Massachusetts school board elections, 2017

Elections

A total of nine Massachusetts school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2017 for 54 seats. Primary elections were scheduled on various dates, and general elections were scheduled on November 7, 2017.

Here are several quick facts about Massachusetts' school board elections in 2017:

• The largest Massachusetts school district by enrollment with an election in 2017 was Springfield Public Schools with 25,645 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.
• The smallest Massachusetts school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2017 was Fall River Public Schools with 10,246 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.

The districts listed below served 146,405 K-12 students during the 2014-2015 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each one and its school board elections.

2017 Massachusetts School Board Elections
District	Primary Election	General Election	Runoff Election	Regular term length	Seats up for election	Total board seats	2014-15 enrollment
Brockton Public Schools	9/19/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	7	7	17,186
Fall River Public Schools	9/12/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	6	7	10,246
Lawrence Public Schools	9/26/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	6	7	13,889
Lowell Public Schools	9/26/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	6	7	14,075
Lynn Public Schools	9/12/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	6	7	14,871
New Bedford Public Schools	10/3/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	4	3	7	12,565
Newton Public Schools	9/12/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	2	8	9	12,674
Springfield Public Schools	9/19/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	4	6	7	25,645
Worcester Public Schools	9/12/2017	11/7/2017	N/A	4	6	7	25,254

November 7 election results

Incumbents see 97% success rate in Massachusetts school board elections

All but one of the school board incumbents who filed to retain their seats in nine of Massachusetts’ largest school districts on November 7, 2017, won re-election, a success rate of 97.14 percent. In 2015—the last time the same nine districts held elections— incumbents had an 85.71 percent success rate.

Newcomers won 37.04 percent of the seats in 2017, which was higher than the 33.33 percent of seats they won in the same districts in 2015. The higher percentage of newcomer wins was due in part to a lower percentage of incumbents running for re-election. A total of 64.81 percent of incumbents whose seats were on the ballot in 2017 ran for another term on the board, while 68.63 percent ran in 2015.

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Massachusetts

---

The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.

---

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 (Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York), Massachusetts had the highest share of 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
Massachusetts	58%	55%	47%	48%
Connecticut	45%	37%	43%	45%
New Hampshire	59%	47%	45%	44%
New York	40%	32%	37%	35%
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 Massachusetts 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.

Massachusetts schools reported a graduation rate of 85 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second-lowest among its neighboring states

In Massachusetts, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1553.

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
Massachusetts	85%	Second	24.1	22%	1553	83%
Connecticut	85.5%	Second	24	27%	1532	85%
New Hampshire	87.3%	First	23.8	19%	1567	70%
New York	76.8%	Fourth	23.4	26%	1463	76%
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," accessed May 28, 2015 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 Massachusetts was lower than the national average at 2.7 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Massachusetts
	Massachusetts	U.S.
Total population:	6,784,240	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	7,800	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	79.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	7.1%	12.6%
Asian:	6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.9%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	10.6%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	40.5%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$68,563	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.1%	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 Massachusetts. **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 Massachusetts

Massachusetts voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Massachusetts coverage on Ballotpedia

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

See also

Massachusetts	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Massachusetts List of school districts in Massachusetts	School board elections, 2017 Massachusetts school board elections, 2016 Massachusetts school board elections, 2015 Massachusetts school board elections, 2014	School boards in session: 2015 in brief School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Footnotes

Ballotpedia

About

Overview • What people are saying • Support Ballotpedia • Contact • Contribute • Job opportunities

---

Executive: Leslie Graves, Founder and CEO • Gwen Beattie, Chief Operating Officer

Communications: Alison Graves, Director of Communications • Carley Allensworth • Abigail Campbell • Frank Festa • Sarah Groat • Nathaniel Harwood • Dillon Redmond
External Relations: Geoff Pallay, Director of External Relations • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Ashley Fleming • Thomas Mardik • Hannah Nelson
Operations: Meghann Olshefski, Director of Operations • Amanda Herbert • Mandy Morris • Caroline Presnell • Kelly Rindfleisch
Tech: Matt Latourelle, Director of Technology Operations • Ryan Burch • Kirsten Corrao • Beth Dellea • Travis Eden • Tate Kamish • Margaret Kearney • Eric Lotto • Joseph Sanchez • Mary Susmitha

Contributors: Scott Rasmussen

---

Editorial Content

Josh Altic, Director of Content • Daniel Anderson, Associate Director of Elections & Data • Cory Eucalitto, Associate Director of Features • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor of Ballot Measures • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor of News • Doug Kronaizl, Managing Editor of Local Expansion • Abbey Smith, Managing Editor of Elections • Janie Valentine, Managing Editor of Law • Joel Williams. Managing Editor of Events • Andrew Bahl • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Jon Dunn • Victoria Edwards • Thomas Ellis • Nicole Fisher • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Brianna Hosea • Molly Kehoe • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Nathan Maxwell • Jimmy McAllister • Brandon McCauley • Ellie Mikus • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Annelise Reinwald • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Emma Soukup • Alexis Thacker • Mina Vogel • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox