Fargo Public Schools elections (2016)

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2018 → ← 2014
Fargo Public Schools Elections
General election date:
June 14, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
11,101 students

Four of the nine seats on the Fargo Public Schools Board of Education were up for at-large general election on June 14, 2016. In his bid for re-election, incumbent Jim Johnson faced eight challengers: Brandi Aune, David Gregor, Thomas Hill, Ahmed Kamel, John Rodenbiker, Doug Rymph, Kristi Ulrich, and Jacob Webster. Johnson retained his seat, and Ulrich, Aune, and Rodenbiker won election to the board.

In addition to Johnson's seat, the seats of incumbents Paul Meyers, Robin Nelson, and John Strand were on the ballot, but they did not file to run for re-election, meaning three seats were open for newcomers. Three newcomers also won open seats in the district's 2014 race. To see how this election compared to past elections in both the district and the state, check out the "Election trends" section below.

Two candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read their responses.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Fargo Board of Education consists of nine members elected at large to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every even-numbered year in June. Five seats were up for election on June 10, 2014, and four seats were up for election on June 14, 2016. There was no primary election.

To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to live in the school district and be qualified electors in the state. They also had to file their candidacy documents with the school district business office by April 11, 2016.

Residents of the district did not have to register to vote in this election as North Dakota did not have a formal voter registration process. Photo identification was not required to vote in this election.

At-large

Results

Fargo Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kristi Ulrich	18.91%	7,687
Jim Johnson Incumbent	15.67%	6,372
John Rodenbiker	12.85%	5,225
Brandi Aune	12.68%	5,156
Thomas Hill	12.37%	5,030
David Gregor	10.73%	4,361
Ahmed Kamel	6.58%	2,675
Doug Rymph	4.99%	2,029
Jacob Webster	4.96%	2,016
Write-in votes	0.27%	109
Total Votes		40,660
Source: North Dakota Secretary of State, "Official Results Primary Election - June 14, 2016: Fargo School District Election Results," accessed June 28, 2016

Candidates

Jim Johnson		Brandi Aune		David Gregor
	Incumbent Member from 2000-2016 Vice president, Hallett Financial Group		Administrative secretary, North Dakota State University's Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences		Agent, New York Life Insurance Co.
Thomas Hill		Ahmed Kamel		John Rodenbiker
	Graduate, Minnesota State University at Moorhead Community impact director at United Way of Cass-Clay Veteran, U.S. Army and Army National Guard		Graduate, Cairo University, North Dakota State University, and Michigan State University Professor, Concordia College		Information security manager, Eide Bailly
Doug Rymph		Kristi Ulrich		Jacob Webster
	Retired educator, North Dakota State University		Graduate, University of Minnesota at Crookston Director of communications and director of development, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota		Alarm and communications officer, Sanford Health

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: North Dakota elections, 2016

The Fargo Public Schools election shared the ballot with primary elections for a U.S. Senate seat, a U.S. House of Representatives seat, two seats on the North Dakota Supreme Court, and the state offices of governor, auditor, treasurer, insurance commissioner, public service commissioner, and superintendent of schools. It also shared the ballot with seats on the East Central Judicial District, the North Dakota State Senate, the North Dakota House of Representatives, the Cass County Commission, and a number of city-level offices.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Fargo Public Schools election in 2016:

Deadline	Event
April 11, 2016	Candidate filing deadline
June 14, 2016	Election day
July 12, 2016	Board members take office

Endorsements

Incumbent Jim Johnson and newcomers Thomas Hill , John Rodenbiker, and Kristi Ulrich were endorsed by Inforum. Rodenbiker and fellow newcomer Doug Rymph were endorsed by the Fargo Education Association. Hill, Rodenbiker, Rymph, and fellow newcomer Ahmed Kamel received the endorsement of the Fargo Climate Group. Rodenbiker was additionally endorsed by the Fargo AFL-CIO labor council.

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

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

School board candidates were not required to file campaign finance reports under the North Dakota Century Code.

Past elections

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

2014 See also: Fargo Public Schools elections (2014) Fargo Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Rebecca Knutson 13.2% 5,874      Nonpartisan Linda Boyd Incumbent 12.2% 5,427      Nonpartisan Jennifer Benson 11.5% 5,142      Nonpartisan Dinah Goldenberg Incumbent 9.9% 4,426      Nonpartisan David Paulson 9.7% 4,324      Nonpartisan Brian Martin 9.2% 4,115      Nonpartisan Scott Dahms 8.5% 3,769      Nonpartisan Marty Livingood 7.3% 3,260      Nonpartisan Tyler Jon Anderson 7.1% 3,143      Nonpartisan Ahmed Kamel 6% 2,671      Nonpartisan Teri-Lee C. James 5.1% 2,284      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 138 Total Votes 44,573 Source: North Dakota Secretary of State, "Fargo School District Election Results," June 25, 2014 2012 Fargo Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan John Strand 15.6% 8,250      Nonpartisan Robin Nelson 15% 7,954      Nonpartisan Paul Meyers 12.4% 6,579      Nonpartisan Jim Johnson 11.2% 5,918      Nonpartisan James "Jim" Ebsen 7.9% 4,156      Nonpartisan David Gibb III 7.7% 4,045      Nonpartisan Lillian Jones 7.4% 3,929      Nonpartisan Marty Livingood 6.8% 3,613      Nonpartisan Brandi Malarkey 6.4% 3,387      Nonpartisan Jordan Franzen 5.6% 2,974      Nonpartisan J.J. Gordon 3.7% 1,976      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 93 Total Votes 52,874 Source: North Dakota Secretary of State, "Official Results Primary Election - June 12, 2012," accessed April 11, 2014

What was at stake?

2016

Issues in the election

District sees discord in proposal to increase board member compensation

On January 12, 2016, the Fargo Board of Education voted 5-3 to increase board member compensation each year by a percentage equal to the average percentage increase provided to all other staff. The motion was proposed by John Strand, an incumbent who chose not to run for re-election in 2016, so he did not personally benefit from the proposal.

Strand argued that the district should copy Cass County's procedures to increase compensation. "[W]hat Cass County does is they pass onto sitting commissioners the same percentage compensation increase that their staff get across the boards,” Strand said. He also said that school board members have "immense fiduciary responsibility," and that their compensation should reflect that level of obligation.

John Rodenbiker, a candidate in the 2016 Fargo Board of Education race, did not agree with Strand's take on the matter. “Fargo public schools already pay their board more than any other comparable school board in the state,” said Rodenbiker. He also said, "Given that our budget is currently operating on twice the mill levy as the state cap, I think it's really imprudent and unnecessary to raise the school board's compensation." Jim Johnson, the only incumbent who ran in the 2016 election, also did not agree with Strand. He cast one of the three dissenting votes, along with Board President Linda Boyd and fellow member Jennifer Benson. Both Rodenbiker and Johnson won election to the board on June 14, 2016.

The board last increased member compensation in 2009 to $9,000. The changes passed in the board meeting was effective as of July 1, 2016.

Issues in the state

State to write new standards, move away from Common Core

See also: Common Core State Standards Initiative

Kirsten Baesler

On May 3, 2016, North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler announced the state would be writing its own standards in order to replace Common Core standards, which the state implemented in 2010. The new standards were written over the 2016-2017 school year in order to implement them for the 2017-2018 school year.

“We will create a set of standards by North Dakotans for North Dakotans,” Baesler said a press conference. “These standards will set clear and high expectations for all students.”

The Common Core standards were used through the 2016-2017 school year, and the Smarter Balanced standardized tests were used to assess students in the spring of 2017. After that, the state switched to a test more in line with the new standards.

In 2015, the North Dakota State Legislature unsuccessfully tried to break ties with the Smarter Balanced Testing Consortium, and the state's use of Common Core standards received backlash from lawmakers and parents. With a number of state officials up for election in 2016, the backlash from Common Core fired up again. Baesler said it had become apparent that it was time to start writing new standards. She also said that the introduction of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act in December 2015, made it an opportune time to write new standards.

Election trends

See also: School board elections, 2014

Three new members were guaranteed to join the Fargo Public Schools Board of Education in 2016, as three incumbents did not file to run for re-election. Three newcomers also won open seats in 2014. In 2016, newcomers took 75 percent of the seats on the ballot, and in 2014, the newcomers who won accounted for 60 percent of the seats up for election. Overall in 2014, newcomers won 50 percent of the school board seats on the ballot in North Dakota's largest school districts.

The district's 2014 and 2016 elections attracted nearly the same number of candidates per seat. In 2014, an average of 2.2 candidates ran per seat up for election, and in 2016, an average of 2.25 candidates ran per seat. Both years saw a higher average number of candidates than the state did in 2014 (an average of 2.13 candidates per seat).

There were no unopposed seats in the district's 2014 or 2016 elections. This matched the state's 2014 trend in which no school board seats were unopposed.

Candidate survey

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

Survey responses

Two candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from incumbent Jim Johnson and challenger Ahmed Kamel.

Top priorities

Jim Johnson

When asked what he hoped to achieve if re-elected to the school board, Johnson stated:

“	Continue to help move our District towards the goal of preparing all of our students for the next stage of their life journey whether is a track to college, career, or military service.	”
—Jim Johnson (May 9, 2016)

Ahmed Kamel

Kamel stated the following when asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the board:

“	- To enhance the academics at all levels, especially our Math and Science offerings in order to prepare our children for the challenges of the increasing global competition we currently live in. - To expand our instructional offerings to meet the needs of all students including the gifted students, the special needs students, and the new immigrants. - To provide multicultural learning opportunities for the benefit of both the native-born students and the new immigrants.	”
—Ahmed Kamel (June 1, 2016)

Ranking the issues

The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays their rankings:

Issue importance ranking
Issue	Johnson's ranking	Kamel's ranking
Expanding arts education	6	6
Improving relations with teachers	3	4
Balancing or maintaining the district's budget	1	5
Improving post-secondary readiness	5	3
Closing the achievement gap	2	1
Improving education for special needs students	4	2
Expanding school choice options	7	7

Positions on the issues

The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.

• Jim Johnson survey responses
• Ahmed Kamel survey responses

About the district

See also: Fargo Public Schools, North Dakota

The Fargo Public school district is located in Cass County, North Dakota.

The Fargo Public school district is located in Fargo, the county seat of Cass County, which is located in eastern North Dakota. Fargo was home to 115,863 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the second-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 11,101 students.

Demographics

Fargo outperformed North Dakota as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 38.6 percent of city residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.3 percent of state residents. The median household income in Fargo was $46,311, compared to $55,579 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 15.4 percent, compared to 11.5 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2010
Race	Fargo (%)	North Dakota (%)
White	90.2	90.0
Black or African American	2.7	1.2
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.4	5.4
Asian	3.0	1.0
Two or More Races	2.1	1.8
Hispanic or Latino	2.2	2.0

Presidential votes, Cass County
Year	Democratic vote	Constitution Party vote	Green Party vote	Independent vote	Libertarian vote	Republican vote	Other vote
2012	34,712	196	346	N/A*	1,316	36,855	430
2008	37,622	206	N/A*	755	270	32,566	415
*Not applicable as the party did not have a candidate on the ballot.

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 'Fargo Public Schools' 'North Dakota'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Fargo Public Schools elections (2016) - Google News

See also

Fargo Public Schools	North Dakota	School Boards
Fargo Public Schools elections (2014) List of school districts in North Dakota	North Dakota school board elections, 2016 Public education in North Dakota Local ballot measures, North Dakota	School board elections, 2016 School board elections, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2015

External links

Suggest a link

• Fargo Public Schools
• North Dakota Secretary of State
• Cass County Elections