Modesto City Schools elections (2017)
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Four of the seven seats on the Modesto City Schools Board of Education in California were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Cindy Marks and Chad Brown ran unopposed for the Trustee Area 1 and 3 seats, respectively. Those races did not appear on the ballot, and the two incumbents won re-election by default. Rickey McGill, Michael Scheid, and Charlene West ran for the open Trustee Area 5 seat, and West won election to the board. The race for the open Trustee Area 7 seat includes Matthew Harrington, Adolfo Lopez, and Ryan Schambers, and Lopez won election to the board.[1][2][3]
West and Schambers participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
It was not unusual for the district to elect newcomers. Newcomers were elected to the board in 2013 and 2015 as well. For information on election trends in the district, click here.
The 2017 election was the first time the school district used the by-district election method. Prior to 2017, school board members were elected at large.[4]
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Modesto Board of Education governs both the Modesto City Elementary School District and the Modesto City High School District. The board consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district on a staggered basis with three or four seats up for election every November of odd-numbered years.[5]
To get on the ballot, board of trustees candidates had to file with the Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters by August 11, 2017. To vote in this election, citizens of the school district had to register by October 23, 2017.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.[7]
Candidates and results
Trustee Area 1
Results
This election did not appear on the ballot due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Cindy Marks was re-elected to another term by default.[2]
Candidates
Cindy Marks 
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Trustee Area 3
Results
This election did not appear on the ballot due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Chad Brown was re-elected to another term by default.[2]
Candidates
| Chad Brown
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Trustee Area 5
Results
| Modesto City Schools, Trustee Area 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Charlene West |
58.05% | 2,365 |
| Rickey McGill | 22.46% | 915 |
| Michael Scheid | 19.05% | 776 |
| Write-in votes | 0.44% | 18 |
| Total Votes | 4,074 | |
| Source: Stanislaus County Elections Office, "Official Results," accessed November 21, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Rickey McGill | Michael Scheid |  Charlene West
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Trustee Area 7
Results
| Modesto City Schools, Trustee Area 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Adolfo Lopez |
65.08% | 932 |
| Ryan Schambers | 19.62% | 281 |
| Matthew Harrington | 15.01% | 215 |
| Write-in votes | 0.28% | 4 |
| Total Votes | 1,432 | |
| Source: Stanislaus County Elections Office, "Official Results," accessed November 21, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Matthew Harrington | Adolfo Lopez
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Ryan Schambers
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2017
The Modesto Board of Education election shared the ballot with elections for Modesto City Council and a ballot measure for a cannabis business tax for the city of Modesto.[1][2]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the November 2017 California school board elections.[8][9]
Endorsements
The Stanislaus County Republican Party endorsed Trustee Area 7 candidate Ryan Schambers.[10] The Stanislaus County Democratic Central Committee and the Stanislaus/Tuolumne Counties Central Labor Council endorsed Trustee Area 7 candidate Matthew Harrington.[11]
The community organization Evolve also endorsed Harrington as well as Trustee Area 5 candidate Rickey McGill.[12] The Modesto Teachers Association endorsed Trustee Area 3 incumbent Chad Brown, Trustee Area 5 candidate Charlene West, and Trustee Area 7 candidate Adolfo Lopez.[13]
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
The Stanilaus County Registrar of Voters does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Reporting requirements
California school board candidates had to file two pre-election campaign finance reports. The first was due on September 28, 2017, and the second was due on October 26, 2017. In addition to those two reports, candidates had to file a semi-annual report on January 31, 2018, if they did not terminate their campaign committees by December 31, 2017.[9]
If candidates did not raise or spend more than $2,000 for their campaigns, they had to file Form 470 instead of the regular campaign finance report on September 28, 2017. They did not have to file any additional campaign finance reports as long as their campaign contributions and expenditures remained under $2,000.[9]
Past elections
- See also: Past elections in Modesto City Schools
To see results from past elections in Modesto City Schools, click here.
What was at stake?
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
Survey responses
Two candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from Trustee Area 5 candidate Charlene West and Trustee Area 7 candidate Ryan Schambers.
Hope to achieve
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, West stated:
| “ | I would like to use my 35 years in education, as well as my experience as a current school counselor to help guide our school board to making decision based on what students, teachers, and families need in today's educational climate. I am aware of the challenges faced today, I can view situations from both a staff and parent perspective, and I feel I am qualified to make decisions to best benefit our students.[14] | ” |
| —Charlene West (October 20, 2017)[15] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Schambers stated:
| “ | I hope to achieve to involve the community such as families more in their child's education. I hope to reduce wasting spending and ensure that the school board prioritizes spending on the more important things first, which is education over bells and whistles. I intend to ensure that we reduce teacher turnover and prevent a strike by paying teachers fairly and making it so that they do not have to pay for supplies out of their own pockets. Lastly I intend to change the culture of the school board of rubber-stamping everything and not being analytical enough and not asking enough questions.[14] | ” |
| —Ryan Schambers (September 20, 2017)[16] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
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| Issue | West's ranking | Schambers' ranking | ||
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
The 2017 Modesto Board of Education election was guaranteed to add two new members to the board due to open seats, and it was guaranteed to re-elect two incumbents due to lack of opposition. The district's 2013 and 2015 elections also added new members to the board due to open seats, and every incumbent who filed to run for another term in 2013 and 2015 won re-election. One of those incumbents ran unopposed, but the other four appeared on the ballot and defeated opponents to win their new terms.
| School board election trends | ||||||
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| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Modesto City Schools | ||||||
| 2017 | 2.00 | 50.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| 2015 | 1.25 | 25.00% | 75.00% | 100.00% | 25.00% | |
| 2013 | 2.00 | 0.00% | 40.00% | 100.00% | 60.00% | |
| California | ||||||
| 2015 | 2.01 | 22.95% | 73.77% | 81.11% | 39.34% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
About the district
- See also: Modesto City Schools, California
The Modesto City school districts are located in Stanislaus County in central California. The county seat is Modesto. Stanislaus County was home to an estimated 541,560 residents in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[17] The Modesto City Elementary School District was the 103rd-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 15,259 students, and the Modesto City High School District was the 107th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 14,969 students.[18]
Demographics
Stanislaus County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 16.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31.4 percent for state residents. During the same time period, the median household income for Stanislaus County was $50,125, compared to $61,818 for the entire state. The poverty rate in the county was 19.5 percent, while it was 15.3 percent statewide.[17]
| Racial Demographics, 2016[17] | ||
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| Race | Stanislaus County (%) | California (%) |
| White | 83.9 | 72.7 |
| Black or African American | 3.4 | 6.5 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 2.0 | 1.7 |
| Asian | 5.9 | 14.8 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| Two or More Races | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 45.6 | 38.9 |
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 Modesto City Schools California election. 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 Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Stephanie Lopez, Modesto City Clerk," August 14, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated District Election - Tuesday, November 7, 2017: Unofficial Candidate List," accessed September 20, 2017
- ↑ Stanislaus County Elections Office, "Unofficial Results," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ Modesto Bee, "Measure F wins approval, gives Modesto schools option to elect by area," June 7, 2016
- ↑ Modesto City Schools, "Board Members," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, "Consolidated District Election Calendar Tuesday, November 7, 2017," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Where and How to Vote," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "2017 County Administered Elections," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 7, 2017," accessed September 18, 2017
- ↑ Stanislaus County Republican Party, "Endorsements," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ Matthew J. Harrington for Modesto City Schools Trustee District 7, "Endorsements," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ Modesto Teachers Association, "MCS Board Elections," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Charlene West responses," October 20, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Ryan Schambers responses," September 20, 2017
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Stanislaus County, California; California," accessed August 3, 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
| Modesto City Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Stanislaus County, California | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Cindy Marks Trustee Area 3: • Incumbent, Chad Brown Trustee Area 5: • Rickey McGill • Michael Scheid • Charlene West Trustee Area 7: • Matthew Harrington • Adolfo Lopez • Ryan Schambers |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
