Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) elections (2017)

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2019 → ← 2015
Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) Elections
Primary election date
August 1, 2017
General election date
November 7, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
26,526 students

Two of the five seats on the Evergreen Public Schools school board in Washington were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. A primary election was held for both seats on August 1, 2017, because more than two candidates filed for each seat.

District 1 board member Julie Bocanegra defeated newcomer Megan Miles in the general. They both fended off Dennis Jeppson in the primary. In District 5, Ginny Gronwoldt defeated Park Llafet in the general. They competed in the general by defeating James (Jimee Tee) Taylor and Janelle Tuominen in the primary.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Evergreen school board consists of five members elected by district to four-year terms. Each member can be compensated $50 per day for district matters with 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

District 1

General results

Evergreen Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Julie Bocanegra Incumbent	60.39%	12,662
Megan Miles	39.61%	8,306
Total Votes		20,968
Source: Clark County, "November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed November 22, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Primary results

Evergreen Public Schools, District 1 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Julie Bocanegra Incumbent	57.79%	7,864
Megan Miles	36.77%	5,003
Dennis Jeppson	5.45%	741
Total Votes		13,608
Source: Clark County, "August 1, 2017 Primary," accessed August 17, 2017

Candidates

Julie Bocanegra		Megan Miles
	Incumbent (2012 - Present) Bank manager		Music teacher

Defeated in primary

Dennis Jeppson

District 5

General results

Evergreen Public Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ginny Gronwoldt	69.17%	14,357
Park Llafet	30.83%	6,400
Total Votes		20,757
Source: Clark County, "November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed November 22, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Primary results

Evergreen Public Schools, District 5 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ginny Gronwoldt	49.74%	6,749
Park Llafet	22.37%	3,035
Janelle Tuominen	18.34%	2,488
James Taylor	9.56%	1,297
Total Votes		13,569
Source: Clark County, "August 1, 2017 Primary," accessed August 17, 2017

Candidates

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Ginny Gronwoldt		Park Llafet

Defeated in primary

James (Jimee Tee) Taylor		Janelle Tuominen

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Washington elections, 2017

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

• Mayor
• City council

The school board election shared the general ballot with elections for:

• Mayor
• City council
• Fire protection district
• Wastewater district
• Port of Vancouver commissioner

Key deadlines

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

Endorsements

General election

Julie Bocanegra and Ginny Gronwoldt received official endorsements from The Columbian.

Megan Miles received an endorsement from the Washington Education Association.

Primary election

Gronwoldt received an official endorsement from Evergreen school board member Victoria Bradford.

Bocanegra and Miles were endorsed by The Columbian.

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

All candidates in this race opted for mini reporting except for Ginny Gronwoldt and Janelle Tuominen, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. Details of Gronwoldt's and Tuominen's reports may be viewed below.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Ginny Gronwoldt	$1,163.86	$492.86	$671.00
Janelle Tuominen	$3,151.91	$966.68	$2,185.23

General guidelines

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: Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) elections (2015) District 2 Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 Candidate Vote % Votes Rob Perkins Incumbent 100.0% 15,983 Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 15,983 Source: Clark County Auditor, "November 3, 2015 General Election," November 24, 2015 District 3 Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 Candidate Vote % Votes Victoria Bradford Incumbent 59.9% 11,539 Frank Decker 40.1% 7,735 Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 19,274 Source: Clark County Auditor, "November 3, 2015 General Election," November 24, 2015 District 4 Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 Candidate Vote % Votes Todd Yuzuriha Incumbent 100.0% 16,283 Write-in votes 0% 0 Total Votes 16,283 Source: Clark County Auditor, "November 3, 2015 General Election," November 24, 2015 2013 See also: Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) elections (2013) District 1 Evergreen Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Julie Bocanegra Incumbent 50.2% 9,908      Nonpartisan Daniel Poletti 49.8% 9,818 Total Votes 19,726 Source: Clark County Auditor's Office, "November 5, 2013 General Election," November 26, 2013 District 5 Evergreen Public Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Michael Parsons Incumbent 100% 16,765 Total Votes 16,765 Source: Clark County Auditor's Office, "November 5, 2013 General Election," November 26, 2013 2011 District 2 Evergreen Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Joan Skelton 97.8% 21,085      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 2.2% 474 Total Votes 21,559 Source: Clark County Auditor's Office, "2011 General Election Results," November 29, 2011 District 3 Evergreen Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Victoria Bradford 97.8% 20,900      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 2.2% 465 Total Votes 21,365 Source: Clark County Auditor's Office, "2011 General Election Results," November 29, 2011 District 4 Evergreen Public Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Todd Yuzuriha 98.2% 20,975      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 1.8% 384 Total Votes 21,359 Source: Clark County Auditor's Office, "2011 General Election Results," November 29, 2011

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.

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About the district

See also: Evergreen Public Schools (Clark), Washington

Evergreen Public Schools is located in Clark County, Washington.

Evergreen Public Schools is located in Clark County in southwestern Washington. The seat of county government is Vancouver. Clark County was home to an estimated 467,018 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the sixth-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 26,526 students.

Demographics

Clark County underperformed in comparison to the state of Washington as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 27.2 percent of county residents aged 25 and older had earned a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 32.9 percent of all state residents. The median household income in the county was $60,756, while it was $61,062 for the entire state. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 10.6 percent, while that rate was 12.2 percent for all state residents.

Racial Demographics, 2015
Race	Clark County (%)	Washington (%)
White	87.1	80.3
Black or African American	2.2	4.1
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.1	1.9
Asian	4.7	8.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.9	0.7
Two or More Races	4.0	4.6
Hispanic or Latino	9.0	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 Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) Washington election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Evergreen Public Schools (Clark)	Washington	School Boards
Evergreen Public Schools (Clark) 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

• Evergreen Public Schools
• Clark County Elections