Glendale Unified School District elections (2017)
2019 →
← 2015 |
|---|
 |
|
|
| Enrollment (14-15) |
|
|
Three seats on the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on April 4, 2017. In his bid for re-election in Trustee Area B, incumbent Greg Krikorian defeated challenger Vardan Stepanyan. In Trustee Area C, incumbent Armina Gharpetian ran unopposed and won another term on the board. The race for the open Trustee Area D seat featured candidates Joal Ryan and Shant Sahakian. Sahakian was elected to the seat.[1][2]
All five candidates in this race participated in a candidate forum on March 2, 2017. Click here to watch the forum.
The 2017 election was the first time in four election cycles that a board of education candidate ran unopposed. The district's 2011, 2013, and 2015 elections all attracted over two candidates per seat on the ballot. Click here for more election trends. The 2017 election was also the first time school board elections were held by district. Prior to 2017, the district held elections at large.[3]
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Glendale Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district on a staggered basis every odd-numbered year in April. Prior to 2017, elections were held at large. Two at-large seats were up for election on April 7, 2015, and three seats—representing Trustee Areas B, C, and D—were up for election on April 4, 2017. There was no primary election.[3][4]
School board candidates had to be qualified electors in the trustee area they ran to represent. To get on the ballot, they had to file nomination papers signed by at least 20 qualified electors in the same trustee area with the Glendale City Clerk by January 26, 2017.[5]
To vote in this election, citizens of the district had to register by March 20, 2017.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.[7]
Candidates and results
Trustee Area B
Results
| Glendale Unified School District, Trustee Area B General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Greg Krikorian Incumbent |
82.74% | 3,030 |
| Vardan Stepanyan | 17.26% | 632 |
| Total Votes | 3,662 | |
| Source: Glendale City Clerk, "Glendale Municipal Election 2017," accessed May 1, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Greg Krikorian 
|
Vardan Stepanyan | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Trustee Area C
Results
| Glendale Unified School District, Trustee Area C General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Armina Gharpetian Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 3,165 |
| Total Votes | 3,165 | |
| Source: Glendale City Clerk, "Glendale Municipal Election 2017," accessed May 1, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Armina Gharpetian
| |
|---|---|
|
|
|
Trustee Area D
Results
| Glendale Unified School District, Trustee Area D General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Shant Sahakian |
58.93% | 1,891 |
| Joal Ryan | 41.07% | 1,318 |
| Total Votes | 3,209 | |
| Source: Glendale City Clerk, "Glendale Municipal Election 2017," accessed May 1, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Joal Ryan | Shant Sahakian
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
||
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2017
The Glendale Unified Board of Education election shared the ballot with elections for Glendale City Council members, Glendale City Clerk, Glendale City Treasurer, and members of the Glendale Community College board of trustees.[5]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Glendale Unified Board of Education election.[6]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| January 5, 2017 - January 26, 2017 | Candidate filing period |
| February 6, 2017 - March 21, 2017 | Write-in candidate filing period |
| February 23, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
| March 20, 2017 | Voter registration deadline |
| March 23, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
| April 4, 2017 | Election day |
| July 31, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline |
Endorsements
The Glendale Teachers Union , the Armenian Council of America-Political Action Committee (ACA-PAC) and the Armenian National Committee of America, Glendale Chapter (ANCA-Glendale) endorsed Trustee Area B incumbent Greg Krikorian, Trustee Area C incumbent Armina Gharpetian, and Trustee Area D candidate Shant Sahakian.[8][9][10] The Armenian Rights Council of America and the Glendale Association of Realtors also endorsed Krikorian and Sahakian.[11][12]
Krikorian was further endorsed by the CSEA AFL-CIO.[12] Sahakian was additionally endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[13]
|
|
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
Candidates received a total of $47,751.55 and spent a total of $32,282.97 in the election, according to the Glendale City Clerk.[14]
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trustee Area B | ||||
| Greg Krikorian | $0.00 | $11,915.00 | $8,094.75 | $3,820.25 |
| Vardan Stepanyan | $0.00 | $3,200.00 | $2,867.19 | $332.81 |
| Trustee Area C | ||||
| Armina Gharpetian | $2,330.51 | $5,050.00 | $875.00 | $6,505.51 |
| Trustee Area D | ||||
| Joal Ryan | $0.00 | $3,375.55 | $2,315.02 | $1,060.53 |
| Shant Sahakian | $0.00 | $24,211.00 | $18,131.01 | $6,079.99 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015
2013
2011
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2017
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The Glendale Unified School District's 2017 election had the first unopposed board of education candidate in four election cycles. The district's 2011, 2013, and 2015 elections had a minimum of 2.33 candidates run per seat on the ballot, while the 2017 election attracted an average of 1.67 candidates per seat.
The 2017 election was guaranteed to add one newcomer to the board due to an open seat. There was the possibility a second newcomer would be added as one incumbent faced a challenger, but the incumbent was re-elected. Newcomers were added to the board in 2013 and 2015. The newcomer elected in 2013 defeated an incumbent to win the seat, but the newcomer elected in 2015 won an open seat. No newcomers were elected to the board in 2011.
| School board election trends | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Glendale Unified School District | ||||||
| 2017 | 1.67 | 33.33% | 66.67% | 100.00% | 33.33% | |
| 2015 | 2.50 | 0.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| 2013 | 2.33 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 66.67% | 33.33% | |
| 2011 | 4.00 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| California | ||||||
| 2015 | 2.01 | 22.95% | 73.77% | 81.11% | 39.34% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Issues in the election
Candidate forum
All five candidates in this race participated in a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Glendale/Burbank on March 2, 2017. A video of the forum can be found below.
Issues in the district
District discusses ways to reduce spending
The Glendale Unified School District could spend of all of its General Fund reserves by the 2019-2020 fiscal year, if a district trend of spending more money than it brought in each year continued, district officials announced at a school board meeting in January 2017.[15]
"Basically, the district will not be able to meet its financial obligations if this negative amount in [2019-2020] is not rectified," said Karineh Savarani, the district's director of financial services. With $34.8 million in its General Fund as of January 2017, the district could see a negative balance of $12.8 million in three fiscal years, according to Savarani.[15]
To address the negative trend, district officials looked at a number of ways to cut costs and increase revenue. Cheryl Plotkin, the district's interim chief business and financial officer, suggested trying to increase students' average daily attendance. Increasing attendance by half a percentage point could lead to $100,000 more in state revenue, according to the Los Angeles Times.[15]
Other ideas to save money included increasing the fee for outside groups to rent school facilities, lowering individual schools' budgets, moving summer school locations from multiple buildings into one, and sending fewer paper mailings to parents.[15]
Candidate survey
|
|
Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
About the district
The Glendale Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles. Los Angeles County was home to an estimated 10,170,292 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[16] The district was the 44th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 26,168 students.[17]
Demographics
Los Angeles County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31.4 percent of state residents. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $56,196, compared to $61,818 for the entire state. The poverty rate in the county was 16.7 percent, while it was 15.3 percent statewide.[16]
| Racial Demographics, 2015[16] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Los Angeles County (%) | California (%) | |
| White | 71.1 | 72.9 | |
| Black or African American | 9.1 | 6.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.5 | 1.7 | |
| Asian | 15.0 | 14.7 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.4 | 0.5 | |
| Two or more races | 3.0 | 3.8 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 48.4 | 38.8 | |
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 Glendale Unified School District California election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Glendale Unified School District | California | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Glendale City Clerk, "Nomination Papers Issued," accessed January 27, 2017
- ↑ Glendale City Clerk, "Glendale Municipal Election 2017," accessed April 5, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Glendale City Clerk, "GUSD & GCCD Districts," accessed December 13, 2016
- ↑ Glendale Unified School District, "The Board of Education," accessed January 25, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Glendale City Clerk, "Qualifications for Candidates Running for an Elective Office: Glendale General Municipal Election April 4, 2017," accessed January 25, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Glendale City Clerk, "Event Calendar," accessed January 25, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Where and How to Vote," accessed December 5, 2016
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Teachers union endorses candidates for Glendale school board, GCC," March 8, 2017
- ↑ Massis Post, "ACA-PAC Issues Endorsements for Glendale Municipal Elections," March 22, 2017
- ↑ Armenian National Committee of America, "ANCA-Glendale Announces Endorsements for GUSD Board of Education," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Glendale Association of Realtors, "Glendale Association of REALTORS® Endorsements in Glendale City Council and School Board Races," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Greg Krikorian, "Glendale School Board," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Shant Sahakian for School Board, "Endorsements," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Glendale City Clerk, "Disclosure Statements: Public Access Portal," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Los Angeles Times, "Glendale Unified is spending more money than it's bringing in, officials say," January 17, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed January 20, 2017
- ↑ 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
| Glendale Unified School District elections in 2017 | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area B: • Incumbent, Greg Krikorian • Vardan Stepanyan Trustee Area C: • Incumbent, Armina Gharpetian Trustee Area D: • Joal Ryan • Shant Sahakian |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
