won re-election to the board by default.[2]
Candidates
| Susannah Byrd
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District 4
Runoff election
Results
| El Paso Independent School District, District 4 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Diane Dye Incumbent |
53.57% | 886 |
| Russell Wiggs | 46.43% | 768 |
| Total Votes | 1,654 | |
| Source: El Paso County Elections, "Election Summary Report," accessed August 22, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Diane Dye
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Russell Wiggs | ||
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General election
Results
| El Paso Independent School District, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Russell Wiggs |
45.53% | 758 |
| Diane Dye Incumbent |
34.17% | 569 |
| Timothy Groover | 20.30% | 338 |
| Total Votes | 1,665 | |
| Source: El Paso County Elections, "May 6, 2017 - Official Final Election Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Diane Dye
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Timothy Groover | Russell Wiggs
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District 5
Results
| El Paso Independent School District, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Charles Taylor Incumbent |
66.67% | 1,768 |
| Miguel Rueda | 33.33% | 884 |
| Total Votes | 2,652 | |
| Source: El Paso County Elections, "May 6, 2017 - Official Final Election Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Charles Taylor
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Miguel Rueda | ||
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Texas elections, 2017
The El Paso Independent board of trustees election shared the ballot with municipal elections for El Paso City Council and mayor and with county elections for two seats on the El Paso Community College board of trustees.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the El Paso Independent board of trustees election.[7][10][11]
| 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 |
| June 10, 2017 | Runoff election date (if needed) |
| July 17, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
Endorsements
For the general election, the El Paso branch of the American Federation of Teachers (El Paso AFT) endorsed incumbent Robert Geske in District 1, incumbent Diane Dye and former member Russell Wiggs in District 4, and incumbent Charles Taylor in District 5.[12] The El Paso AFT endorsed Dye in the District 4 runoff election.[13]
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:[14]
- 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.[15]
Reports
Candidates received a total of $2,444.00 and spent a total of $1,854.10 as of April 17, 2017, according to the El Paso Independent School District.[16]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| District 1 | |||
| Robert Geske | $624.00 | $539.70 | $84.30 |
| Mariah Lauritzen | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| District 3 | |||
| Susannah Byrd | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| District 4 | |||
| Diane Dye | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Russell Wiggs | $1,500.00 | $533.22 | $966.78 |
| Timothy Groover | $0.00 | $711.02 | ($711.02) |
| District 5 | |||
| Charles Taylor | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Miguel Rueda | $320.00 | $70.16 | $249.84 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2015District 2
District 6
District 7
2013District 1
District 3
District 4Diane Dye ran an uncontested race for District 4. She won election to the board by default.[17] District 5
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What was at stake?
2017
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
All four El Paso Independent board of trustees incumbents whose terms were up for re-election in 2017 ran to retain their seats. This was in contrast to the district's 2015 election in which no incumbents ran for re-election. That year, three new members were elected to three open seats on the board.
In 2017, one incumbent was guaranteed to win re-election as she ran unopposed. The other three incumbents faced challengers in their bids for re-election. Two won re-election outright in the general election, but another advanced with an opponent to a runoff election that was held on June 10, 2017.
| School board election trends | ||||||
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| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| El Paso Independent School District | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.00 | 25.00% | 100.00% | TBD | TBD | |
| 2015 | 3.33 | 0.00% | 0.00% | N/A | 100.00% | |
| Texas | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.69 | 48.62% | 77.98% | 83.53% | 34.40% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Issues in the district
Board approves purchase of land for headquarters in 5-2 vote
The El Paso Independent board of trustees approved the $3.2 million purchase of the El Paso Community College's Stanton Professional Building and an adjacent vacant lot for the district's new headquarters on February 28, 2017. Purchasing the new property differed from the plan put in place by the district's board of managers, who governed from 2013 to 2015. At the time, the board of managers planned to move the headquarters to property the district already owned.[18]
The board voted to buy the vacant lot along with the Stanton Professional Building as not all of the district's headquarters staff could fit in the building. The district planned to use its reserves to spend $30 million to construct a new building on the vacant lot and renovate the Stanton Professional Building.[18] The district had to move its headquarters because its lease was not renewed by the city. The lease expired in 2018. “We have a possible extension to 2019 but the very latest we have to leave this location by 2019,” said school district spokeswoman Melissa Martinez.[19]
District 4 trustee Diane Dye and District 5 trustee Charles Taylor voted against the purchase.[2] Both members represent areas in the northeastern part of the district, which was where the board of managers had planned to build the new headquarters.[18]
Dye said she believed the renovation and construction of a new building would cost more than the allotted $30 million. Taylor said he believed the board would regret the approval of the purchase and that they should have followed the plan set up by the board of managers. “The slant toward purchasing this property in the Downtown or near Downtown, a congested area, is a poor decision, especially when the EPISD owns land already, land that is sufficiently large enough to house the entire EPISD central office operation,” said Taylor.[18]
Board President Dori Lane Fenenbock and members Susannah Byrd, Alfonso Velarde, Trent Kay Hatch, and Robert Geske voted in favor of the purchase.[2] “It was important to us that we build our offices in the center of the district,” said Fenenbock.[18]
Martinez said moving to the Stanton Professional Building and constructing a second building in the vacant lot would be less costly than moving the headquarters to the northeastern part of the district. “In the northeast we still have to build because it’s vacant land. We don’t own a property right now to take this all as is,” said Martinez.[19]
Board passes resolution affirming DACA program
The El Paso Independent board of trustees unanimously passed a resolution on December 20, 2016, affirming the district's commitment to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The program was created by the Obama administration to shield students residing in the country without legal permission, who are also called Dreamers. The resolution stated that the board “supports a bi-partisan effort in Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform and provide these DREAMers, along with other undocumented immigrants, a path to citizenship."[20]
Tens of thousands of immigrants were estimated to live in El Paso without legal permission in 2016, according to Robert Heyman, policy director for the Border Network for Human Rights. “When we’ve seen a great deal of nativism and xenophobia and racism around the country, I think it’s vitally important that institutions such as school boards and local governments reaffirm that we as a community are welcoming, inclusive and we’re working to advance the best interests of all the people who live here, work here and go to school here,” said Heyman.[20]
Before voting on the resolution, board member Al Velarde asked if it would put the district at odds with the state. “By the board approving an action such as this, are we going to be placing ourselves in jeopardy with the state, who sometimes tends to sanction organizations such as ours for going routes this way?”[20]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and President Donald Trump (R) both expressed opposition to policies that protected people who resided in the United States without legal permission.[21] Jeanne Cezanne “Cezy” Collins, general counsel for the district, said the resolution was more of a philosophical statement of the board rather than an order. “There may be things administration decides to do down the way that carry some weight and require more of a legal determination,” Collins said. “With regards to the resolution today, I don’t see a problem with it.”[20]
Voters pass $668.7 million bond
A $668.7 million bond was approved by 55 percent of El Paso Independent School District voters on November 8, 2016. It was the largest bond to be proposed in El Paso County, according to the El Paso Times.[22]
The district sought the funding to close and consolidate nine schools, rebuild and renovate schools, purchase new buses, and update technology and security. District officials pledged to finish the projects within five years. The El Paso board of trustees unanimously voted to put the bond on the ballot in August 2016.[22]
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About the district
The El Paso Independent School District is located in El Paso County in western Texas. The county seat is El Paso. El Paso County was home to an estimated 835,593 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[23] The district was the 12th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 60,852 students.[24]
Demographics
El Paso County underperformed compared to Texas as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 21.3 percent of county 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 El Paso County during that time period was $41,637, compared to $53,207 statewide. The poverty rate in the county was 20.3 percent, while it was 15.9 percent for the entire state.[23]
| Racial Demographics, 2011-2015[23] | ||
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| Race | El Paso County (%) | Texas (%) |
| White | 91.9 | 79.7 |
| Black or African American | 4.1 | 12.5 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Asian | 1.4 | 4.7 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 81.3 | 38.8 |
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 El Paso Independent School District Texas election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| El Paso Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ El Paso Independent School District, "May 6, 2017 Board of Trustees Election," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 El Paso Independent School District, "Minutes of Meeting of Board of Trustees February 28, 2017," accessed April 10, 2017
- ↑ El Paso County Elections, "May 6, 2017 - Uniform Election Unofficial Final Election Results," accessed May 6, 2017
- ↑ El Paso Times, "Bob Geske appointed to EPISD Board of Managers," April 17, 2015
- ↑ El Paso Times, "Removed trustee runs for EPISD board," February 19, 2017
- ↑ El Paso Independent School District, "About the board," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 El Paso Independent School District, "Order for Election of Trustees of the El Paso Independent School District," accessed March 1, 2017
- ↑ El Paso Independent School District, "Policy Manual and Alerts," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ Dallas County Elections, "Joint Election- Saturday, May 6, 2017," accessed February 20, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule For Reports Due In Connection With Elections Held On Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 7, 2017
- ↑ El Paso County Elections Department, "Current Election: May 2017 Uniform Election," accessed March 7, 2017
- ↑ El Paso AFT, "EP AFT School Board Endorsements," accessed April 17, 2017
- ↑ El Paso AFT, "EPISD District 4 Endorsement - Diane Dye," accessed May 19, 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
- ↑ El Paso Independent School District, "File Browser - Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 17, 2017
- ↑ El Paso Times, "EPISD elections: Bob Geske, Chuck Taylor elected," June 16, 2013
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 El Paso Times, "EPISD buys EPCC land for $3.2 million for new offices," February 28, 2017
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 KFOX14, "EPISD purchased EPCC building for new headquarters despite owning property in Northeast," March 1, 2017
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 El Paso Times, "EPISD declares support for undocumented students," December 25, 2016
- ↑ El Paso Proud, "EP County Leaders to Sign Resolution Supporting Immigrants," January 9, 2017
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 El Paso Times, "EPISD bond becomes largest in county's history," November 8, 2016
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: El Paso County, 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
| El Paso Independent School District elections in 2017 | |
| El Paso County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 6, 2017 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Robert Geske • Mariah Lauritzen District 3: • Incumbent, Susannah Byrd District 4: • Incumbent, Diane Dye • Timothy Groover • Russell Wiggs District 5: • Incumbent, Charles Taylor • Miguel Rueda |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
