Grant Public School District, Michigan, elections

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Grant Public School District
District details
School board members: 7
Students: 1,638 (2022-2023)
Schools: 5 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

Grant Public School District is a school district in Michigan (Newaygo and Muskegon counties). During the 2023 school year, 1,638 students attended one of the district's five schools.

This page provides information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more details about the district.

Jump to a section:

Elections School board Location Budget Academic performance Students Staff Schools

Elections

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• 2024

Grant Public School District, At-large

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large

Incumbent Rachal Gort defeated Mindy Conley in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Rachal Gort (Nonpartisan)	53.6	924
	Submit photo	Mindy Conley (Nonpartisan)	45.9	791
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	8

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,723
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Grant Public School District, At-large

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large

Incumbent Richard Vance defeated Lindsay Mahlich in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Richard Vance (Nonpartisan)	52.3	902
	Submit photo	Lindsay Mahlich (Nonpartisan)	47.4	817
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	5

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,724
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.

Grant Public School District, At-large

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large (2 seats)

Incumbent Richard Vance, Lindsay Mahlich, and Jason McKinley ran in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Richard Vance (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Lindsay Mahlich (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Jason McKinley (Nonpartisan)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.

Grant Public School District, At-large

General election

General election for Grant Public School District, At-large (2 seats)

Incumbent Rachal Gort, Jim Renney, and Ken Thorne ran in the general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Rachal Gort (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Jim Renney (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Ken Thorne (Nonpartisan)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.

Grant Public School District, At-large

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large

Rick Fish ran in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Rick Fish (Nonpartisan)

---

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Election rules

View election rules

 

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board general elections in Michigan are held on the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November every two years in even-numbered years.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384

Recent or upcoming election dates for all local school districts in the state

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all local school districts in the state. There may be exceptions to these dates for specific districts because of local charters and district-specific exceptions and carve-outs.

• Filing deadline date: July 21, 2026
• General election date: November 3, 2026

Election system

School board members in Michigan are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Michigan Election Law on school board candidate nominating petitions states, "(2)The nominating petition must be substantially in the form prescribed in section 544c, except that the petition must be nonpartisan." It also states, "At any regular election, the names of the several nonpartisan offices to be voted for shall be placed on a separate portion of the ballot containing no party designation in the following order: [...], and in a year in which an election for the office is held, local school district board member, metropolitan district officer, and district library board member."

See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303 and Section 168.699

Winning an election

The candidate or candidates that receive the most votes in the nonpartisan general election are elected to office.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.307

Term length and staggering

All school districts other community school districts in Michigan have board member terms of either four or six years depending on the board by-laws. As of 2022, 60% of school districts in Michigan had six-year board member terms, and 40% -- including community school districts -- had four-year board member terms.

Community school districts in Michigan have four-year board member terms. Initial terms for the first board members of newly organized community school districts are two, four, or six years to stagger elections.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.11a and Michigan Statute Section 380.384

For community school districts in Michigan, as close to half of school board members as possible for each district are elected every two years, which means either three or four seats are up for election at each even-year election. At the first board member election after community school districts are first organized, all seven board member seats are elected. Two members are elected to two-year terms, three members are elected to four-year terms, and two members are elected to six-year terms, with higher vote totals dictating longer initial terms. After initial terms, all board members have four-year terms, which results in staggered elections: four seats up in one election and three seats up in the next election.

Michigan statute requires that at least one board member must be elected every two years at each regular even-year election. Specific seat staggering details for school districts other than community school districts are determined at the local level by the district board's bylaws. Most districts with four-year board member terms elect as close to half of board members as possible every two years. Most districts with six-year board member terms elect as close to one-third of board members as possible every two years.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384 and Michigan Statute Section 168.301

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members in Michigan are elected at large by all voters in the district.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303, Section 168.307, and Section 380.384 (3)

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

School board candidates must file affidavits and nomination petitions or candidate filing fees by 4 p.m. on the 15th Tuesday before the November election. This means that the school board candidate filing deadline is in late July every even-numbered year.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303

Newly elected school board members in Michigan officially take office on January 1 of the year following the election.

See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384 and Section 168.302

 

Recall elections

View recall elections

 

See also: States that allow school board recalls

Recall procedures

State	Specific grounds required?	Signature requirement	Petition circulation time	When recalls can start
Michigan	No	25% of voters in the jurisdiction in the last gubernatorial election	60 days between collection of first signature and collection of last signature; recall petitions are eligible to collect signatures for 180 days	For two-year terms, recalls cannot start until an official has been in office for six months, and they cannot start in the last six months of an officer's term For four-year terms, recalls cannot start until an official has been in office for one year, and they cannot start in the last year of an officer's term

Recall efforts

2024

See also: Grant Public School District recall, Michigan (2023-2024)

Recall elections against two of the seven members of the Grant Public School District Board of Education in Michigan were held on May 7, 2024. Rachal Gort and Richard Vance were on the ballot. Gort defeated Mindy Conley to stay in office, and Vance defeated Lindsay Mahlich to stay in office.

Ken Thorne and Sabrina Veltkamp-Blok were also named in recall petitions, but those efforts did not go to a vote.

The effort started after the board voted in June 2023 to issue a 90-day termination letter to Family Health Care, which had been operating a health clinic in the district's middle school since 2010. Due to the termination letter, the clinic's contract with the district was scheduled to end on October 6, 2023. All four members included in the recall effort voted in favor of the termination.

On September 11, 2023, the board unanimously voted to approve a new contract with Family Health Care, keeping the clinic open. The contract included the stipulation that a mural painted by students that featured LGBTQ+ imagery be removed by the end of October 2023. Under the contract, the superintendent and school board president had to approve any future decorations in the clinic.

About the district

School board

The Grant Public School District consists of seven members serving six-year terms. To find information about school board meetings, click here.

List of school board members

Name	Year assumed office	Year term ends
Richard Vance
Rachal Gort		2030
Ken Thorne		2030
Sabrina Veltkamp-Blok		2028
Rick Fish	2025	2028
Jason McKinley		2026
Danette Obenauf		2026

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District map

School district map

Overlapping state house districts

Grant Public School District

Office Name	Current Officeholder	Party	% School District Covered	% Other District Covered
Michigan House of Representatives District 101	Joseph Fox	Republican Party	83%	5%
Michigan House of Representatives District 89	Luke Meerman	Republican Party	16%	5%

The table was limited to the lower chamber because it provides the most granularity. State house districts tend to be more numerous and therefore smaller than state senate or U.S. House districts. This provides an impression of the partisan affiliations in the area.

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Revenue
• Expenditures

Revenue, 2020-2021

SOURCE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Federal:	$2,408,000	$1,419	12%
Local:	$2,724,000	$1,605	13%
State:	$15,794,000	$9,307	76%
Total:	$20,926,000	$12,331

Expenditures, 2020-2021

TYPE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Total Expenditures:	$19,348,000	$11,401
Total Current Expenditures:	$18,654,000	$10,992
Instructional Expenditures:	$12,193,000	$7,185	63%
Student and Staff Support:	$938,000	$552	5%
Administration:	$2,623,000	$1,545	14%
Operations, Food Service, Other:	$2,900,000	$1,708	15%
Total Capital Outlay:	$165,000	$97
Construction:	$28,000	$16
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other:	$281,000	$165
Interest on Debt:	$216,000	$127

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements. To protect student privacy, percentages are reported as ranges for groups of 300 students or fewer. If five or fewer students were included in a data set, the data will display as "PS."

• Mathematics
• Reading/language arts
• Graduation rates

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	23	PS	PS	15-19	<50	<=20	25
2018-2019	32	PS	PS	20-24	<50	21-39	35
2017-2018	28	PS	PS	15-19	<50	<=20	30
2016-2017	34	PS	PS	20-24	<50	20-29	37
2015-2016	37	PS		20-24	>=50	21-39	40
2014-2015	36	PS	PS	25-29	<50	<=20	40
2013-2014	38	PS	PS	25-29	<50	21-39	41
2012-2013	37	PS	PS	25-29	<50	<50	40
2011-2012	33	PS	PS	15-19	PS	<50	37
2010-2011	80	PS	PS	80-84	PS	>=50	80

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	40	PS	PS	30-34	<50	21-39	43
2018-2019	43	PS	PS	35-39	<50	40-59	46
2017-2018	35	PS	PS	20-24	<50	21-39	36
2016-2017	45	PS	PS	35-39	<50	30-39	48
2015-2016	47	PS		35-39	>=50	21-39	49
2014-2015	46	PS	PS	35-39	<50	21-39	49
2013-2014	65	PS	PS	55-59	>=50	60-79	68
2012-2013	64	PS	PS	50-54	>=50	<50	67
2011-2012	60	PS	PS	45-49	PS	>=50	64
2010-2011	82	PS	PS	75-79	PS	>=50	84

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2019-2020	80-84	PS		80-89		PS	80-84
2018-2019	85-89			>=80	PS		85-89
2017-2018	85-89	PS	PS	70-79	PS	PS	90-94
2016-2017	75-79			60-79	PS	PS	80-84
2015-2016	80-84		PS	60-79	PS	PS	85-89
2014-2015	85-89			>=80		PS	80-84
2013-2014	80-84	PS	PS	60-69		PS	85-89
2012-2013	70-74		PS	40-49			80-84
2011-2012	75-79	PS	PS	60-79	PS		75-79
2010-2011	80-84	PS	PS	40-59	PS		80-84

Students

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Enrollment
• Demographics

Year	Enrollment	Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023	1,638	-0.3
2021-2022	1,643	-3.3
2020-2021	1,697	-5.4
2019-2020	1,788	-0.6
2018-2019	1,799	-2.6
2017-2018	1,846	0.8
2016-2017	1,832	-1.0
2015-2016	1,851	-3.2
2014-2015	1,910	-3.2
2013-2014	1,971	1.9
2012-2013	1,934	-6.3
2011-2012	2,056	-4.5
2010-2011	2,148	-7.1
2009-2010	2,300	-1.8
2008-2009	2,342	-3.9
2007-2008	2,433	1.0
2006-2007	2,408	-4.4
2005-2006	2,514	-0.1
2004-2005	2,517	0.6
2003-2004	2,502	3.4
2002-2003	2,418	5.1
2001-2002	2,294	-6.1
2000-2001	2,435	1.1
1999-2000	2,409	0.0

Racial Demographics, 2022-2023

RACE	Grant Public School District (%)	Michigan K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.5	0.6
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander	0.2	3.6
Black	0.6	18.1
Hispanic	21.7	8.9
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	0.2	0.1
Two or More Races	2.8	5.1
White	73.9	63.6

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.

Staff

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Teachers
• Administrators
• Other staff

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Grant Public School District had 93.13 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 17.59.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten:	2.00
Kindergarten:	5.00
Elementary:	34.00
Secondary:	41.00
Total:	93.13

Grant Public School District employed 5.20 district administrators and 4.90 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators:	5.20
District Administrative Support:	1.50
School Administrators:	4.90
School Administrative Support:	8.35

Other staff, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides:	18.04
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors:	0.00
Total Guidance Counselors:	3.00
Elementary Guidance Counselors:	1.00
Secondary Guidance Counselors:	2.00
Librarians/Media Specialists:	0.00
Library/Media Support:	3.53
Student Support Services:	14.92
Other Support Services:	31.85

Schools

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

The Grant Public School District operates five schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

List of schools

SCHOOL NAME	NUMBER OF STUDENTS	GRADES
Grant Elementary School	347	2-4
Grant High School	520	9-12
Grant Learning Center	65	7-12
Grant Middle School	467	5-8
Grant Primary Center	239	KG-1

About school boards

Education legislation in Michigan

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See also

School Boards	Education Policy	Local Politics	Michigan
List of school districts in Michigan Michigan school board elections, 2025 School board elections, 2025 School board recalls School board authority in Michigan	Michigan Department of Education Public education in Michigan	Municipal government Local courts Local ballot measures Recalls	Michigan Michigan elections, 2025 Michigan State Legislature Michigan state executive offices

External links

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