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Jefferson County Public Schools elections (2014)
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Four seats on the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014.
District 1 incumbent Diane Porter won re-election unopposed. District 3 incumbent Debbie Wesslund chose not to seek re-election, leading to a five-way race between challengers Stephanie Horne, Jan Scholtz, Angela Moorin, Lee Bailey and Louis Scarpellini. Horne won the seat. District 5 incumbent Linda Duncan defeated challengers David Hittle and Richard O. Brown. District 6 incumbent Carol A. Haddad faced John DeFazio, Lisa Willner and Patrick Hughes. Willner won the race.[1][2]
About the district
Jefferson County Public Schools is located in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The county seat is Louisville. Jefferson County is home to 756,832 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] In the 2011-2012 school year, Jefferson County Public Schools was the largest school district in Kentucky and served 99,191 students.[4]
Demographics
Jefferson County overperformed compared to the rest of Kentucky in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.8 percent of Jefferson County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 21.0 percent for Kentucky as a whole. The median household income for Jefferson County was $46,701 compared to $42,610 for the state of Kentucky. The percentage of people below poverty level for Jefferson County was 16.5 percent while it was 18.6 percent for the state of Kentucky.[3]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The Jefferson County Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Each member is elected to a specific geographic district. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. Four seats were up for election in 2014.[6]
School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period, which ended on August 12, 2014. The deadline to withdraw was on August 25, 2014. Write-in candidates had to file by October 24, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 6, 2014.[7]
Elections
2014
Candidates
District 1
- Diane Porter
- Incumbent
- Retired educator
District 3
- Lee Bailey
- Stephanie Horne
- Graduate, University of Texas at Austin and University of Louisville School of Law
- Practicing real estate attorney
- Business owner, Horne Title
- Angela Moorin
- Graduate, University of Kentucky
- Certified public accountant
- Former chief financial officer of Bluefin Seafood
- Louis Scarpellini
- Graduate, Lehigh University
- Retired volunteer Middletown firefighter
- Jan Scholtz
- Graduate, University of Louisville
- Owner/Operator, Jan Scholtz Realtors
District 5
- Linda Duncan
- Incumbent Board Vice-Chair
- Graduate, University of Kentucky
- Former at-large director, Kentucky School Boards Association
- Richard O. Brown
- Graduate, University of Louisville
- Unit business manager, University of Louisville
- David Hittle
- Graduate, Jefferson Community and Technical College and University of Louisville
- Independent contractor
- Radio talk show host
District 6
- Carol A. Haddad
- Incumbent
- Former Board Chair, 1993 to 1994 and 1999 to 2002
- John DeFazio - Withdrew
- Graduate, Sullivan University
- Human resources professional, UPS
- Patrick Hughes
- Founder, Louisville Hughes Inc.
- Inspirational speaker
- Lisa Willner
- Graduate, Yale University and California School of Professional Psychology
- Executive Director, Kentucky Psychological Association
- Faculty member, Bellarmine University
District map
Election results
District 1
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Diane Porter Incumbent |
98.5% | 17,433 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1.5% | 259 | |
| Total Votes | 17,692 | |||
| Source: Jefferson County Clerk, "Official 2014 General Election Results," November 14, 2014 | ||||
District 3
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Stephanie Horne |
37.9% | 14,222 | |
| Nonpartisan | Angela Moorin | 36.3% | 13,628 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jan Scholtz | 13.8% | 5,166 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lee Bailey | 6% | 2,255 | |
| Nonpartisan | Louis Scarpellini | 5.8% | 2,161 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.3% | 107 | |
| Total Votes | 37,539 | |||
| Source: Jefferson County Clerk, "Official 2014 General Election Results," November 14, 2014 | ||||
District 5
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Linda Duncan Incumbent |
63.9% | 12,089 | |
| Nonpartisan | Richard O. Brown | 23.8% | 4,507 | |
| Nonpartisan | David Hittle | 11.7% | 2,215 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.6% | 120 | |
| Total Votes | 18,931 | |||
| Source: Jefferson County Clerk, "Official 2014 General Election Results," November 14, 2014 | ||||
District 6
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Lisa Willner |
54% | 14,269 | |
| Nonpartisan | Carol A. Haddad Incumbent | 28.5% | 7,521 | |
| Nonpartisan | Patrick Hughes | 17.1% | 4,519 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 115 | |
| Total Votes | 26,424 | |||
| Source: Jefferson County Clerk, "Official 2014 General Election Results," November 14, 2014 | ||||
Endorsements
- Better Schools Kentucky, the PAC of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, endorsed Diane Porter (District 1), Stephanie Horne (District 3), Linda Duncan (District 5) and Lisa Willner (District 6).[8]
- The Courier-Journal endorsed Angela Moorin (District 3), Linda Duncan (District 5), and Lisa Willner (District 6).[9]
Campaign finance
Candidates who raised or spent over $3,000 during the election cycle had to file all pre-election and post-election campaign finance reports. Those raised or spent less than $3,000 were only required to file a 30-day post-election report, while those who raised or spent less than $1,000 did not have to file any reports.[10]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
Four seats on the school board were at stake. District 1 incumbent Diane Porter ran unopposed and won. District 3 incumbent Debbie Wesslund did not seek re-election. Five challengers, Stephanie Horne, Jan Scholtz, Angela Moorin, Lee Bailey and Louis Scarpellini, sought to replace her. District 5 incumbent, and board vice-chair, Linda Duncan ran against David Hittle and Richard O. Brown. District 6 incumbent Carol A. Haddad was challenged by John DeFazio, Lisa Willner and Patrick Hughes.
Issues in the district
Wasteful spending
A yearlong special investigation by Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Adam Edelen found evidence of wasteful spending in Jefferson County Public Schools and made more than 200 recommendations to save money, reduce fraud and increase transparency. The 260-page audit released in May 2014 compared JCPS with five similar school districts across the country. Of those five, Jefferson County spent the most on administration and the least on instruction, including paying 369 administrators over $100,000 a year. JCPS also had the lowest percentage of employees who were teachers and the highest percentage of administrators.[11]
Among other recommendations, the audit suggested the school board could benefit by adding two more members because of the size of the district. It also stated that, “Board members generally do not appear to have a depth of understanding to actively examine or question the budget effectively.”[12]
Tax rate
On August 25, 2014, the school board, agreeing with JCPS Superintendent Donna Hargens, unanimously voted against raising property taxes. If passed it would have been the seventh year in a row that the board raised taxes. The 2014 proposal asked for a 2.8 increase in the tax levy and would have brought the rate from 71 cents per $100 of assessed property to 73 cents. Another option considered was to raise the rate to 72 cents.[13][14][15]
Union president paid with school funds
An agreement made in 2003 between the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the Jefferson County Board of Education pays teacher's union president Brent McKim $75,000 annually in taxpayer funds. While the Kentucky Attorney General has said the arrangement is legal, others have questioned using taxpayer money to pay a position that engages in political advocacy.
Board member Debbie Wesslund, who did not seek re-election, was the only one to vote against the contract when it came up for renewal in 2013. Noting that, “a significant part of the union leadership's role has been to participate in campaigns for school board and other offices,” she went on to say, “JCTA's members should pay for those who work exclusively for them.”
The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions agreed with Wesslund, as president Jim Waters explained, “What we have here are taxpayers paying the union boss who is then turning around and advocating for policies that are not in the best interest of the families who are forced to pay the majority of his salary.”
According to an investigation by WDRB, Jefferson County appeared to be the only district in the state that has such an agreement, but there were others in the nation that subsidize the union president's salary.[16]
Better Schools Kentucky, the PAC of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, endorsed candidates in the 2014 school board election in early September.[8]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Jefferson County Public Schools election in 2014:[7][17]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| August 12, 2014 | Last day for candidates to file nomination documents |
| August 25, 2014 | Deadline for candidates to withdraw |
| October 3, 2014 | 32-day pre-general campaign finance report due |
| October 6, 2014 | Last day to register to vote in the general election |
| October 20, 2014 | 15-day pre-general campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2014 | Last day for write-in candidates to file nomination documents |
| November 4, 2014 | General election day |
| November 7, 2014 | County boards of election to certify total number of votes |
| December 4, 2014 | 30-day post-general campaign finance report due |
| January 3, 2015 | 60-day post-general campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Kentucky elections, 2014
This election shared the ballot with general elections for a U.S. House seat, U.S. Senate seat, Kentucky House of Representatives seats and Kentucky State Senate seats. It also shared the ballot with county, municipal, and judicial elections.[18]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Jefferson + County + Public + Schools + Kentucky"
See also
- Kentucky
- Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky
- Kentucky school board elections, 2014
- List of school board elections in 2014
- School board elections, 2014
- Jefferson County, Kentucky ballot measures
- Local ballot measures, Kentucky
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ WFPL, "Filing Deadline Ends for Jefferson County Board of Education Seats," August 11, 2014
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "5 file for District 3 school board race," August 13, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Jefferson County, Kentucky," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
- ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Voter Registration Statistics Report," August 21, 2014
- ↑ Jefferson County Public Schools, "Board Of Education," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kentucky Secretary of State, "2014 Kentucky Election Calendar," accessed September 8, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 WFPL, "JCTA's Political Action Committee Endorses Four Jefferson County School Board Candidates," September 2, 2014
- ↑ The Courier-Journal, "Three for school board," October 12, 2014
- ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Candidate Guide Campaign Finance," accessed September 16, 2014
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "State audit slams top-heavy JCPS bureaucracy," May 22, 2014
- ↑ WDRB, "STATE AUDIT: JCPS spending more on administration, less on students," May 21, 2014
- ↑ WDRB, "JCPS considering seventh-straight property tax hike," August 14, 2014
- ↑ WHAS 11, "JCPS Board votes 'NO' for property tax hike," August 25, 2014
- ↑ WHAS, "JCPS Superintendent Hargens recommends no property tax increase," August 20, 2014 (dead link)
- ↑ WDRB, "JCPS defends paying union president with school funds," August 22, 2014
- ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Candidate Reporting Dates," accessed September 16, 2014
- ↑ Jefferson County Clerk, "2014 General Election Candidates," accessed September 9, 2014
| 2014 Jefferson County Public Schools Elections | |
| Jefferson County, Kentucky | |
| Election date: | November 4, 2014 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Diane Porter District 3: • Lee Bailey • Stephanie Horne • Angela Moorin • Louis Scarpellini • Jan Scholtz District 5: • Incumbent, Linda Duncan • Richard O. Brown • David Hittle District 6: • Incumbent, Carol A. Haddad • John DeFazio • Patrick Hughes • Lisa Willner |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
