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Florida school board elections, 2014

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2014 School Board Elections

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Elections Information
Election Dates2014 Elections
Poll Opening and Closing Times

A total of 38 Florida school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2014 for 124 seats. There was a general election on August 26, 2014, for districts with competitive seats. If no candidate received a majority of votes for a particular seat, a runoff election was held on November 4, 2014, to determine a winner.

Here are several quick facts about Florida's school board elections in 2014:

  • An average of 2.33 candidates ran for each board seat up for election in 2014 in Florida’s largest school districts by enrollment, which was higher than the national average of 1.89 candidates per seat.
  • 21.77 percent of the school board seats on the ballot in 2014 were unopposed. This was lower than the 32.57 percent of seats that were unopposed nationally.

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  • 78.23 percent of the incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran for re-election in 2014, and they retained 63.71 percent of the total seats up for election.
  • A total of 45 newcomers were elected to school boards in Florida. They took 36.29 percent of the total seats, which was slightly lower than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally.
  • The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Miami-Dade County Public Schools with 346,842 K-12 students.
  • The smallest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Columbia County School District with 9,810 K-12 students.
  • Broward County Public Schools had the most seats on the ballot in 2014 with six seats up for election.
  • Charlotte County Public Schools had the fewest seats on the ballot in 2014 with two seats up for election.

The districts listed below served 2,517,857 K-12 students during the 2010-2011 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.[1] Click on the district names for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2014 Florida School Board Elections
District Date Seats up for election Total board seats Student enrollment
Alachua County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 27,448
Bay District Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 25,935
Brevard Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 71,866
Broward County Public Schools 8/26/2014 6 9 256,472
Charlotte County Public Schools 8/26/2014 2 5 16,640
Citrus County Schools 8/26/2014 4 5 15,675
Collier County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 42,919
Columbia County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 9,810
Duval County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 7 123,997
Escambia County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 40,227
Flagler County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 12,931
Hernando County School Board 8/26/2014 3 5 22,684
Hillsborough County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 7 194,525
Lake County Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 41,110
Leon County Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 33,326
Manatee School District 8/26/2014 3 5 44,249
Marion County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 41,955
Martin County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 18,170
Miami-Dade County Public Schools 8/26/2014 4 9 346,842
Nassau County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 11,100
Okaloosa County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 28,695
Orange County Public Schools 8/26/2014 4 8 176,008
Pasco County Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 66,994
Pinellas County Schools 8/26/2014 5 7 104,001
Polk County Public Schools 8/26/2014 4 7 95,178
Putnam County School District 8/26/2014 4 5 11,244
Santa Rosa County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 25,533
Sarasota County Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 40,899
School Board of Highlands County 8/26/2014 3 5 12,128
School District of Clay County 8/26/2014 3 5 35,812
School District of Indian River County 8/26/2014 3 5 17,740
School District of Lee County 8/26/2014 3 5 81,967
School District of Osceola County 8/26/2014 3 5 53,357
School District of Palm Beach County 8/26/2014 4 7 174,663
Seminole County Public Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 64,229
St. Johns County School District 8/26/2014 3 5 30,710
St. Lucie County School Board 8/26/2014 3 5 39,259
Volusia County Schools 8/26/2014 3 5 61,559

State profile

Demographic data for Florida
 FloridaU.S.
Total population:20,244,914316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):53,6253,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:76%73.6%
Black/African American:16.1%12.6%
Asian:2.6%5.1%
Native American:0.3%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.1%0.2%
Two or more:2.4%3%
Hispanic/Latino:23.7%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:86.9%86.7%
College graduation rate:27.3%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$47,507$53,889
Persons below poverty level:19.8%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Florida.
**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.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Florida

Florida voted Republican in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Florida, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.[2]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Florida had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respsectively.

More Florida coverage on Ballotpedia

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Florida
Education terms
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For more information on education policy terms, see this article.

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NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Florida's scores were higher than its three comparison states (Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi). The state's grade four scores were also higher than the national average.[3]

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
Math - Grade 4 Math - Grade 8 Reading - Grade 4 Reading - Grade 8
Florida 41 31 39 33
Alabama 30 20 31 25
Georgia 39 29 34 32
Mississippi 26 21 21 20
U.S. average 41 34 34 34

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates, average composite ACT and SAT scores, and rankings for Florida and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[4][5][6]

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State Graduation rate, 2012 Average ACT composite, 2012 Average SAT composite, 2013
Percent Quintile ranking** Score Participation rate Score Participation rate
Florida 75% Fourth 19.8 70% 1457 67%
Alabama 75% Fourth 20.3 86% 1608 7%
Georgia 70% Fifth 20.7 52% 1452 75%
Mississippi 75% Fourth 18.7 100% 1673 3%
U.S. average 80% 21.1 1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation).
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally.
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–11 and school year 2011–12. The event dropout rate for Florida was lower than the national average at 2.1 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[7]

See also

Florida School Boards News and Analysis
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Footnotes