Modesto City Schools elections (2015)
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Four seats on the Modesto City Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.[1] Three seats were up for four-year terms, and one seat was up for a two-year term due to an appointment to the board.[2]
Incumbents Steven Grenbeaux and Amy Elliot Neumann won re-election to four-year terms, and newcomer John Walker was also elected to a four-year term. They defeated challenger Chad Brown. Incumbent Desiree Romo ran unopposed and won re-election to a two-year term.[3][4]
See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section.
Modesto City Schools sought to change to a by-district election method in order to avoid possible future lawsuits, but the votes cast for Measure F were not counted due to an error that left 24,000 residents of the district unable to vote. In addition to putting Measure F on a future ballot, school board members elected in 2015 will have to decide how to prioritize $1 billion in maintenance improvements needed throughout the district.
About the district
- See also: Modesto City Schools, California
Modesto City Schools is located in Stanislaus County in central California. The county seat is Modesto. Stanislaus County was home to 531,997 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[5] During the 2012-2013 school year, Modesto City Schools was the 35th-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 29,978 students.[6]
Demographics
Stanislaus County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 16.4 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.7 for California as a whole. The median household income for Stanislaus County was $49,297, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 20.3 percent, compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[5]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The Modesto City Board of Education consists of seven members elected at-large to four-year terms. Board members are elected on a staggered basis every November of odd-numbered years. There are no primary elections. Both the 2013 and the 2015 school board elections had additional seats on the ballot after vacancies on the board were filled by appointment. This put five seats, four four-year terms and one two-year term, on the ballot on November 5, 2013. Three four-year term seats and one two-year term seat were on the ballot on November 3, 2015.[1][8]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, residents of the school district and qualified voters. They could not be employees of the school district while in office.[9] To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their declaration of candidacy with the Stanislaus County Elections by August 7, 2015.[1]
To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by October 19, 2015. Voters could cast vote-by-mail ballots from October 24, 2015, through Election Day.[1] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large (four-year term)
Election results
| Modesto City Schools, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Amy Elliot Neumann Incumbent |
31.2% | 15,342 |
| Steven Grenbeaux Incumbent |
24.9% | 12,256 |
| John Walker |
23.0% | 11,307 |
| Chad Brown | 20.9% | 10,263 |
| Total Votes | 49,168 | |
| Source: Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "Official Results," accessed November 17, 2015 | ||
Candidates
Steven Grenbeaux 
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Amy Elliot Neumann
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| John Walker
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Chad Brown | ||
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At-large (two-year term)
Election results
Incumbent Desiree Romo ran unopposed. She won another term by default.
Candidates
| Desiree Romo
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Endorsements
Incumbents Steven Grenbeaux and Amy Elliot Neumann and challenger Chad Brown were endorsed by The Modesto Bee.[10] Grenbeaux, Brown and incumbent Desiree Romo were endorsed by the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Counties Central Labor Council.[11]
Campaign finance
At the time of this election, the Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.[12]
Campaign finance reporting requirements in California vary depending on how much money candidates spend or raise. For candidates planning to raise or spend less than $1,000, an Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement Short Form (Form 470) must be filed with their county or city elections office. If candidates plan to spend up to $1,000, including their own funds, they must also file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501). "If a candidate does not raise any money and personal funds are used only to pay filing or ballot statement fees, the candidate is not required to file the Form 501," according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. If candidates raise money outside of their own funds, a separate campaign bank account must be established.[13]
Candidates raising or spending more than $1,000, including their personal funds, must file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501), file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) and establish a separate bank account for campaign funds. They must then file Recipient Committee Campaign Statements (Form 460) to disclose their contributions and expenditures throughout their campaigns. If they receive more than $1,000 from a single source within 90 days of the election, they must file a 24-hour Contribution Report (Form 497).[13]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2015
Election trends
- See also: 2013 school board elections
With four seats up for election on November 3, 2015, more than half of the Modesto Board of Education had the potential to change hands. Three of the four incumbents ran to retain their seats, guaranteeing at least one newcomer would join the board. One incumbent ran unopposed and won a two-year term. After facing two challengers, the other two incumbents also won re-election to the board. A newcomer was elected to the open seat. The race had an average of 1.25 candidates per seat.
Modesto City's 2013 school board election had five seats on the ballot. Two of the five incumbents ran for another term. They both won re-election, and three newcomers took the other three seats. An average of two candidates ran per seat in that election.
The 2014 state average of 1.91 candidates per seat up for election in California's largest school districts fell lower than the number of candidates running per seat in 2013 and higher than those running in 2015 in Modesto City Schools. In 2014, just over 25 percent of board seats up for election in California were unopposed, and 37.65 percent of seats went to newcomers.
Issues in the election
Measure F
In addition to choosing their next school board members, citizens in the Modesto City school district were supposed to vote on how future school board elections would be conducted. Measure F was on the ballot on November 3, 2015, to ask voters whether or not the district should convert to by district elections.[14] The measure, however, was withdrawn by the school district. Though it appeared on the ballot, the votes were not counted.[15]
The measure was withdrawn because it had not been included on the ballots of citizens outside of the city limits of Modesto. Though the district includes surrounding areas outside of the city, those residents, approximately 24,000 voters in total, were unable to vote on the measure. The school district's attorneys filed a writ of mandate days before the election to ensure that the votes on the ballot measure would not be counted and that the measure would appear on the ballot in June 2016.[16]
The 2015 election, and all those prior, elected school board members at-large. This was required by the Modesto City Charter. Most school districts in the state are allowed to decide how to conduct their elections, but because the Modesto City Schools are governed by the city charter, a measure had to be passed by voters in order to change to by district elections.[14]
Measure F sought to set up seven boundary areas from which future school board members would have been elected. The board sought to change the district's election method after a number of districts in California were sued for Voting Rights Act violations. Those districts switched to by district elections in order to settle the lawsuits. Though the Modesto City school district had not been sued as of November 2015, the city had lost a lawsuit in 2007 that was brought against it by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.[17]
Issues in the district
$1 billion needed to improve schools
To update and improve all of its buildings, the Modesto City school district was told it would have to pay $1 billion, according to a report presented to the school board in October 2015. Though some major updates were suggested, including updating water systems and electrical work and fully replacing some buildings, the majority of items listed on the report were small updates, like repainting, fixing sidewalks and replacing rusty gutters. There was a large volume of small updates, however, and the district did not have the money to fix everything. As of its 2014 audit, the district owed $146 million in long-term debt from building new schools.[18]
The report laid out each school's required updates on a priority scale of 1 to 5. District officials planned to discuss the updates with community members in public forums before coming up with an action plan.[18]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Modesto City Schools election in 2015:[1][19][20]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| June 8, 2015 - August 7, 2015 | Candidate filing period |
| July 31, 2015 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| August 5, 2015 - November 2, 2015 | 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period |
| September 7, 2015 - October 20, 2015 | Write-in candidate filing period |
| September 24, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 19, 2015 | Voter registration deadline |
| October 22, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2015 | First day voters can cast vote-by-mail ballots |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| February 1, 2016 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2015
The Modesto City Schools election shared the ballot with municipal elections for Modesto mayor and city council members.[21]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Modesto City Schools California. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Modesto City Schools | California | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, “Consolidated District Election Calendar Tuesday, November 3, 2015,” accessed January 29, 2015
- ↑ Modesto City Schools, "Call and Notice of Board of Education," January 8, 2015
- ↑ Modesto City Clerk, "Candidate List," accessed August 11, 2015
- ↑ Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "SUMMARY REPT-GROUP DETAIL," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "Stanislaus County, California," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ California Secretary of State, “Voter Registration Totals by County,” February 10, 2015
- ↑ Modesto City Schools, "Board of Education," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ Modest City Schools, "Board of Education Policies," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ The Modesto Bee, "For Modesto City Schools board, experience counts," October 4, 2015
- ↑ Stanislaus and Tuolumne Counties Central Labor Council, "2015 Candidate Endorsements," accessed October 29, 2015
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Office of Lee Lundrigan, Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters," December 8, 2015
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Local Candidates, Superior Court Judges, Their Controlled Committees, and Primarily Formed Committees for Local Candidates: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Modesto City Schools, "What is Measure F?" accessed October 9, 2015
- ↑ The Modesto Bee, "The Modesto Bee 2015 election recommendations," October 22, 2015
- ↑ The Modesto Bee, "Council to meet again over botched ballot measure," October 28, 2015
- ↑ The Modesto Bee, "Modesto City Schools moving toward by-area elections for trustees," June 23, 2015
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Modesto Bee, "Modesto schools in need of $1 billion in repairs, upgrades," October 5, 2015
- ↑ California Election Code, "Section 8600-8606," accessed February 20, 2015
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ City of Modesto, "Election Information," accessed August 4, 2015
| 2015 Modesto City Schools Elections | |
| Stanislaus County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large (four-year term): • Incumbent, Steven Grenbeaux • Incumbent, Amy Elliot Neumann • John Walker • Chad Brown At-large (two-year term): • Incumbent, Desiree Romo |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
