Hamilton County School District elections (2016)
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Four of the nine seats on the Hamilton County School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016.[1] In District 1, incumbent Rhonda Thurman defeated challengers Jason Moses and Patti Skates to win another term. District 2 incumbent Jonathan Welch lost his seat to challenger Kathy Lennon. The District 4 race featured incumbent George Ricks and challengers Montrell Besley, Tiffanie Robinson, and Annette Thompson. Robinson won election to the seat. Incumbent Donna Horn was defeated by challenger Joe Wingate for the District 7 seat.[2][3][4]
This race attracted a high number of candidates, but not as high as the district's 2014 election. To see how this race compared to past elections in both the district and the state, check out the "Election trends" section below.
Nine of the 11 candidates in this race participated in a candidate forum, where they discussed the district's budget model and the appointment of a new superintendent. Click here to read candidates' responses to these issues.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Hamilton County Board of Education consists of nine members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every August of even-numbered years. The District 3, 5, 6, 8, and 9 seats were up for election on August 7, 2014, and the District 1, 2, 4, and 7 seats were up for general election on August 4, 2016. There was no primary election.[5][6]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file their qualifying documents by April 7, 2016. The deadline to withdraw from the election was April 14, 2016.[1]
To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by July 5, 2016.[1] Photo identification was required to vote in this election.[7]
Candidates and results
District 1
Results
| Hamilton County School District, District 1 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Rhonda Thurman Incumbent |
56.62% | 2,112 |
| Patti Skates | 35.90% | 1,339 |
| Jason Moses | 7.40% | 276 |
| Write-in votes | 0.08% | 3 |
| Total Votes | 3,730 | |
| Source: Hamilton County Election Commission, "Official Precinct by Precinct Election Results," accessed September 8, 2016 | ||
Candidates
Rhonda Thurman 
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Jason Moses | Patti Skates | |||
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District 2
Results
| Hamilton County School District, District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kathy Lennon |
51.22% | 1,791 |
| Jonathan Welch Incumbent | 48.41% | 1,693 |
| Write-in votes | 0.37% | 13 |
| Total Votes | 3,497 | |
| Source: Hamilton County Election Commission, "Official Precinct by Precinct Election Results," accessed September 8, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Jonathan Welch | Kathy Lennon
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District 4
Results
| Hamilton County School District, District 4 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Tiffanie Robinson |
36.93% | 807 |
| George Ricks Incumbent | 34.46% | 753 |
| Montrell Besley | 23.89% | 522 |
| Annette Thompson | 4.30% | 94 |
| Write-in votes | 0.41% | 9 |
| Total Votes | 2,185 | |
| Source: Hamilton County Election Commission, "Official Precinct by Precinct Election Results," accessed September 8, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| George Ricks | Montrell Besley | ||
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| Tiffanie Robinson
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Annette Thompson | ||
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District 7
Results
| Hamilton County School District, District 7 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Joe Wingate |
67.88% | 2,489 |
| Donna Horn Incumbent | 31.80% | 1,166 |
| Write-in votes | 0.33% | 12 |
| Total Votes | 3,667 | |
| Source: Hamilton County Election Commission, "Official Precinct by Precinct Election Results," accessed September 8, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Donna Horn | Joe Wingate
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Tennessee elections, 2016
The Hamilton County School District election shared the ballot with primary elections for the 3rd Congressional District seat on the U.S. House of Representatives, the District 10 seat on the Tennessee State Senate, and the District 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 seats on the Tennessee House of Representatives.[2]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Tennessee school board elections in 2016:[1]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| April 7, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 11, 2016 | 1st quarter campaign finance report due |
| April 14, 2016 | Candidate withdrawal deadline |
| July 5, 2016 | Voter registration deadline |
| July 11, 2016 | 2nd quarter campaign finance report due |
| July 15, 2016 - July 30, 2016 | Early voting period |
| July 28, 2016 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| August 4, 2016 | Election day |
| October 11, 2016 | 3rd quarter campaign finance report due |
| January 25, 2017 | 4th quarter campaign finance report due |
Endorsements
The Chattanooga Times Free Press endorsed District 1 challenger Patti Skates, District 2 incumbent Jonathan Welch, District 4 challenger Tiffanie Robinson, and District 7 challenger Joe Wingate.[8]
The Hamilton County Education Association endorsed Wingate and District 2 challenger Kathy Lennon.[9][10]
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
The pre-general campaign financial disclosure report for this election was due July 28, 2016. Candidates were also required to file quarterly reports for the 2016 election year. Those reports were due on April 11, 2016; July 11, 2016; October 11, 2016; and January 25, 2017.[1]
Reports
Candidates received a total of $102,270.62 and spent a total of $93,260.16 in the election, according to the Hamilton County Election Commission.[11]
District 1
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhonda Thurman | $0.00 | $8,037.00 | $8,037.00 | $0.00 |
| Jason Moses | $0.00 | $3,796.00 | $3,796.00 | $0.00 |
| Patti Skates | $0.00 | $16,630.00 | $16,630.00 | $0.00 |
District 2
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Welch | $0.00 | $1,137.79 | $1,017.25 | $120.54 |
| Kathy Lennon | $0.00 | $14,865.00 | $14,865.00 | $0.00 |
District 4
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Ricks | $487.43 | $1,650.00 | $1,696.28 | $441.15 |
| Montrell Besley | $0.00 | $4,267.00 | $2,228.00 | $2,039.00 |
| Tiffanie Robinson | $0.00 | $27,407.83 | $22,783.57 | $4,624.26 |
| Annette Thompson | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
District 7
| Candidate | Existing balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donna Horn | $0.00 | $6,096.00 | $6,096.00 | $0.00 |
| Joe Wingate | $0.00 | $18,384.00 | $16,111.06 | $2,272.94 |
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2016
Election trends
- See also: School board elections, 2014
The Hamilton County Board of Education 2016 election attracted a high number of candidates, but not as high as its 2014 election. In 2016, 11 candidates ran for four seats, creating an average of 2.75 candidates per seat. In 2014, 19 candidates ran for five seats (an average of 3.8 candidates per seat). Both years saw a higher average than the district's 2012 and 2010 races in which 1.5 and 2.6 candidates ran per seat, respectively. In 2014, Tennessee's largest school districts attracted an average of 1.94 candidates per seat.
In relation to the high number of candidates, the district's 2014 and 2016 races also had no unopposed seats. In 2012, half of the seats were unopposed, and in 2010, 40 percent saw no opposition. Statewide in 2014, 36.78 percent of school board seats were unopposed.
The district had the chance to add four new members to the board in 2016, but they had to defeat incumbents to do so, as all four ran to retain their seats. Three challengers were able to do that, taking 75 percent of the seats up for election and creating an incumbent success rate of 25 percent.
No challengers defeated incumbents in the district's 2014 race. All three incumbents who ran won re-election for a 100 percent success rate. Two new members were elected to the board that year, but they won open seats. Statewide in 2014, newcomers took 45.98 percent of school board seats up for election and 75.41 percent of incumbents won additional terms.
Issues in the election
Candidate forum
Nine of the 11 candidates in this race participated in a candidate forum hosted by the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors. Topics included the budget and appointing a new superintendent.
When discussing the budget, District 2 challenger Kathy Lennon, District 4 challenger Montrell Besley, and District 7 challenger Joe Wingate said that the district did not have a strategic spending plan, and all three wanted to change that. Wingate said he wanted to "stop changing the plan every year just to get more money." Besley said she wanted to equalize funding across the schools, ensuring that one school did not end up "with all of the tools," leaving others with none.
Lennon said a strategic spending plan was needed before the school board asked the community for a tax increase. District 1 incumbent Rhonda Thurman agreed with Lennon. She also said the district should bring back open enrollment. Thurman said that would allow parents to choose which school they wanted to send their children to, and it would allow the district to close the unwanted schools.
District 4 challenger Tiffanie Robinson said she hoped to set up a student-based budget model in order to increase the success of schools with higher percentages of low-income families. Thurman countered that the district was already using a student-based budget model, but said it needed to switch to a zero-based budget model.
On the topic of appointing a new superintendent, Thurman and Robinson said the district's next leader did not need to have a background in education as long as he or she was a good manager and communicator. Lennon and Besley, along with District 7 incumbent Donna Horn and District 4 incumbent George Ricks, did not agree. They said the new superintendent had to be able to empathize with teachers, so they wanted to see a background in education.
Issues in the district
Board appoints interim superintendent
The Hamilton County Board of Education appointed Kirk Kelly as interim superintendent of the district in a 5-4 vote on April 21, 2016. Kelly had been serving as co-acting superintendent with Dr. Lee McDade since former superintendent Rick Smith announced his resignation on March 14, 2016. Before filling in for Smith, Kelly served as the district's director of accountability.[12][13]
Board members Steve Highlander, Joe Galloway, George Ricks, Karitsa Mosley, and David Testerman voted in favor of Kelly as interim superintendent. Board Chairman Jonathan Welch and fellow member Donna Horn voted for magnet school principal Jill Levine, and Rhonda Thurman and Greg Martin voted for retired U.S. Marine officer Shaun Sadler.[12]
"Every question we asked Dr. Kelly, he not only answered in specifics, but he's already started acting on some of them," said Galloway. "He knows what we're dealing with right now."[14]
Thurman and Martin said they voted for Sadler because they wanted someone who was removed from the district. Martin said he thought Sadler "fears no one and he owes no one."[14]
Welch said the board's goal was to improve the school system. "I don't know what the future holds, but I don't think anyone would say we are where we want to be," he said. "The community wants change, and the opportunity might come again before people start to leave."[14]
Smith had resigned after months of turmoil. He had been criticized for how he handled the alleged rape of a high school freshman by three of his basketball teammates. Smith had asked the board for a separation agreement in January 2016, which the board agreed to pursue with a 6-3 vote. The week before he resigned, however, the board voted 5-4 against a $269,000 buyout agreement.[15]
After the vote, Smith said he would serve the remainder of his three and a half year contract, but that changed after the Times Free Press published a report from the Tennessee Department of Education that Smith had not shared with the school board. The report criticized the district's leadership for failing to improve five of its lowest-performing schools, according to the Times Free Press. Smith announced he would retire from the district on July 1, 2016, but he took leave from the district immediately after he announced his resignation on March 14, 2016.[15]
Issues in the state
Transgender bathroom bill withdrawn
State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57) proposed legislation in January 2016 that would require public school students in kindergarten through college to use the bathroom and locker room that corresponded with the sex listed on their birth certificates. Four months later, she withdrew the bill. "I am still absolutely 100 percent in support of maintaining the privacy of all students. But I'm going to roll the bill over until next year so we can work on those issues," Lynn said.[16][17]
House Bill 2414 drew criticism from local media and some companies threatened to withhold business from the state if the bill were passed. Lynn said that was not why she withdrew the bill; instead, she put it on hold in order to further study the issue. She said school districts in Tennessee were "largely following what the bill says."[16][18]
While HB 2414 was still in committee, Gov. Bill Haslam (R) expressed concern about the bill. “I’m hearing that our school boards have figured out how to adjust to each situation that arises, and to date, I’m not hearing parents say we have [a] problem in our schools today,” said Haslam.[19]
State Reps. Mike Stewart (D-52) and Harry Brooks (R-19) asked for an opinion on the issue from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R). Slatery responded by warning that the state could lose federal Title IX funding if the bill were passed.[20]
| “ | As things currently stand, we must, as a practical matter, assume that H.B. 2414 would violate Title IX, because the enforcer of Title IX has clearly interpreted — and enforced — Title IX to prohibit as 'discriminatory on the basis of sex' what H.B. 2414 is designed to accomplish.[21] | ” |
| —Attorney General Herbert Slatery (April 2016)[20] | ||
Stewart said Slatery's opinion was the "final nail in the coffin" for the bill. He and State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-55) said the bill could also hinder the state's goal of creating a business-friendly climate.[20] Executives of dozens of companies had signed a letter to state lawmakers asking them to reject the bill on the grounds that it was discriminatory.[22]
David Fowler, former state senator and president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, objected to Slatery's opinion. He said the attorney general had used settlement agreements rather than court decisions to warn the state legislature away from passing the bill. "Settlement agreements have no persuasive value as a matter of law, unlike the court decisions that have actually ruled in favor of sex-designated bathrooms," Fowler said.[20]
After the bill was withdrawn, Fowler issued a statement:
| “ | But we join the thousands of parents across the state who are profoundly disappointed that at this point in the process Rep. Lynn has decided not to proceed with a bill that would have simply protected the privacy of the children they have entrusted to our public schools.[21] | ” |
| —David Fowler (April 2016)[16] | ||
In addition to receiving support from the Family Action Council of Tennessee, the bill was backed by approximately 30 pastors from the Tennessee Pastors Network. At least 67,000 state citizens opposed the bill, as two transgender high school students turned in that many signatures to the governor's office. They were joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the Tennessee Equality Project, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and the Human Rights Campaign.[16]
Candidate survey
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About the district
The Hamilton County School District is located in Hamilton County in southeastern Tennessee. The county seat is Chattanooga. Hamilton County was home to 354,098 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[23] The district was the fourth-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 43,540 students.[24]
Demographics
Hamilton County outperformed compared to Tennessee as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 28.1 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 24.4 percent of state residents. The median household income in Hamilton County was $47,880, compared to $44,621 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 15.9 percent, compared to 18.3 percent statewide.[23]
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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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Hamilton County School District' 'Tennessee'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Hamilton County School District | Tennessee | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Calendar 2016," accessed March 30, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hamilton County Election Commission, "List of qualified candidates for the August 2016 election," accessed April 8, 2016
- ↑ Hamilton County School District, "School Board Contact List," accessed April 8, 2016
- ↑ Hamilton County Election Commission, "Election 2016: State Primary County General," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ Hamilton County, TN - Election Commission, "Official Results - August 7th, 2014 - State Primary & County General," accessed February 23, 2015
- ↑ Hamilton County School District, "Board Members Legal Status," accessed March 30, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "What ID is required when voting?" accessed March 30, 2016
- ↑ Chattanooga Times Free Press, "Chattanooga Times announces Hamilton County Board of Education endorsements," July 10, 2016
- ↑ Elect Joe Wingate, "HCEA gives recommendation to Electing Joe Wingate for School Board," June 19, 2016
- ↑ The Chattanoogan, "Kathy Lennon Receives Recommendation From HCEA In District 2," July 6, 2016
- ↑ Hamilton County Clerk, "Financial Disclosures for Candidates and Current Elected Officials," accessed January 25, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Times Free Press, "Kirk Kelly named interim superintendent of Hamilton County Schools," April 21, 2016
- ↑ WRCB TV, "Hamilton Co. BOE releases candidate list for interim superintendent," April 8, 2016
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Times Free Press, "Hamilton County school board in disagreement over new interim superintendent," April 22, 2016
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Times Free Press, "Rick Smith quits after months of turmoil, revelation of scathing schools report," March 14, 2016
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 The Tennesseean, "Transgender bathroom bill dead for year," April 18, 2016
- ↑ Open States, "HB 2414," accessed April 19, 2016
- ↑ Knoxville News Sentinel, "Tennessee lawmakers should stay out of students’ restrooms," April 3, 2016
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Tennessee Governor Skeptical Of Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bill," April 13, 2016
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 The Tennesseean, "Attorney general: Tennessee bathroom bill threatens Title IX funds," April 11, 2016
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ CBS News, "Tennessee lawmakers under fire over transgender bathroom bill," April 13, 2016
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 United States Census Bureau, "Hamilton County, Tennessee," accessed April 7, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed June 25, 2014
| 2016 Hamilton County School District Elections | |
| Hamilton County, Tennessee | |
| Election date: | August 4, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Rhonda Thurman • Jason Moses • Patti Skates District 2: • Incumbent, Jonathan Welch • Kathy Lennon District 4: • Incumbent, George Ricks • Montrell Besley • Tiffanie Robinson • Annette Thompson District 7: • Incumbent, Donna Horn • Joe Wingate |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
