Nebraska school board elections, 2015
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A total of one Nebraska school district among America's largest school districts by enrollment held an election in 2015 for three seats. Lincoln Public Schools held its general election on May 5, 2015.
The district served 36,943 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 election.
| 2015 Nebraska School Board Elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Date | Seats up for election | Total board seats | Student enrollment |
| Lincoln Public Schools | 5/5/2015 | 3 | 7 | 36,943 |
Trends in Nebraska school board elections
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
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The state's 2015 school board elections saw more candidates run per seat than the 2014 elections. There were also fewer unopposed seats in 2015 compared to 2014. While four of Nebraska's largest districts held elections in 2014, only Lincoln Public Schools held an election in 2015. The Lincoln Public Schools election brought more newcomers to the state's largest school boards than the 2014 elections did.
The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Nebraska's school board elections. All of the school board elections held in the state in 2014 and 2015 were nonpartisan.
Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.
Competitiveness
In 2015, the election held in Lincoln Public Schools attracted an average of 2.67 candidates per seat. This was higher than the 2014 elections, when an average of 1.46 candidates ran per seat on the ballot. No seats were unopposed in 2015, but the 2014 elections saw six seats—46.15 percent of those on the ballot—go unopposed.
Incumbency advantage
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One incumbent ran to retain her seat in the Lincoln Public Schools election in 2015, but she lost her bid for re-election. Newcomers took all three seats on the ballot that year. By contrast, in 2014, incumbents won all but one seat on the ballot. Thirteen seats were up for election, and 12 incumbents ran to retain their seats. Half of them had to defeat challengers to win re-election, but the others were left unopposed. The newcomer elected to the board that year defeated other challengers for the only open seat. 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 Nebraska's largest school districts from 2014 to 2015.
| Nebraska school board elections, 2014-2015 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total | Incumbents | ||||||||
| Seats up | Candidates | Candidates/ seat |
Unopposed seats | % unopposed | % seats won by newcomers | Sought re-election | Unopposed | Retained | % retained | |
| 2015 | 3 | 8 | 2.67 | 0 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2014 | 13 | 19 | 1.46 | 6 | 46.15% | 7.69% | 12 | 6 | 12 | 100.00% |
Survey responses
One of the eight candidates running for a school board seat in Nebraska's largest school districts in the 2015 elections responded to Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. The following sections display the candidate's answers to questions about top priorities and education issues.
Top priorities
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Lincoln Public Schools Board of Education challenger Rachel Terry stated:
| “ | I would focus on making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely in keeping with the district's overall mission of academically preparing children for the future and that the emphasis of all decisions is the academic success of students.[2] | ” |
| —Rachel Terry (2015)[3] | ||
Ranking the issues
Terry was 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 her rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||
|---|---|---|
| Issue | Terry's responses | |
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues
Terry was asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to her responses can be found below.
State profile
| Demographic data for Nebraska | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 1,893,765 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 76,824 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 88.1% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 4.7% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 2% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 2.2% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 10% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 90.7% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 29.3% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $52,997 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 14.6% | 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 Nebraska. **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 Nebraska
Nebraska 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, one is located in Nebraska, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.[4]
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. Nebraska had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.
More Nebraska coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Nebraska
- United States congressional delegations from Nebraska
- Public policy in Nebraska
- Endorsers in Nebraska
- Nebraska fact checks
- More...
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 Nebraska
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. Nebraska had a greater percentage of fourth grade students score at or above proficient in math and reading than South Dakota, but a lower percentage compared to Iowa and Kansas. The best scores in the state were earned by fourth graders in math, with 45 percent scoring at or above proficient.[5]
| Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math - Grade 4 | Math - Grade 8 | Reading - Grade 4 | Reading - Grade 8 | |
| Nebraska | 45% | 36% | 37% | 37% |
| Iowa | 48% | 36% | 38% | 37% |
| Kansas | 48% | 40% | 38% | 36% |
| South Dakota | 40% | 38% | 32% | 36% |
| 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 Nebraska 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 1,498 out of a possible 2,400 for the SAT.[8]
Nebraska schools reported a graduation rate of 88.5 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, which was second-highest among its neighboring states.
In Nebraska, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 21.5.
| 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 | ||
| Nebraska | 88.5% | First | 21.5 | 84% | 1,734 | 4% | |
| Iowa | 89.7% | First | 22.1 | 66% | 1,763 | 3% | |
| Kansas | 85.7% | Second | 21.8 | 75% | 1,752 | 6% | |
| South Dakota | 82.7% | Third | 21.9 | 78% | 1,760 | 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 9–12 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 2010–11 and school year 2011–12. The event dropout rate for Nebraska was lower than the national average at 2.1 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.2 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[9]
See also
| Nebraska | School Boards | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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Footnotes
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed April 20, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Rachel Terry responses," March 30, 2015
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ 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
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