Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.

Erie City School District elections (2017)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
2019
2015
School Board badge.png
Erie City School District Elections

Primary election date
May 16, 2017
General election date
November 7, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
11,815 students

Four of the nine seats on the Erie City School District school board were up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. A partisan primary election was held on May 16, 2017.

Board incumbent Thomas Spagel cross-filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primary elections. He won both party nominations and advanced to the general election. Incumbent Angela Euell-McNair filed as a Democrat and Darlene Feeney filed as a Republican. Both moved on to the general. Feeney, Spagel, Euell-McNair, and Tyler Titus won election on November 7, 2017, defeating Tim Kuzma in the general election.[1][2][3]

Two successful write-in candidates from the primary also appeared on the general ballot. Tyler Titus ran as a Democrat and Tim Kuzma as a Republican.[4]

These candidates could have faced independent candidates in the general election. However, no independent candidate filed by the August 1, 2017, deadline to get on the ballot.[5]

Elections

Voter and candidate information

ECSD logo.png

The Erie City school board is composed of nine members elected at large to four-year, staggered terms. Five seats were up for election on November 3, 2015, and four seats were up for general election on November 7, 2017.

Cross-filing

Pennsylvania permits school board candidates to cross-file in primary elections. This means that a candidate may file to run in the primary election for both the Democratic and Republican parties. A cross-filed candidate can advance to the general election by winning one or both of the partisan primaries. This maximizes a candidate’s chances of advancing to the general as they have two ways to win in the primary round. If the candidate wins only one, they face the winner of the other primary in the general election. Cross-filers who win both primaries may still face independent candidates in the general election.

General candidate requirements

To run for a school board in Pennsylvania, one must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old, and a resident of the school district for at least one year before the election date. To run in this 2017 school board election, partisan candidates had to file for office by March 7, 2017, and independent candidates had to file by August 1, 2017.[6][7]

Voter requirements

To vote in Pennsylvania, a resident must be a U.S. citizen for at least one month and a resident of the district in which he or she is registering for at least 30 days before the election. A voter must be at least 18 years of age by the next election date. The deadline to register to vote before the primary election was April 17, 2017, and the deadline to register to vote before the general election was October 10, 2017.[8]

See also: Voting in Pennsylvania and Voter identification laws by state


Candidates and results

At-Large general election

Results

Erie City School District,
At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Darlene Feeney 24.55% 13,314
     Democratic/Republican Green check mark transparent.png Thomas Spagel Incumbent 23.08% 12,520
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Angela Euell-McNair Incumbent 19.65% 10,655
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Tyler Titus 17.95% 9,738
     Republican Tim Kuzma 14.56% 7,897
Write-in votes 0.21% 112
Total Votes 54,236
Source: Erie County, "2017 Erie County Unofficial General Election Results," accessed November 8, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Candidates

Cross filed Republican Party/Democratic Party Thomas SpagelGreen check mark transparent.png Democratic Party Angela Euell-McNairGreen check mark transparent.png Democratic Party Tyler TitusGreen check mark transparent.png

Placeholder image.png

  • Incumbent
  • Cross-filed as a Democrat and Republican

Placeholder image.png

  • Incumbent

Placeholder image.png

Republican Party Tim Kuzma Republican Party Darlene Feeney Green check mark transparent.png

Placeholder image.png

Placeholder image.png

At-Large primary election

Democratic results

Erie City School District,
At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year terms, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Angela Euell-McNair Incumbent 48.23% 6,836
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Thomas Spagel Incumbent 41.54% 5,889
Write-in votes 10.23% 1,450
Total Votes 14,175
Source: Erie County, "Official Results for 2017," accessed June 20, 2017

Republican results

Erie City School District,
At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year terms, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Darlene Feeney 46.74% 1,869
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Thomas Spagel Incumbent 46.39% 1,855
Write-in votes 6.88% 275
Total Votes 3,999
Source: Erie County, "Official Results for 2017," accessed June 20, 2017

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Pennsylvania elections, 2017

The Erie City School District general election shared the ballot with elections for:[5]

The Erie City School District primary election shared the ballot with primary elections for:[1]

  • State judges
  • County executive
  • County council
  • Clerk of records
  • Sheriff
  • Mayor
  • Controller
  • City council

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for this Pennsylvania school board election in 2017:[9]

Deadline Event
March 7, 2017 Partisan candidate filing deadline
April 17, 2017 Deadline to register to vote before the primary election
May 16, 2017 Primary election day
August 1, 2017 Independent candidate filing deadline
October 10, 2017 Deadline to register to vote before the general election
November 7, 2017 General election day

Endorsements

Titus received an official endorsement from Planned Parenthood.[10]

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

Thomas Spagel and Angela Euell-McNair waived campaign finance reporting, while Darlene Feeney was the only candidate in the primary election to file a campaign finance report. She reported $445.65 in contributions and $417.44 in expenditures, leaving her campaign with $28.21 cash on hand as of May 16, 2017.[11]

General guidelines

Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png
See also: Campaign finance requirements in Pennsylvania and List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017
2017 Campaign Finance Deadlines in Pennsylvania[12]
Date Deadline
May 5, 2017 2nd Friday Pre-Primary report due
June 15, 2017 30-Day Post-Primary report due
October 27, 2017 2nd Friday Pre-Election report due
December 7, 2017 30-Day Post-Election report due

School board candidates in Pennsylvania were required to report their campaign finance activity. Those who spent or received more than $250 in a reporting period had to file full reports. Those below the threshold had to file forms to declare they were exempt from reporting. Candidates could have, but were not required to, form committees to handle campaign finance transactions. They were not required to have separate bank accounts for campaign purposes.[13]

The table to the left details the four campaign finance deadlines in 2017.[12]

Past elections

What was at stake?

Report a story for this election

Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.

Candidate survey

Candidate Connection Logo - stacked.png

Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey.
Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Erie City School District, Pennsylvania
Erie City School District is located in Erie County, Pennsylvania.

Erie City School District is located in Erie County in northwestern Pennsylvania. The seat of county government is Erie. Erie County was home to an estimated 276,207 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the 10th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 11,815 students.[14][15]

Demographics

Erie County underperformed in comparison to Pennsylvania as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 26.1 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 28.6 percent for all state residents. The median household income in the county was $45,971, compared to $53,599 for the state as a whole. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 17.1 percent, while that rate was 13.2 percent for all state residents.[15]

Racial Demographics, 2015[15]
Race Erie County (%) Pennsylvania (%)
White 88.1 82.6
Black or African American 7.7 11.7
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3 0.4
Asian 1.6 3.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.0 0.1
Two or More Races 2.2 1.9
Hispanic or Latino 4.0 6.8

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 Erie City School District Pennsylvania election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

Erie City School District Pennsylvania School Boards
School Board badge.png
Seal of Pennsylvania.png
School Board badge.png

External links

Footnotes