Kentucky school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Kentucky school boards were held on November 8, 2016. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

The 12 Kentucky school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 35 seats in 2016. Here are several quick facts about those school board elections:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was the Jefferson County Public Schools with 100,529 K-12 students.
• The smallest Kentucky school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Christian County Public Schools with 9,327 K-12 students.
• All of Kentucky's largest districts had three seats up for election in 2016.

The districts listed below served 272,080 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each and its school board elections.

2016 Kentucky School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Boone County Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	20,046
Bullitt County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	13,351
Christian County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	9,327
Daviess County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	11,560
Fayette County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	40,079
Hardin County Schools	11/8/2016	4	2	5	14,659
Jefferson County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	7	100,529
Kenton County School District	11/8/2016	4	3	5	14,698
Laurel County Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	9,427
Madison County Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	11,603
Oldham County Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	12,270
Warren County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	5	14,531

Election trends

Trends in Kentucky school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in school board elections held in Kentucky's largest school districts by student enrollment. Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

Thirty-six school board seats in Kentucky's largest school districts by enrollment were up for election in 2016. In 2014, 29 seats were on the ballot, and 56 candidates ran in the elections. That created an average of 1.93 candidates per seat, which was higher than the 2014 national average of 1.89 candidates per seat. A total of 31.03 percent of school board seats up for election in Kentucky were unopposed in 2014. Nationwide that year, 32.57 percent of school board seats were unopposed.

Incumbency advantage

See also: Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections

A total of 79.31 percent of the school board incumbents whose terms were on the ballot in Kentucky in 2014 ran to retain their seats, and 78.26 percent of them won. Nationally, 81.37 percent of incumbents won re-election in 2014.

Eleven newcomers were elected to school boards in the state in 2014. They took 37.93 percent of the seats on the ballot, which was lower than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally in 2014.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2014 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

Data table

Kentucky school board elections, 2014 - 2016
	2014	2016
All candidates
Seats up	29	36
Candidates	56	TBD
Candidates/seat	1.93	TBD
Unopposed seats	9	TBD
% unopposed	31.03%	TBD
% seats won by newcomers	37.93%	TBD
Incumbents
Sought re-election	23	TBD
Unopposed	7	TBD
Retained	18	TBD
% retained	78.26%	TBD

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Kentucky

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Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia), Kentucky had the highest share of eighth grade students who scored at or above proficient in reading.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Kentucky	41%	30%	36%	38%
Tennessee	40%	28%	34%	33%
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
West Virginia	35%	24%	27%	25%
United States	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Kentucky and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.

Kentucky schools reported a graduation rate of 86.1 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second highest among its neighboring states.

In Kentucky, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 19.6.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Kentucky	86.1%	Second	19.6	100%	1,741	5%
Tennessee	86.3%	Second	19.5	100%	1,709	8%
Virginia	84.5%	Third	22.6	26%	1,528	71%
West Virginia	81.4%	Third	20.6	63%	1,513	15%
United States	81.4%		20.9	54%	1498	50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express," accessed May 28, 2015 ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 28, 2015 The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013," accessed May 28, 2015

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Kentucky was lower than the national average at 2.5 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Kentucky
	Kentucky	U.S.
Total population:	4,424,611	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	39,486	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	87.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	7.9%	12.6%
Asian:	1.3%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.1%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.3%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	84.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	22.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$43,740	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	22.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Kentucky. **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.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Kentucky

Kentucky voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Kentucky, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Kentucky had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Kentucky coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Kentucky
• United States congressional delegations from Kentucky
• Public policy in Kentucky
• Endorsers in Kentucky
• Kentucky fact checks
• More...

See also

Kentucky	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Kentucky List of school districts in Kentucky	School board elections, 2016 Kentucky school board elections, 2015 Kentucky school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Additional reading

• Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, "Louisville Teachers File Federal Lawsuit Against State Over Underfunded Pensions," August 24, 2015