Everett Public Schools elections (2017)

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2019 → ← 2015
Everett Public Schools Elections
General election date
November 7, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
19,615 students

One of the five seats on the Everett Public Schools school board in Washington was up for at-large general election on November 7, 2017. Position 5 incumbent Pam LeSesne filed for re-election and defeated challenger Janelle Nixon-Burke.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Everett school board is a five-member board with each member elected at large to a six-year term. Each member can be compensated $50 per day for district matters with a maximum compensation of $4,800 per year.

In order to run for a school board in Washington, candidates must be U.S. citizens, legal residents of Washington, at least 18 years old by the election day, and registered voters of the district in which they run.

Voter registration

To vote in Washington, one must be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Washington, and at least 18 years old. One may register to vote online, by mail, or in person at a county elections department. Registration must be completed 29 days prior to an election if done by mail or online and eight days prior to the election if done in person.

Washington is a vote-by-mail only state. Ballots are mailed to voters at least 18 days before an election. Voters must postmark their ballots by election day or return them to a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. on the election day in order for them to count.

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

Position 5

Results

Everett Public Schools, Position 5 General Election, 6-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Pam LeSesne	80.87%	18,461
Janelle Nixon-Burke	18.35%	4,189
Write-in votes	0.78%	177
Total Votes		22,827
Source: Snohomish County, "Snohomish County Unofficial Election Results," accessed November 22, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Candidates

This symbol, , next to a candidate's name indicates his or her participation in Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. Click the image next to a candidate's name to jump to their page detailing their responses.

Pam LeSesne		Janelle Nixon-Burke
	Incumbent (Elected 2011) Retired U.S. Navy captain		Journalist

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Washington elections, 2017

This Washington school board election in 2017 shared the ballot with elections for:

• County council
• Mayor
• City council
• Municipal court judge
• Fire district
• Water district
• Port of Everett commissioner

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for this Washington school board election in 2017:

Endorsements

Pam LeSesne received an official endorsement from HeraldNet and the Washington Education Association.

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

Reports

Janelle Nixon-Burke opted for mini reporting in this election, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

Pam LeSesne reported $2,785.00 in contributions and $936.57 in expenditures, leaving her campaign with $1,848.43 on hand as of October 10, 2017.

General information

See also: Campaign finance requirements in Washington and List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

Washington school board candidates must file a statement of organization within two weeks of filing for office. A statement of organization establishes a candidate's committee, treasurer, and bank the committee will use for its transactions.

Candidates who raise and spend no more than $5,000 in aggregate and who do not receive more than $500 from any one contributor, including themselves, can participate in mini reporting. These candidates must keep a record of their contributors and expenditures but they are not required to report them unless they exceed the stated thresholds. In those cases, they must switch their filing status from mini to full reporting.

The table below details campaign finance deadlines for 2017 Washington school board candidates:

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2015 See also: Everett Public Schools elections (2015) Position 3 Everett Public Schools Board of Directors, Position 3 General Election, 6-year term, 2015 Candidate Vote % Votes Caroline Mason Incumbent 64.9% 13,013 Kathleen Estabrook 35.1% 7,041 Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 20,054 Source: Snohomish County, Washington, "Snohomish County General Election Results," November 24, 2015 Position 4 Everett Public Schools Board of Directors, Position 4 General Election, 6-year term, 2015 Candidate Vote % Votes Traci Mitchell Incumbent 71.1% 14,320 Derek Ogle 28.9% 5,809 Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 20,129 Source: Snohomish County, Washington, "Snohomish County General Election Results," November 24, 2015 2013 See also: Everett Public Schools elections (2013) Seat 1 Everett Public Schools, Seat 1 General Election, 6-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Ted Wenta 53.8% 12,560      Nonpartisan Rod Reynolds 45.3% 10,586      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.9% 212 Total Votes 23,358 Source: Snohomish County Auditor's Office, "Snohomish County General Election Results," November 25, 2013 Seat 2 Everett Public Schools, Seat 2 General Election, 6-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Carol Andrews Incumbent 57.3% 13,462      Nonpartisan Kim Guymon 41.8% 9,818      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.8% 199 Total Votes 23,479 Source: Snohomish County Auditor's Office, "Snohomish County General Election Results," November 25, 2013 2011 Seat 5 Everett Public Schools, Seat 5 General Election, 6-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Pam LeSesne 61.4% 16,815      Nonpartisan Mary Ann Elbert 38.6% 10,567 Total Votes 27,382 Source: Snohomish County Auditor 2009 Seat 3 Everett Public Schools, Seat 3 General Election, 6-year term, 2009 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Jeff Russell 51.8% 13,011      Nonpartisan Pam LeSesne 48.2% 12,113 Total Votes 25,124 Source: Snohomish County Auditor Seat 4 Everett Public Schools, Seat 4 General Election, 6-year term, 2009 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Jessica Olson 54.5% 13,591      Nonpartisan Karen P. Madsen 45.5% 11,366 Total Votes 24,957 Source: Snohomish County Auditor

What was at stake?

Education budget adds $7.3 billion to public school funding

Washington added $7.3 billion over four years to public school funding with the budget signed by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on June 30, 2017. The funding was passed to comply with the 2012 McLeary v. State of Washington decision which ruled that the state was violating its state constitutional duty to fund K-12 education.

Under the plan, property taxes were raised in areas with high property values, while taxes in other areas were decreased. These raises accounted for approximately $4 billion of the total $7.3 billion. According to state Sen. Kevin Ranker (D), the property tax increases would add approximately $400 a year to the average Washington household's taxes.

Budget details

Washington teachers can receive two salaries: one from the state government and one from their school district. The new budget provisions included a minimum starting state salary for teachers of $40,000 (with adjustment for inflation and regional discrepancies), which was a 17 percent increase. The average minimum salary for instructional staff was $64,000 under the plan. School districts could also issue a salary over the previous maximum of $90,000 by up to 10 percent for educational staff associates or instructors who teach science, technology, engineering, and math, or in bilingual or special education programs. Below are a few other details of the new measure, according to Q13 Fox:

“

There’s a mandatory 10 percent [salary] increase after 5 years of employment. Starting in 2020-21, the minimum state allocations for salaries must be adjusted annually for inflation. Starting with the 2023 session, and every six years after that, the Legislature must review compensation to make sure they are adequate based on the market and economic differences between school districts.

”

Reactions

“It’s absolutely helping the middle class and 73% of Washington,” state Sen. John Braun (R) said about the budget. He also said that it found a solution to comply with the McLeary ruling fairly. State Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D) disagreed. “It’s a stressful situation; it looks like property taxes are a major component of this and I think it’s safe to say it’s a Democratic budget with a Republican tax plan,” Carlyle said. He called the budget “the good, bad and the ugly.”

McLeary v. State of Washington

The 2017 budget was passed in light of the McLeary ruling. When the decision was made in 2012, the Washington Supreme Court ordered the state to fully fund K-12 education by 2018. In September 2014, the Court held Washington in contempt for not making adequate progress. After the state still did not make adequate progress and produce a plan to comply with the Court's orders in 2015, the Supreme Court fined the state $100,000 a day until it complied. Those fines totaled $80.3 million as of October 24, 2017.

The State Supreme Court heard oral arguments on that day to determine whether or not the additional funding was enough for the state to be in full compliance with the court's ruling. An attorney for the state argued that the newest education budget was enough to pay for what the state's constitution calls for: a basic education for each child in Washington. The plaintiffs' lawyer argued that the Legislature was still far removed from reaching that goal. As of October 26, 2017, the court had not made a final decision.

Report a story for this election

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Candidate survey

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Click here to view or fill out the survey.

About the district

See also: Everett Public Schools, Washington

Everett Public Schools is located in Snohomish County, Washington.

Everett Public Schools is located in Snohomish County in Washington. The seat of county government is Everett. Snohomish County was home to an estimated 787,620 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the 12th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 19,615 students.

Demographics

Snohomish County underperformed in comparison to Washington as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 32.9 percent of state residents. The median household income in the county was $70,722, while it was $61,062 for the entire state. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 9.3 percent, while that rate was 12.2 percent for all state residents.

Racial Demographics, 2015
Race	Snohomish County (%)	Washington (%)
White	79.7	80.3
Black or African American	3.2	4.1
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.6	1.9
Asian	10.4	8.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.6	0.7
Two or More Races	4.5	4.6
Hispanic or Latino	9.9	12.4

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 Everett Public Schools Washington election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Everett Public Schools elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Everett Public Schools	Washington	School Boards
Everett Public Schools elections (2015) List of school districts in Washington	Washington school board elections, 2017 Public education in Washington Local ballot measures, Washington	School board elections, 2017 School board elections, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2017 School board election data analysis, 2016

External links

• Everett Public Schools
• Snohomish County Elections