Nick Esparza
Nick Esparza was a candidate for District 6 representative on the Seattle Board of Directors in Washington. Esparza was defeated in the primary election on August 4, 2015.[1]
The 2015 board elections drew increased competition as the district wrestled legislative attempts to reform the district's board and size. Meanwhile, local teacher protests were part of the statewide discourse on education funding.
Elections
2015
- See also: Seattle Public Schools elections (2015)
Four of the seven seats on the Seattle Board of Directors were up for election in 2015. Because more than two candidates filed for the District 3 and 6 seats, a primary election was held on August 4, 2015. The top two vote recipients in those races and the candidates for District 1 and 2 appeared on the general election ballot on November 3, 2015.
District 1 incumbent Sharon Peaslee, District 2 incumbent Sherry Carr, District 3 incumbent Harium Martin-Morris and District 6 incumbent Marty McLaren were up for re-election, but only McLaren filed to run for another term.[1]
The race for District 6 was the most competitive in 2015. Incumbent Marty McLaren faced challengers Leslie Harris and Nick Esparza in the primary. Harris and McLaren advanced to the general election, but the primary election results and campaign finance indicated a difficult general election race for the incumbent. McLaren placed second in the primary, more than 10 points behind Harris. As of campaign finance reports available on October 21, 2015, Harris had raised more than four times McLaren's campaign contributions and outspent her by a factor of almost seven. Harris defeated McLaren in the general election.
District 3 saw four candidates seeking the open seat: Lauren McGuire, David Blomstrom, Stephen Clayton and Jill Geary. Geary and McGuire advanced to the general election, garnering over $100,000 in combined campaign contributions as of October 21, 2015. Geary won the general election.
The District 1 and 2 seats saw just two candidates advance to the ballot each. Michael Christophersen and Scott Pinkham vied for the District 1 seat, while Laura Obara Gramer and Rick Burke ran for the District 2 seat.[1] Pinkham and Burke won election to the board.
Multiple candidates withdrew from their races prior to the deadline. Therefore, they did not appear on the ballot. Arik Korman withdrew from the District 1 race, Julie McCleery and Deborah Leblang withdrew from the District 2 race and Suzanne Sutton withdrew from the District 6 race.[1]
Results
| Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors, District 6 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Leslie Harris |
48.2% | 7,522 |
| Marty McLaren Incumbent |
37.7% | 5,879 |
| Nick Esparza | 13.6% | 2,119 |
| Write-in votes | 0.56% | 87 |
| Total Votes | 15,607 | |
| Source: King County Elections, "Primary Election Seattle School District No. 1 Director District No. 6," accessed August 20, 2015 | ||
Funding
Esparza reported no contributions or expenditures to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission as of October 21, 2015.[2]
Campaign themes
2015
Primary election voters' pamphlet
Esparza provided the following statement for the King County local voters' pamphlet for the election on August 4, 2015:
| “ | I care deeply about education and our schools. As a School Board member, I will work hard to help make Seattle Public Schools a better school district.
-Too much testing. We need more time for learning, and less time for testing. “Bubbling” A, B, C, or D does not make better students. I am opposed to high stakes testing. It reduces children to only a test score, and dismisses the potential of students with learning disabilities. -Resources for teaching. Teachers are taking on more students and more work, with less support staff, such as instructional assistants in special education, affecting the overall quality of education. I will hold the District accountable for providing support to teachers and families – I am not a rubber stamp. Students need teachers who can challenge them, believe in them, not give up on them, and want them to be a success. We pay teachers to be innovative, not robots. -Adequate building capacity at reasonably-sized schools. I am the only candidate in this race who opposed and publicly spoke out against the closure of schools. Along with the sale of our school properties, the previous rounds of school closures are now generally seen as disasters. One candidate for District #6 proposed closing Roxhill elementary and merging it into a giant-sized Arbor Heights elementary. The other candidate helped push for the closure of Cooper elementary. I promise I won’t follow their example.[3] |
” |
| —Nick Esparza (2015)[4] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Nick Esparza Seattle+Public+Schools School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 King County Elections, "2015 Official Candidate Filing," accessed May 26, 2015
- ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission, "Search the Database," accessed October 21, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ King County Elections, "King County Local Voters' Pamphlet: August 4, 2015 Primary And Special Election School, Seattle School District No. 1 Director District No. 6," accessed July 21, 2015
| 2015 Seattle Public Schools Elections | |
| King County, Washington | |
| Election date: | Primary - August 4, 2015
General - November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 1 : Michael Christophersen • Scott Pinkham
District 2 : Laura Obara Gramer • Rick Burke
|
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
