Greater Albany Public Schools elections (2017)

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Greater Albany Public Schools Elections
General election date
May 16, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
9,409 students

Three of the five seats on the Greater Albany Public Schools school board in Oregon were up for general election on May 16, 2017. Zone 1 incumbent Sandi Gordon filed for re-election and faced two challengers: Karelia Stetz-Waters and Jennifer Ward. Ward successfully ousted the incumbent. Two candidates filed for the open Zone 2 seat: Eric Aguinaga and Kim Butzner, with Butzner emerging victorious. For the At-Large Number 2 seat, incumbent Micah Smith defeated Matthew Prudell and Katie Winder.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Greater Albany school board consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Three members are elected by district and two members are elected at large.

To run for a school board in Oregon, one must be a registered voter and have lived in the district for one year prior to the election. In order to run in this school board election in 2017, candidates had to file with their county clerk by March 16, 2017.

To vote in Oregon, one must be a resident of Oregon, a United States citizen, and at least 17 years old. One may register to vote at any county election office, the office of the Secretary of State, any DMV office, or by downloading a registration form and sending it to a county election office. To vote in this election, residents had to register to vote by April 25, 2017.

See also: Voting in Oregon and Voter identification laws by state

Zone 1

Results

Greater Albany Public Schools, Zone 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jennifer Ward	40.88%	2,671
Sandi Gordon Incumbent	37.96%	2,480
Karelia Stetz-Waters	19.18%	1,253
Write-in votes	1.97%	129
Total Votes		6,533
Source: Linn County, "Election Summary," accessed June 12, 2017

Candidates

Sandi Gordon		Karelia Stetz-Waters		Jennifer Ward
	Incumbent (2005 - Present) Senior private banker at Wells Fargo		Instructor at Linn-Benton Community College		Watershed program specialist for Corvallis

Zone 2

Results

Greater Albany Public Schools, Zone 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kim Butzner	57.10%	3,492
Eric Aguinaga	40.86%	2,499
Write-in votes	2.04%	125
Total Votes		6,116
Source: Linn County, "Election Summary," accessed June 12, 2017

Candidates

Eric Aguinaga		Kim Butzner

At-Large Number 2

Results

Greater Albany Public Schools, At-Large Number 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Micah Smith Incumbent	46.22%	3,106
Katie Winder	37.20%	2,500
Matthew Prudell	14.96%	1,005
Write-in votes	1.62%	109
Total Votes		6,720
Source: Linn County, "Election Summary," accessed June 12, 2017

Candidates

Micah Smith		Matthew Prudell		Katie Winder
	Incumbent (2012 - Present)		Licensed contractor		Dean of arts, social science, and humanities at Linn-Benton Community College

Additional elections on the ballot

The 2017 Greater Albany Public Schools election shared the ballot with elections for education service, community college, fire, and water districts.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for this Oregon school board election in 2017:

Deadline	Event
March 16, 2017	Candidate filing deadline
April 4, 2017	Seven day campaign finance transaction reporting begins
May 16, 2017	Seven day campaign finance transaction reporting ends
May 16, 2017	Election day

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.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements in Oregon and List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

The filing deadline in Oregon for a campaign transaction is typically no later than 30 calendar days. However, beginning on the 42nd day before an election day and through the date of the election, a transaction is due no later than seven calendar days after the date it occurred. The dates for the beginning and ending of the seven-day reporting period for the 2017 Oregon school board elections were:

• April 4, 2017 (Seven day campaign finance reporting begins)
• May 16, 2017 (Seven day campaign finance reporting ends)

A school board candidate in Oregon must form a candidate committee unless he or she meets all of the following conditions:

1. The candidate elects to serve as his or her own treasurer.
2. The candidate does not have an existing candidate committee.
3. The candidate does not expect to receive or spend more than $750 during a calendar year (including personal funds).

A candidate committee must file a Statement of Organization with the Elections Division of the Oregon Secretary of State within three business days of first receiving or spending money. A form including campaign account information must accompany the Statement of Organization.

Candidate committees that expect to receive or spend $3,500 or more in a calendar year are required to report all transactions. A committee that does not expect to receive or spend this much is still required to file a Statement of Organization and designate a campaign bank account, but does not have to file transactions. Instead, they must file a Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures.

What was at stake?

Issues in the election

Complaint filed against district

Greater Albany Public Schools had a complaint filed against it by Albany resident Tom Cordier alleging the district violated electioneering rules when speaking about the district's 2017 bond election. Cordier cited an article published by the Albany Democrat-Herald about a study that the school district authorized. This study took place "to determine whether the mid-valley would receive any economic benefit from constructing auditoriums and/or gyms at South Albany or West Albany high schools as part of the bond work," according to the Albany Democrat-Herald. The study concluded that new high school auditoriums and gyms would bring in more money which could create new jobs in the area. The Democrat-Herald quoted a statement by district Superintendent Jim Golden in response to the study's conclusion:

“	The study makes the case that those assets are a bonus for the community, both because we don't have as many as other communities our size and (because) there is some economic benefits.	”
—Jim Golden

Cordier's complaint was in response to the superintendent's statement about the conclusion of the study, calling it "advocacy:"

“	To say that there's economic benefits to passing this thing is advocacy, and to my mind, you can't do that.	”
—Tom Cordier

Golden said he did not agree that his quote contained advocacy. "The board asked for the study and I was merely summarizing what the study concluded," he stated. "The study was commissioned before the actual bond package was put together and approved by the board."

Cordier sent a copy of the original article to Secretary of State Dennis Richardson's office, which responded that it would review the complaint "as soon as possible" and then determine appropriate action. Cordier and two other residents also filed a political action committee called "Cost Effective Public Education" to oppose the bond. He said he was against it for multiple reasons, but largely because he said he felt the district didn't spend the money it received as well as he thought it should have.

Bond set for May 2017 ballot

Voters in the Greater Albany Public Schools district passed a $159 million bond which shared the ballot with the school board election on May 16, 2017. The district said it would use the funds for energy and safety updates for schools, high school renovations, and vocational education. The text of the bond question can be found below:

“

Shall Greater Albany Public Schools make energy, safety, school renovations, add classrooms, vocational education, by issuing $159,000,000 general obligation bonds? If the bonds are approved, they will be payable from taxes on property or property ownership that are not subject to the limits of sections 11 and 11b, Article Xl of the Oregon Constitution.

”

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About the district

See also: Greater Albany Public Schools, Oregon

Greater Albany Public Schools is located in Linn County, Oregon.

Greater Albany Public Schools is located in Albany in northeastern Oregon. Albany is the county seat for Linn County. Linn County was home to an estimated 122,849 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the 15th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 9,409 students.

Demographics

Linn County underperformed in comparison to Oregon as a whole in terms of higher education achievement, median household income, and poverty rates from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 17.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had earned a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 30.8 percent of residents statewide. The median household income in the county was $45,644, while the median income was $51,243 for the state. The percentage of persons below the poverty line in the county was 15.8 percent, compared to 15.4 percent for the state in its entirety.

Race	Linn County (%)	Oregon (%)
White	93.3	87.6
Black or African American	0.7	2.1
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.6	1.8
Asian	1.1	4.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.2	0.4
Two or More Races	3.1	3.7
Hispanic or Latino	8.7	12.7

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 Greater Albany Public Schools Oregon election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Greater Albany Public Schools elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Greater Albany Public Schools	Oregon	School Boards
List of school districts in Oregon	Oregon school board elections, 2017 Public education in Oregon Local ballot measures, Oregon	School board elections, 2017 School board elections, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2017 School board election data analysis, 2016

External links

• Greater Albany Public Schools
• Linn County Clerk