Nevada school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Nevada school boards were held on November 8, 2016. Primary elections, if necessary, were held on June 14, 2016. Unopposed elections were canceled and did not appear on the ballot. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

Three of the four Nevada school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 14 seats in 2016. Here are several quick facts about those school board elections:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was the Clark County School District with 320,532 K-12 students.
• The smallest Nevada school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Elko County School District with 9,945 K-12 students.
• Two of Nevada's largest districts had four seats up for election in 2016.

The district listed below served 396,027 K-12 students during the 2012-2013 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each and its school board elections.

2016 Nevada School Board Elections
District	Primary date	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Clark County School District	6/14/2016	11/8/2016	4	4	7	320,532
Elko County School District	6/14/2016	11/8/2016	4	5	7	9,945
Washoe County School District	6/14/2016	11/8/2016	4	5	7	65,550

June 14 election results

Nevada school board elections

A total of three school districts in Nevada held primary elections for 11 school board seats on June 14, 2016. There were 39 candidates in the election and five, or 12.8 percent of all candidates, were incumbents. All of the incumbents seeking re-election advanced to the general election that was held on November 8, 2016.

Election results

Note: An (i) next to a candidate's name indicates incumbent status.

Clark County School District

Clark County School District
District A

☑ Deanna Wright (i)

☑ Richard Vaughan

☐ Mallory Levins

☐ Patricia Krajcech

☐ Shawn Mueller

☐ James Gartside

District B

☑ Christine Garvey (i)

☑ Carol McKenzie

☐ Jeffrey Eggman

District C

☑ Linda Young (i)

☑ Adam Johnson

☐ Antonio Bowen

☐ Russell Davis

☐ Mark Melton

☐ Walter Jones III

Elko County School District

Elko County School District
District 3

☑ Kieth Fish

District 4

☑ Teresa Dastrup (i)

District 5

☑ James Cooney

District 7

☑ Ira Wines

Washoe County School District

Washoe County School District
District A

☑ Scott Kelley

☑ Dale Richardson

☐ Colleen Doenges

District D

☑ Kenneth Grein

☑ Malena Raymond

☐ Emily Reese

☐ Kathleen Little-Bolotin

☐ Brock Marquez

☐ Lauren Hacker

District E

☑ Angie Taylor (i)

☑ Malena Raymond

☐ Emily Reese

District G

☑ Katy Simon Holland

☑ Bill Horn

☐ Greg Hudson

☐ David DeSilva

☐ Mike Mieras

☐ Michael Millerick

☐ Jack Milon

☐ Helm Lehmann

Election trends

Trends in Nevada school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in school board elections held in Nevada's largest school districts by student enrollment. Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

Thirteen school board seats in Nevada's largest school districts by enrollment were up for election in 2016. In 2014, nine seats were on the ballot, and 23 candidates ran in the elections. That created an average of 2.56 candidates per seat, which was higher than the 2014 national average of 1.89 candidates per seat. A total of 44.44 percent of school board seats up for election in Nevada were unopposed in 2014. Nationwide that year, 32.57 percent of school board seats were unopposed.

Incumbency advantage

See also: Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections

A total of 77.78 percent of the school board incumbents whose terms were on the ballot in Nevada in 2014 ran to retain their seats, and 71.43 percent of them won. Nationally, 81.37 percent of incumbents won re-election in 2014.

Three newcomers were elected to school boards in the state in 2014. They took 33.33 percent of the seats on the ballot, which was lower than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally in 2014.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2014 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

Data table

Nevada school board elections, 2014 - 2016
	2014	2016
All candidates
Seats up	9	13
Candidates	23	TBD
Candidates/seat	2.56	TBD
Unopposed seats	4	TBD
% unopposed	44.44%	TBD
% seats won by newcomers	33.33%	TBD
Incumbents
Sought re-election	7	TBD
Unopposed	3	TBD
Retained	5	TBD
% retained	71.43%	TBD

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Nevada

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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 neighboring states, Nevada's scores were about on par with Arizona and California, but lower than those in Utah. The best scores in the state were earned by fourth graders in math, with 34 percent scoring at or above proficient.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Nevada	34%	28%	27%	30%
Arizona	40%	31%	28%	28%
California	33%	28%	27%	29%
Utah	44%	36%	37%	39%
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

See also: ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Nevada 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.

Nevada schools reported a graduation rate of 70.7 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, the lowest among its neighboring states

In Nevada, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1454.

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
Nevada	70.7%	Fifth	21.3	32%	1454	48%
Arizona	75.1%	Fifth	19.6	50%	1551	35%
California	80.4%	Third	22.2	26%	1505	57%
Utah	83%	Third	20.7	100%	684	6%
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 Nevada was higher than the national average at 4.1 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 3.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Nevada
	Nevada	U.S.
Total population:	2,883,758	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	109,781	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69%	73.6%
Black/African American:	8.4%	12.6%
Asian:	7.7%	5.1%
Native American:	1.1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more:	4.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	27.5%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.1%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	23%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$51,847	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	17.8%	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 Nevada. **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 Nevada

Nevada voted for the Democratic candidate in four out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Nevada coverage on Ballotpedia

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

See also

Nevada	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Nevada List of school districts in Nevada	School board elections, 2016 Nevada school board elections, 2015 Nevada school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey