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Katherine Lee Acuff
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Katherine Lee Acuff is the Jack Jouett Magisterial District representative on the Albemarle County Public Schools school board in Virginia. First elected in 2013, Acuff won a new term in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Acuff participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Biography
Acuff earned bachelor's and doctoral degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, a master's degree from the University of Colorado, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. She served on the board of directors of Mental Health America Charlottesville-Albemarle.[1]
Elections
2017
Three of the seven seats on the Albemarle County Public Schools school board in Virginia were up for general election on November 7, 2017. In her bid for re-election to the Jack Jouett Magisterial District seat, incumbent Katherine Lee Acuff ran unopposed. In the race for the Rio Magisterial District seat, which was left open when incumbent Pamela Moynihan did not file to run for re-election, Katrina Callsen defeated Mary McIntyre. Incumbent Graham Paige defeated challenger Julian Waters in the race for the Samuel Miller Magisterial District seat.[2]
Results
| Albemarle County Public Schools, Jack Jouett Magisterial District General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Katherine Lee Acuff Incumbent (unopposed) |
97.98% | 4,133 |
| Write-in votes | 2.02% | 85 |
| Total Votes | 4,218 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 November General," accessed November 21, 2017 | ||
Funding
Acuff reported no contributions or expenditures to the Virginia Department of Elections in the election, which left her campaign with $826.96 on hand from her previous campaign.[3]
2013
Acuff won election in an unopposed race on November 5, 2013.
Results
| Albemarle County Public Schools, Jack Jouett District General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Katherine Lee Acuff |
98.9% | 2,945 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1.1% | 33 | |
| Total Votes | 2,978 | |||
| Source: Albemarle County, Virginia, "November 2013 General Election Official Results," accessed December 12, 2013 | ||||
Endorsements
Acuff was endorsed by the Albemarle County Democratic Party.[4]
Funding
Acuff reported $3,498.49 in contributions and $1,946.53 in expenditures to the Virginia State Board of Elections, which left her campaign with $1,551.96 on hand in the election.[5]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Kate Acuff participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 30, 2017:
| “ | In my next term my focus will be on initiatives to close the achievement gap and to promote investment in school capital projects.[7][8] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Virginia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | We are already doing well with SPED and arts education.[8] | ” |
| —Kate Acuff (July 30, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. We have two already and, although they may have been important when they were launched, in the intervening years the options and educational pathways in the traditional high schools have flourished undermining the need for these schools. Evidence of this is that enrollment at the charters is small and declining. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. They are points in time objective measurements and have significantly too much weight. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Offer additional training options. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Undermines public education. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Only for students who have shown or are a risk for violent behavior. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Katherine Lee Acuff Albemarle County Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Albemarle County Public Schools, Virginia
- Albemarle County Public Schools elections (2017)
- Albemarle County Public Schools elections (2013)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Sean Tubbs Charlottesville Tomorrow Republicans won’t challenge McKeel in Jack Jouett, published June 3, 2013
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Richard Washburne, Albemarle County General Registrar," June 15, 2017
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports: Search Committees," accessed January 17, 2018
- ↑ The Daily Progress Albemarle Democrats endorse Acuff, accessed October 2, 2013
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections Campaign Finance Reports," accessed December 19, 2013
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Kate Acuff's responses," July 30, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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