Louisiana school board elections, 2015
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There were no Louisiana school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment holding regular general elections in 2015. However, three districts held special elections for a total of four seats, one up for primary election in March and three in October.
Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Here are several quick facts about Louisiana's school board elections in 2015:
- The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2015 was St. Tammany Parish Public Schools with 37,513 K-12 students.
- The smallest school district by enrollment with an election in 2015 was Orleans Parish School Board with 13,707 K-12 students.
- St. Tammany Parish Public Schools had the most seats on the ballot in 2015 with two seats up for special election.
- Orleans Parish School Board and Tangipahoa Parish School System tied for the fewest seats on the ballot in 2015 with one seat up for special election each.
The districts served a total of 71,054 K-12 students during the 2012-2013 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.[1] Click on the district name for more information on the district and its school board elections.
| 2015 Louisiana School Board Elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Date | Seats up for election | Total board seats | Student enrollment |
| St. Tammany Parish Public Schools: District 12 | 3/28/2015 | 1 | 15 | 37,513 |
| Orleans Parish School Board: District 1 | 10/24/2015 | 1 | 7 | 13,707 |
| St. Tammany Parish Public Schools: District 14 | 10/24/2015 | 1 | 15 | 37,513 |
| Tangipahoa Parish School System: District G | 10/24/2015 | 1 | 9 | 19,834 |
Trends in Louisiana school board elections
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The 2015 school board elections held in Louisiana's largest school districts saw more candidates run per seat on the ballot compared to the state's 2014 school board elections. The 2015 elections also had fewer seats go unopposed and had more newcomers elected to school boards compared to 2014. Half of the seats went to newcomers in 2015, and 30.36 percent of seats went to newcomers in 2014.
The 2015 elections had far fewer seats on the ballot than there were in 2014. Only special elections were held in 2015. They were held for four seats. In 2014, 224 seats were on the ballot.
The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Louisiana's school board elections. Louisiana school board elections require a majority of 50 percent plus one for a candidate to win. If a candidate garners this majority in what is called the primary election, no general election is held. If no candidate receives the majority of votes, a general election is held and functions as a runoff election. All of the school board elections held in the state in 2014 and 2015 were partisan, meaning candidates ran with a political party designation.
Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.
Competitiveness
In 2015, school board elections in Louisiana's largest school districts attracted an average of two candidates per seat on the ballot. This was higher than the average 1.53 candidates that ran in 2014. One-quarter of the seats on the ballot in 2015 went unopposed, while 56.25 percent went unopposed in 2014.
Incumbency advantage
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Two-thirds of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 retained their seats. Three incumbents ran for four seats, and two won re-election. One ran unopposed and won another term; the other defeated a challenger to win re-election. In 2014, 87.64 percent of incumbents who sought another term successfully won their re-election bids. A total of 178 incumbents ran for 224 seats, and 156 of them were re-elected. A total of 106 of those winners ran unopposed; the other 50 defeated challengers to win additional terms. The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2015 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.
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Data table
The table below displays the statistics for school board elections in Louisiana's largest school districts from 2014 to 2015.
| Louisiana school board elections, 2014-2015 | ||||||||||
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| Year | Total | Incumbents | ||||||||
| Seats up | Candidates | Candidates/ seat |
Unopposed seats | % unopposed | % seats won by newcomers | Sought re-election | Unopposed | Retained | % retained | |
| 2015 | 4 | 8 | 2.00 | 1 | 25.00% | 50.00% | 3 | 1 | 2 | 66.67% |
| 2014 | 224 | 342 | 1.53 | 126 | 56.25% | 30.36% | 178 | 106 | 156 | 87.64% |
State profile
| Demographic data for Louisiana | ||
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 4,668,960 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 43,204 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 62.8% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 32.1% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 1.7% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 0.6% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 1.8% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 4.7% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 83.4% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 22.5% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $45,047 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 23.3% | 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 Louisiana. **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 Louisiana
Louisiana voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
More Louisiana coverage on Ballotpedia
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Academic performance
| Education terms |
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| For more information on education policy terms, see this article. |
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- See also: Public education in Louisiana
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 chart below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during the 2012-2013 school year. Compared to three neighboring states (Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi), Louisiana tied with Mississippi for the lowest percentage of fourth grade students who scored at or above proficient in math during the 2012-2013 school year.[2]
| Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math - Grade 4 | Math - Grade 8 | Reading - Grade 4 | Reading - Grade 8 | |
| Louisiana | 26% | 21% | 23% | 24% |
| Alabama | 38% | 20% | 31% | 25% |
| Arkansas | 39% | 28% | 32% | 30% |
| Mississippi | 26% | 21% | 21% | 20% |
| U.S. average | 41% | 34% | 34% | 34% |
| Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables" | ||||
Graduation, ACT and SAT scores
The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Louisiana and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[2][3][4]
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 1,498 out of a possible 2,400 for the SAT.[5]
Louisiana schools reported a graduation rate of 73.5 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, lowest among its neighboring states.
In Louisiana, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013. The students taking the ACT scored an average of 19.5.
| Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013 | |||||||
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| State | Graduation rate, 2013 | Average ACT composite, 2013 | Average SAT composite, 2013 | ||||
| Percent | Quintile ranking** | Score | Participation rate | Score | Participation rate | ||
| Louisiana | 73.5% | Fifth | 19.5 | 100% | 1,655 | 5% | |
| Alabama | 80% | Fourth | 20.4 | 78% | 1,608 | 7% | |
| Arkansas | 84.9% | Second | 20.2 | 90% | 1,697 | 4% | |
| Mississippi | 75.5% | Fifth | 18.9 | 95% | 1,673 | 3% | |
| 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" ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores" The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013" | |||||||
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 Louisiana was higher than the national average at 3.9 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 5.7 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[6]
See also
| Louisiana | School Boards | News and Analysis |
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Footnotes
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed April 20, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ ACT, "2012 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT Scores by State 2013," October 10, 2013
- ↑ StudyPoints, "What's a good SAT score or ACT score?" accessed June 7, 2015
- ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Dropout and Graduation Rate Data File, School Year 2010-11, Provision Version 1a and School Year 2011-12, Preliminary Version 1a," accessed May 13, 2014
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