Killeen Independent School District elections (2017)
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Two of seven seats on the Killeen Independent School District board of trustees in Texas were up for at-large general election on May 6, 2017. In the race for Place 4, incumbent Marvin Rainwater defeated challenger Stephania Lynn Williams. The Place 5 incumbent opted not to seek re-election, and newcomer Carlyle Walton defeated former candidate Lan Carter and newcomers Gerald Dreher, Lonnie Farrow, and Robert “Bob” Snyder to win the open seat .[1][2]
Newcomer Steven Drayton also filed to run for the at-large Place 5 seat, but he was disqualified because he was not registered to vote in the state of Texas. Drayton resided in Killeen for over a decade but maintained his North Carolina voter registration while serving in the United States military.[3] Read more about KISD's policies regarding school board election candidacy here.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Killeen Independent board of trustees consists of seven members elected at large to three-year terms. Each member is elected to a specific place on the board but represents the entire district. Elections are held every year in May with two or three seats on the ballot. The general election for Places 4 and 5 was scheduled on May 6, 2017. A runoff election was possible if no candidate won at least 50 percent of the votes cast in the general election.
To run in the race, school board candidates had to file paperwork with the school district secretary by February 17, 2017. Each candidate had to be at least 18 years old and a registered voter. Candidates also had to be a resident of the state for at least twelve months prior to the election, and a resident of the district for a minimum of six months prior to the election.[4]
Candidates and results
Place 4
Results
| Killeen Independent School District, Place 4 General Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Marvin Rainwater Incumbent |
54.48% | 1,891 |
| Stephania Lynn Williams | 45.52% | 1,580 |
| Total Votes | 3,471 | |
| Source: Killeen Independent School District, "Special Board Meeting, May 16, 2017," accessed September 20, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Marvin Rainwater 
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Stephania Lynn Williams | ||
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Place 5
Results
| Killeen Independent School District, Place 5 General Election, 3-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Carlyle Walton |
28.59% | 977 |
| Robert Snyder | 26.28% | 898 |
| Lan Carter | 22.01% | 752 |
| Gerald Dreher | 12.58% | 430 |
| Lonnie Farrow | 10.54% | 360 |
| Total Votes | 3,417 | |
| Source: Killeen Independent School District, "Special Board Meeting, May 16, 2017," accessed September 20, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Lan Carter | Steven Drayton | Gerald Dreher | |||
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| Lonnie Farrow | Robert “Bob” Snyder | Carlyle Walton
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Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for this Texas school board election in 2017:[5][6]
| Deadline | Event |
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| February 17, 2017 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 6, 2017 | Deadline to register to vote |
| April 6, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (30th day report) |
| April 28, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (8th day report) |
| April 24, 2017 - May 2, 2017 | Early voting period |
| May 6, 2017 | General election date |
| July 17, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (July semiannual report) |
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
There were three campaign finance deadlines for Texas school board candidates in 2017:[7]
- The 30th day report was due on April 6, 2017,
- The 8th day report was due on April 28, 2017, and
- The July semiannual report was due on July 17, 2017.
All school board candidates in the state were also required to file July semiannual campaign finance reports. Opposed school board candidates could choose "modified reporting" if they did not plan to exceed either $500 in contributions or $500 in expenditures in the election. Modified reporting exempts a candidate from filing the 30th and 8th day reports normally due before an election. If a candidate opted for modified reporting but exceeded the threshold before the 30th day prior to the election, he or she had to file the 30th and 8th day reports. Unopposed school board candidates were only required to file a campaign finance report on the July semiannual deadline.[8]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2016Place 1
Place 2
Place 3
2015Incumbent Minerva Trujillo won re-election without opposition.
2014
Note: Terry Delano won re-election to the Place 5 seat without opposition. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
Issues in the district
Overcrowding in district high schools
During the 2016-2017 school year, the Killeen Daily Herald reported that three of the four Killeen ISD high schools were overcrowded and the student population was expected to continue growing. Solutions to the problem of district overcrowding were presented by school board members and candidates in a Killeen Daily Herald article published in April 2017. The various proposals included building a fifth area high school and expanding a specialized district campus to use as a traditional high school by 2020.[9]
A strategic facilities plan released by the Killeen ISD in April 2017 also included a proposal to build a new high school campus and football field by 2021.[10] The specialized campus expansion was estimated to cost $40 million, while the high school and football field projects were estimated to cost $125 million and $40 million, respectively.[9][11]
To pay for the construction of a new high school, the district held a bond election on May 5, 2018. While some Killeen ISD candidates approved of this decision, saying a new high school would redistribute students while increasing the district's gross student capacity, others said that less costly solutions could be found, such as removing the football stadium from the proposal or conducting further analysis to determine the best course of action.[11]
Federal funding cuts
The Killeen ISD has received Impact Aid funding for over 25 years.[12] Impact Aid funding is part of a federal program that provides financial assistance to school districts who lose tax revenue due to high levels of federally connected children, such as military connected children, who live on non-taxable federal land.[13] The program defines a school district as heavily impacted if the district's average daily attendance of federally connected children is 35 percent or higher with additional funding for these students provided at the district-level.[14]
The district received roughly $46.6 million—13 percent of its total budget—in Impact Aid during the 2017 fiscal year. Due to a declining enrollment of military connected students and an increased enrollment of civilian students, the Killeen ISD was close to losing its heavily impacted classification. During the 2016-2017 school year, the student population was approximately 37.7 percent military connected.[15] If the district lost another 2.8 percent of its federally connected students, it would see a steady decline in Impact Aid funds over a three-year period. Over those three years, the district would receive a percentage of Impact Aid funding calculated from the previous year in which the district qualified as heavily impacted; in the first year, it will receive 90 percent of these funds, the district will receive 85 percent of the funds in the second year, and 80 percent of the funds in the third year.[16]
Report a story for this election
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About the district
The Killeen Independent School District is located in Bell County, Texas. The county seat is Belton. Bell County was home to 340,411 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[17] The district was the 26th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 42,638 students.[18]
Demographics
Bell County underperformed compared to Texas as a whole in terms of higher education attainment and median household income. Between 2010 and 2015, 23.1 percent of county residents aged 25 years or older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 27.6 percent for the entire state. The median household income in Bell County was $50,550, compared to $53,207 statewide. The poverty rate in Bell County and the statewide poverty rate was 15.9 percent.[17]
| Racial Demographics, 2010-2015[17] | ||
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| Race | Bell County (%) | Texas (%) |
| White | 67.4 | 79.9 |
| Black or African American | 22.9 | 12.5 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Asian | 3.2 | 4.7 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.8 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 4.5 | 1.9 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 24.1 | 38.8 |
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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Killeen Independent School District Texas election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Killeen Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Election filing period ends: A look at who’s running," February 17, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Rainwater, Walton win Killeen school board election," accessed May 6, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Candidate disqualified from KISD board election," February 28, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Independent School District, "Killeen Isd - May 6, 2017 School Board Elections," accessed March 1, 2017
- ↑ Vote Texas, "Important 2017 Election Dates," accessed March 11, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Killeen Daily Herald, "All signs point to fifth high school as KISD's next big need," April 1, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Killeen ISD plan calls for new high school in 2021," April 11, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Killeen Daily Herald, "New Killeen high school likely to be funded with bond election," April 15, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "25 years later, memories of struggling businesses, uncertainty in war still linger for some area residents," February 21, 2016
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, "About Impact Aid," accessed April 20, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, "Section 8003-Federal Children Payment: Eligibility," accessed April 20, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Killeen school board to discuss Impact Aid," March 27, 2017
- ↑ Killeen Daily Herald, "Killeen school district looking for options if federal funds cut," April 8, 2017
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Bell County, Texas," accessed April 10, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| Killeen Independent School District elections in 2017 | |
| Bell County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 6, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Place 4: • Incumbent, Marvin Rainwater • Stephania Lynn Williams Place 5: • Lan Carter • Steven Drayton • Gerald Dreher • Lonnie Farrow • Robert “Bob” Snyder • Carlyle Walton |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
