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Garland Independent School District elections (2015)
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Two seats on the Garland Independent School District Board of Trustees were up for general election on May 9, 2015.
In the Place 6 race, two challengers, Dwight Davis and Robert Selders Jr., faced off since incumbent Steve Knagg did not file for re-election. Selders defeated Davis to win the seat. Place 7 incumbent Rick Lambert ran unopposed and won re-election.[1]
Selders participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read his responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
About the district
Garland Independent School District is located in Dallas County, Texas. The county seat of Dallas County is Dallas. Dallas County was home to an estimated 2,480,331 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[2] Garland Independent School District was the 13th-largest school district in Texas, serving 58,151 students during the 2011-2012 school year.[3]
Demographics
Dallas County outperformed the rest of Texas in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 28.6 percent of Dallas County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 26.7 percent for the state as a whole. The median household income in Dallas County was $49,481, compared to $51,900 statewide. The poverty rate in Dallas County was 19.1 percent, compared to 17.6 percent for the entire state.[2]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The Garland Board of Trustees consists of seven members elected to three-year terms. Each member is elected to a specific position but represents the entire district. There was no primary election, and a general election took place on May 9, 2015. Two seats were on the ballot in May 2015.[5]
School board candidates submitted paperwork with the school district secretary by February 27, 2015. Each candidate must be at least 18 years old, a registered voter and a resident of the district for at least six months. Members filed two campaign finance reports with the district clerk prior to the election unless they did not receive or spend $500 during the campaign.[6]
Elections
2015
Candidates
Place 6
- Dwight Davis
- Graduate, Grace College
- Senior program manager, Hewlett-Packard
- Robert Selders Jr.
- Graduate, Southern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California University of Pennsylvania
- Health/fitness expert, business owner
Place 7
- Rick Lambert
- Incumbent
- Graduate, Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University School of Law
- Lawyer
Election results
Place 6
| Garland Independent School District, Place 6 General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Robert Selders Jr. |
51.1% | 1,418 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dwight Davis | 48.9% | 1,359 | |
| Total Votes | 2,777 | |||
| Source: Dallas County Elections, "Joint Election - May 9, 2015," accessed May 9, 2015 These election results are not official and will be updated when certified results are available. You can submit certified results by contacting us. | ||||
| Garland Independent School District, Place 6 General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Rick Lambert Incumbent |
100% | 2,318 | |
| Total Votes | 2,318 | |||
| Source: Dallas County Elections, "Joint Election - May 9, 2015," accessed May 9, 2015 These election results are not official and will be updated when certified results are available. You can submit certified results by contacting us. | ||||
Place 7
Endorsements
No candidate received any official endorsements for his or her campaign during the election.
Campaign finance
No contributions or expenditures were reported as of April 9, 2015, according to the Texas Ethics Commission.[7] The next filing deadline was May 1, 2015.
Texas school board candidates and officeholders must file semiannual reports, which were due on January 15, 2015, and July 15, 2015. In addition, candidates in contested elections were required to file 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports, unless the candidate chose modified reporting.[6]
Candidates in contested elections who did not intend to exceed $500 in contributions or expenditures, excepting filing fees, were eligible for modified reporting. If they exceeded the threshold before the 30th day prior to the election, candidates were required to submit the 30- and 8-day reports. If they exceeded the threshold after the 30th day prior to the election, they were required to file a report within 48 hours of exceeding the threshold and participate in regular reporting for the rest of the election cycle.[8]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2014
2013
Note: Larry Glick and Linda L. Griffin won seats in Place 1 and Place 3 without opposition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
Issues in the district
Illegal hiring of foreign teachers, associate superintendent fired
After being with the district for more than 30 years, Associate Superintendent Gary Reeves was fired from Garland ISD in November 2014. Reeves also served as the district's interim superintendent in 2013. He had been on paid administrative leave since February 2014, when Homeland Security launched a federal corruption and fraud investigation into the use of visas by Garland ISD to hire teachers. The investigation found that Human Resources Director Victor Leos had illegally hired foreign teachers and then never helped them secure visas to stay in the U.S. To put this into perspective, over the last decade Garland ISD hired a total of 642 foreign teachers.
According to reports, Leos gouged exorbitant fees from overseas bilingual teachers who he recruited to teach Spanish at Garland ISD. Reeves claimed he was unaware of any issues with the H-1B Visa Program, although he oversaw the human resources department which was directly implicated in the investigation. Officials said that these improper practices cost the district over half a million dollars.[9][10][11]
2014 bond
In November 2014, voters in Garland ISD approved a $455.5 million bond package geared towards heightened security, new construction and renovations within the district. The bond passed with 62 percent of the vote or 28,997 favoring the measure and 17,725 opposing. The last time a bond was on the ballot in Garland was in 2002. The district plans to spread the following projects out over a five-year period:[12]
| Garland ISD 2014 Bond[13] | |
|---|---|
| Project | Expense ($ in millions) |
| Mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire sprinkler improvements | $157.2 |
| Classroom computer replacement | $50.0 |
| Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) restrooms | $42.3 |
| Secured entrances | $36.4 |
| Fine Arts expansion — band, choir and orchestra rooms | $35.0 |
| Career and Technical Education (CTE) center | $32.0 |
| One-to-one student devices in secondary schools | $25.0 |
| ADA door and hardware / secure classroom door locks | $22.2 |
| Natatorium/aquatics center | $20.0 |
| Access control systems for building entrances, security cameras, fire alarm equipment | $14.6 |
| Window replacements | $8.8 |
| Restrooms and concession stands at ball fields | $6.3 |
| Lights at ball fields | $5.7 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
Robert Selders Jr. participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions.
Top priorities
When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Selders stated:
| “ | I think the most critical issues facing Garland ISD and what would be my top priorities – closing the achievement gap and ensuring the execution of the school district’s strategic plan and proposed plans for the GISD Bond. superintendent.[14] | ” |
| —Robert Selders Jr. (2015)[15] | ||
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 the candidates' rankings from most to least important:
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. Links to the candidates' responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Garland Independent School District election in 2015:[6][16]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| December 29, 2014 | Deadline to post notice of candidate filing deadline |
| January 28, 2015 | First day to file for place on general election ballot |
| February 27, 2015 | Last day to file for place on general election ballot |
| March 4, 2015 | Last day to withdraw from ballot |
| March 10, 2015 | First day to apply for ballot by mail |
| April 9, 2015 | Last day for voter registration with county clerk |
| Campaign finance report due | |
| April 27, 2015 | First day of early voting |
| April 30, 2015 | Last day to apply for ballot by mail |
| May 1, 2015 | Campaign finance report due |
| May 5, 2015 | Last day of early voting |
| May 9, 2015 | Election Day |
| May 20, 2015 | Final day for canvassing of votes |
| July 15, 2015 | Campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Texas elections, 2015
The election on May 9, 2015, shared the ballot with other municipal elections in Dallas County.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Garland + Independent + School + District + Texas"
See also
| Garland Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
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External links
- Garland Independent School District
- Dallas County Clerk
- Dallas County, Texas
- Texas Secretary of State
Footnotes
- ↑ Lauren Dixon, "Email correspondence with Mechelle Hogan, Board Clerk, Garland ISD," March 6, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United States Census Bureau, "Dallas County, Texas," accessed February 11, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Dallas County," accessed February 2, 2015
- ↑ Garland Independent School District, "GISD Board of Trustees," accessed March 19, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Texas Ethics Commission, "2015 Filing Schedule for Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed January 21, 2015
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Search Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities," September 1, 2013
- ↑ The Dallas Morning News, "Garland ISD fires associate superintendent," November 18, 2014
- ↑ Fox 4 News, "Associate Supt. Gary Reeves fired by Garland ISD," November 18, 2014
- ↑ WFAA, "Investigators detail corruption in Garland ISD foreign teacher program," April 8, 2014
- ↑ Star Local Media, "Let the building begin: Voters approve GISD’s $455.5 million bond proposal, highway funding proposition," November 6, 2014
- ↑ Garland Independent School District, "Proposed Projects," accessed March 31, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2015 Election Dates," accessed January 20, 2015
| 2015 Garland Independent School District Elections | |
| Dallas County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 9, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Place 6: Dwight Davis • Robert Selders Jr. Place 7: Incumbent, Rick Lambert |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
