Montana school board elections, 2017
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Elections
One Montana school district among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2017 for three seats. There was no primary election and the general election was scheduled on May 2, 2017.
Billings Public Schools was the largest school district in Montana and served 11,348 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.[1]
Click on the district name for more information on its school board election.
| 2017 Montana School Board Elections | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Primary Election | General Election | Runoff Election | Regular term length | Seats up for election | Total board seats | 2014-15 enrollment |
| Billings Public Schools | N/A | 5/2/2017 | N/A | 3 | 3 | 9 | 11,348 |
Issues
Issues in the districts
- See also: Billings Public Schools elections (2017)
District sought $2.56 million in tax levies
The Billings board of trustees election shared the ballot with two tax levy requests in 2017. The district sought $1.36 million in tax levies at the elementary school level and $1.2 million in tax levies at the high school level.
The elementary school levy passed with 15,152 votes for (50.87 percent) and 14,635 (49.13 percent) against the proposal. The high school tax levy was rejected by a margin of 354 votes—17,610 votes in favor of the levy and 17,964 votes against it.[2] The last elementary school levy passed by Billings voters was on the ballot in 2013, and the last time a high school levy passed in Billings was in 2007.[3][4]
Since only the elementary tax levy passed, the tax impact per $100,000 of property value was $9.32 per year. If the high school tax levy had passed, the tax impact per $100,000 of property value would have been $6.08 per year.[4]
The school district listed the following initiatives as targets of funding from one, or both, tax levies:[3]
- Replace worn or out-of-date textbooks
- Expand the district's career center to offer vocational education to freshman and sophomore students
- Expand the district's dual credit and Advanced Placement offerings
- Hire additional counselors and social workers
- Provide support for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs in all district elementary schools
Academic performance
- See also: Public education in Montana
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 |
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| For more information on education policy terms, see this article. |
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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 (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming), Montana had the highest share of eighth grade students who scored at or above proficient in reading.[5]
| Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math - Grade 4 | Math - Grade 8 | Reading - Grade 4 | Reading - Grade 8 | |
| Montana | 45% | 40% | 35% | 40% |
| North Dakota | 48% | 41% | 34% | 34% |
| South Dakota | 40% | 38% | 32% | 36% |
| Wyoming | 48% | 38% | 37% | 38% |
| United States | 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 Montana and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[5][6][7]
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.[8]
Montana schools reported a graduation rate of 84.4 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second highest among its neighboring states.
In Montana, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 21.3.
| 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 | ||
| Montana | 84.4% | Third | 21.3 | 72% | 1595 | 25% | |
| North Dakota | 87.5% | First | 20.5 | 98% | 1799 | 2% | |
| South Dakota | 82.7% | Third | 21.9 | 78% | 1760 | 3% | |
| Wyoming | 77% | Fourth | 19.8 | 100% | 1757 | 4% | |
| 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 Montana was higher than the national average at 4.3 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 4.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[9]
State profile
State profile
| Demographic data for Montana | ||
|---|---|---|
| Montana | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 1,032,073 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 145,546 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 89.2% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 0.5% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 0.7% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 6.5% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 2.5% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 3.3% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 92.8% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 29.5% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $47,169 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 17% | 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 Montana. **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 Montana
Montana voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, three are located in Montana, accounting for 1.46 percent of the total pivot counties.[10]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Montana had two Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.10 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.
More Montana coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Montana
- United States congressional delegations from Montana
- Public policy in Montana
- Endorsers in Montana
- Montana fact checks
- More...
See also
| Montana | School Boards | News and Analysis |
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Footnotes
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 22, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlevy - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Billings Public Schools, "Levy Elections: May 2, 2017," accessed April 24, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 KTVQ, "Billings School District 2 makes final levy pitch as mail ballots arrive to voters," April 19, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 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
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
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