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Incumbents weather storm of policy debates to keep Tennessee school board seats
August 9, 2016
By Abbey Smith
Incumbents saw fewer challenges to their re-election bids in Tennessee's 2016 school board elections than they did in 2014, and they also saw higher success rates. A total of 82.46 percent of school board incumbents in the state's largest school districts won additional terms in the general election on August 4, 2016. Nearly half of those incumbents—49.12 percent—ran unopposed in their bids for re-election. In 2014, 75.41 percent of incumbents retained their seats, with 37.70 percent of them running unopposed.
The 2016 school board elections were set against a backdrop of statewide education debates about testing, public school funding, and transgender bathroom policies. In April 2016, the state terminated its contract with the provider of the state's new TNReady test, suspending tests for students in grades three through eight and subsequently delaying accountability measures that were tied to student achievement, such as teacher evaluations and the state's takeover of failing schools.[1][2]
In June 2016, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the state over public education funding.[3] The district joined two other districts—Shelby County Schools and the Hamilton County School District—that filed similar funding lawsuits against the state in 2015.[4] In Nashville, school board incumbents experienced a 100 percent success rate.[5] The only new member to join the board won an open seat. Incumbents also won every seat on the ballot in Shelby County, with four out of five running unopposed.[6] Hamilton County broke the 2016 incumbent success trend. Though all four incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran to retain their seats, three of them were defeated by newcomers.[7]
Winners of the school board race in the Sumner County school district will face a ruling from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights after the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) filed a complaint against the district's transgender bathroom policy on behalf of a high school student in May 2016.[8] In the Sumner County school board election, three out of the four incumbents who ran for re-election won additional terms. The only one to lose was also the only one who faced a challenger.[9]
Sumner County's ACLU-TN complaint was filed a month after the Tennessee State Legislature withdrew a bill 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.[10] Despite withdrawing the bill, the state of Tennessee joined 10 other states—Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Arizona, Maine, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah, and Georgia—in filing a federal lawsuit in May 2016 against the Obama administration's guidance letter on transgender bathroom policy. The letter had been published a week before the ACLU filed its complaint against Sumner County Schools.[11]
Spotlight district: Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
Twelve candidates ran for five seats in Metropolitan Nashville's 2016 school board election. The high number of candidates followed a district trend, but the 100 percent success rate for incumbents was a change from the district's 2014 election. Despite facing opposition, none of the four incumbents who ran to retain their seats in 2016 were defeated. In 2014, one of the three incumbents who ran for re-election was unseated, creating a 66.67 percent success rate.
Metropolitan Nashville's lawsuit against the state was not the only point of conflict during the school board election season. A candidate forum held in June 2016 highlighted the charter school debate in the district. Incumbents Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge, and Jill Speering refused to attend the event due to concerns that the organization hosting the forum promoted "unabated charter school growth." Only the candidates seeking the open District 5 seat were able to face off at the event.[12]
Candidates
Note: An (i) next to a candidate's name indicates incumbent status.
Footnotes
- ↑ WATE.com, "Tennessee Department of Education terminates TNReady testing contract," April 27, 2016
- ↑ Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Citing TNReady transition, Tennessee’s school turnaround district to halt takeovers for one year," April 15, 2016
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Nashville schools to sue state for education funding," June 15, 2016
- ↑ Times Free Press, "More lawsuits expected as frustration grows over Tennessee education funding," June 21, 2016
- ↑ Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results (Unofficial)," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ Shelby County Election Commission, "Unofficial Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ Hamilton County Election Commission, "Election 2016: State Primary County General," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ New Channel 5 Network, "ACLU-TN Files Complaint Over Sumner County Schools' Bathroom Ban," May 19, 2016
- ↑ Sumner County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ The Tennesseean, "Transgender bathroom bill dead for year," April 18, 2016
- ↑ The Tennesseean, "Tennessee among states suing over Obama transgender guidance," May 26, 2016
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Nashville Rise school board forum focuses on choice," June 23, 2016
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