Jerry Cleveland
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Jerry Cleveland is an at-large representative on the Bellflower Unified Board of Education. He was first elected to the board in 1995.[1] Cleveland sought another term in the general election on November 3, 2015.[2] He successfully won another term on the board.[3]
Cleveland participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read his responses, check out his 2015 campaign themes.
Elections
2015
Opposition
Two of the five seats on the Bellflower Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. The election was held at large.[4]
Incumbents Debbie Cuadros and Jerry Cleveland ran for re-election. They faced challengers John Coleman and Ole Nervik for the two seats.[1][2] Both incumbents won re-election.[3]
Results
| Bellflower Unified School District, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Debbie Cuadros Incumbent |
32.5% | 1,378 |
| Jerry Cleveland Incumbent |
29.3% | 1,243 |
| John Coleman | 20.9% | 884 |
| Ole Nervik | 17.3% | 732 |
| Total Votes | 4,237 | |
| Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Funding
At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.
The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[5][6][7]
The first campaign finance reporting deadline was September 24, 2015, and the second one was October 22, 2015. If candidates raised or spent more than $1,000 from a single source, including their own funds, between August 5, 2015, and November 2, 2015, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours.[8]
If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Cleveland received no official endorsements in this election.
2011
| Bellflower Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year term, 2011 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Jerry Cleveland Incumbent |
21.8% | 1,136 | |
| Nonpartisan | Debbie Cuadros |
20.4% | 1,061 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jerry Trautman | 15.8% | 821 | |
| Nonpartisan | Richard Downing | 15.5% | 805 | |
| Nonpartisan | Alejandro "Alex" Salazar | 14.6% | 762 | |
| Nonpartisan | Sean H. Bookout | 12% | 625 | |
| Total Votes | 5,210 | |||
| Source: Smart Voter.org, "Governing Board Member; Bellflower Unified School District Voter Information," accessed September 6, 2013 | ||||
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Cleveland participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions.
Ranking the issues
Cleveland was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:[9]
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
Cleveland was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Modifications are required before they are implemented." | |
| "No" | |
| "It would depend on the state making sure that all schools go by the same rules." | |
| "In some aspects yes. In some no. Standardized tests do not tell everything about what all students actually know." | |
| Candidate did not respond to this question. | |
| "Expulsion cases must be viewed on a case-by-case basis rather than the district having an overarching policy." | |
| Candidate did not respond to this question. | |
| "There are many things that should determine what a teacher is paid. Merit pay as I understand it should not be exclusive." | |
| "Offer additional training options." | |
| Candidate did not answer this question. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Jerry Cleveland ' 'Bellflower Unified School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Bellflower Unified School District, California
- Bellflower Unified School District elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bellflower Unified School District, "BUSD School Board, 2014-2015," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Los Angeles County, California, "Candidate List," accessed August 11, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Semi-Final Official Election Returns," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “2015 Scheduled Elections,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
- ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Jerry Cleveland responses," October 28, 2015
| 2015 Bellflower Unified School District Elections | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Jerry Cleveland • Incumbent, Debbie Cuadros • John Coleman • Ole Nervik |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
