Germantown School District elections (2017)
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Two of seven seats on the Germantown School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on April 4, 2017. Incumbents Bob Soderberg and Lester Spies were unopposed and won re-election to their seats.[1]
Germantown's school board elections were unopposed each year between 2015 and 2017. Click here to view the district's full election trends.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Germantown Board of Education consists of seven members elected to three-year terms. All members are elected at large. While candidates must run for a particular seat on the board, the at-large nature of the election means all registered voters of the entire school district can vote in each race. Elections are held every year. Three seats were up for election in 2016, and two seats were up for election in 2017. The general election was held on April 4, 2017.[2][3]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, U.S. citizens, and residents of the school district for a minimum of 28 consecutive days before filing as a candidate. They also could not be disqualified from voting under Wisconsin law.[3]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file nomination papers with the school district clerk by January 3, 2017. If incumbents whose terms were up for re-election did not file to run in the race and did not file written notification that they would not be running, the candidate filing deadline could have been extended until January 6, 2017. The terms of candidates elected in the race started on April 24, 2017.[3]
Candidates and results
At-large
Results
| Germantown School District, General Election, 3-year terms, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Lester Spies Incumbent |
50.55% | 1,932 |
| Bob Soderberg Incumbent |
49.45% | 1,890 |
| Total Votes | 3,822 | |
| Source: Washington County, Wisconsin, "Election Summary Report," accessed April 4, 2017These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Candidates
Lester Spies 
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Bob Soderberg
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Wisconsin elections, 2017
The Germantown Board of Education election shared the ballot with elections for the office of Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction and one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.[4]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Wisconsin school board elections in 2017:[5][6]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3, 2017 | Candidate filing deadline |
| January 16, 2017 | Campaign finance deadline for candidates registered before January 1 |
| February 13, 2017 | Pre-primary election campaign finance deadline |
| February 21, 2017 | Primary election day |
| March 27, 2017 | Pre-general election campaign finance deadline |
| April 4, 2017 | Election Day |
| April 24, 2017 | Board members take office |
| July 15, 2017 | Post-election campaign finance deadline |
District map
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
As of March 22, 2017, Ballotpedia had not identified any official endorsements made in the election.
Campaign finance
All school board candidates in Wisconsin were required to file a campaign registration statement with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission after qualifying as candidates. This statement declares their candidacy to the county clerk's office and allows them to claim exemption from reporting campaign contributions and expenditures. Candidates were only required to report campaign contributions and expenditures if they did one or both of the following:[7]
- Accepted contributions, made disbursements, or incurred debt in excess of $2,000 during the calendar year
- Accepted more than $100 from a single source during the calendar year, barring contributions made by candidates to their own campaigns
There were three campaign finance report deadlines in 2017:
- The pre-primary report was due February 13, 2017,
- The pre-election report was due March 27, 2017, and
- The post-election report was due July 15, 2017.[8]
Candidates who filed before January 1, 2017, also had to file a continuing campaign finance report on January 16, 2017.[9]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
Election trends
- See also: School board elections, 2017
The 2017 school board election for the Germantown School District, like the district's 2015 and 2014 races, consisted entirely of unopposed incumbents running for re-election. While the 2017 election was not competitive, the 2016 school board election had 1.3 candidates running per seat. The 2013 race also had challengers and averaged 1.5 candidates running per seat. The district has regularly had a lower candidate per seat average than the 2015 state and national averages of candidates per seat of 1.38 and 1.72, respectively.
| School board election trends | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Germantown School District | |||||
| 2017 | 1 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2016 | 1.3 | 66.67% | 66.67% | 33.33% | |
| 2015 | 1 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2014 | 1 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2013 | 1.5 | 50.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| Wisconsin | |||||
| 2015 | 1.38 | 32.00% | 84.00% | 35.29% | |
| United States | |||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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About the district
- See also: Germantown School District, Wisconsin
The Germantown School District is located in Washington County in southeastern Wisconsin. The county seat is West Bend. Washington County was home to 133,674 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[10] The district was the 47th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 3,931 students.[11]
Demographics
Higher education achievement
Washington County outperformed the state of Wisconsin as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 28.9 percent of Washington County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.8 percent for the state as a whole.[10]
Median household income
Between 2011 to 2015, the median household income in Washington County was $69,237. During that same time period, the median household income for Wisconsin as a whole was $53,357, and for the entire United States it was $53,889.[10]
Poverty rate
The poverty rate in Washington County was 5.3 percent from 2011 to 2015, while it was 12.1 percent for the state as a whole. During that same time period, the poverty rate for the country as a whole was 13.5 percent.[10]
| Racial Demographics, 2015[10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Washington County (%) | Wisconsin (%) | |
| White | 96.0 | 87.6 | |
| Black or African American | 1.2 | 6.6 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4 | 1.1 | |
| Asian | 1.3 | 2.8 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| Two or more races | 1.1 | 1.8 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 3.1 | 6.6 | |
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 Germantown School District Wisconsin election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Germantown School District | Wisconsin | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Washington County, Wisconsin, "Election Summary Report," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ Germantown School District, "Board of Education," accessed December 26, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Wisconsin Association of School Boards, "Guide for Candidates: 2017 Spring Election Edition," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Election Commission, "Candidate Tracking by Office: 2017 Spring Election - 4/4/2017," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Guided for Candidates," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Checklist," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, "11.0104 Reporting exemptions: limited activity," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Filing Deadlines and Reporting Periods," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Checklist," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 United States Census Bureau, "Washington County, Wisconsin," accessed December 29, 2016
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| Germantown School District elections in 2017 | |
| Washington County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Lester Spies • Incumbent, Bob Soderberg |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
