North Carolina school board elections, 2016

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Elections

State law dictated the regular general election for North Carolina school boards be held in conjunction with the state primary on March 15, 2016. Several districts, however, have exceptions from this election date and held their elections on November 8, 2016. Special elections for unexpired board terms were held in conjunction with the general election cycle. Thirty-three of the 38 North Carolina school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment had elections for 143 seats in 2016.

Here are several quick facts about North Carolina's school board elections in 2016:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was Wake County Public School System with 153,534 K-12 students.
• The smallest North Carolina school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was Duplin County Schools with 9,628 K-12 students.
• Three of the largest districts tied for the most seats on the ballot with nine seats up for election each.
• Harnett County Schools had the fewest seats on the ballot among North Carolina's largest districts with two seats up for election.

The districts listed below served 875,350 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district name for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2016 North Carolina School Board Elections
District	Primary date	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Durham Public Schools	NA	3/15/2016	4	3	7	33,349
Onslow County Schools	NA	3/15/2016	4	4	7	25,161
Public Schools of Robeson County	NA	3/15/2016	4	7	11	23,557
Wilkes County Schools	NA	3/15/2016	4	3	5	9,863
Alamance-Burlington School System	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	22,615
Brunswick County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	5	12,415
Buncombe County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	25,495
Cabarrus County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	30,088
Caldwell County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	12,103
Catawba County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	16,876
Craven County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	14,417
Cumberland County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	6	9	51,471
Davidson County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	5	19,897
Duplin County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	5	9,628
Gaston County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	9	31,256
Guilford County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	9	9	72,081
Harnett County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	2	5	20,243
Henderson County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	13,489
Iredell-Statesville Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	20,858
Johnston County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	33,852
Lee County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	4	7	9,942
Lincoln County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	11,585
Moore County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	5	8	12,907
Nash-Rocky Mount Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	6	11	16,007
New Hanover County Schools	3/15/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	25,398
Pitt County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	9	9	23,622
Randolph County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	18,098
Rockingham County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	11	13,070
Rowan-Salisbury Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	19,831
Union County Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	6	9	41,074
Wake County Public School System	NA	11/8/2016	4	9	9	153,534
Wayne County Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	19,197
Wilson County Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	12,371

Issues

Transgender bathroom law

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R)

North Carolina passed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (HB2) stating that individuals in government-operated facilities must use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender stated on their birth certificate on March 23, 2016. The law was passed by the legislature in a one-day specially-called session, and was signed into law that night by Governor Pat McCrory (R). The bill reversed an earlier ruling that allowed transgender individuals to use the restroom of their preference, and it offset local ordinances in the state that let transgender citizens do so.

HB2's effect on NC school districts

Since HB2 was signed into law, many school districts in the state have struggled to formulate a response. Not only does Title IX prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, but the state law's validity is being disputed in court. North Carolina school districts are unsure of how to balance these two laws. In the Wake County Public School System, Wake County sheriff Donnie Harrison said he would consider pulling deputies out of schools if the district does not decide on a consistent transgender bathroom policy. Harrison said the district did not have a uniform policy on the use of bathrooms by transgender students, which was causing confusion and unease among parents.

According to Lisa Luten, a Wake County Public School System spokesperson, transgender student issues with bathrooms and locker rooms are handled on a case-by-case basis. "No child has ever been at risk based on how we have handled this issue,” Luten said. “Because this issue is still being debated in federal courts, the school system is unable to create a formal policy.” The district's superintendent James Merrill said that transgender bathroom questions ought to be addressed by administrators rather than student resource officers. According to Nathan Smith, the director of public policy for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the consequence is that many schools decide their transgender bathroom policies on a case-by-case basis, leading to conflicting messages.

Lawsuits filed

On May 9, 2016, Gov. McCrory and the Justice Department filed opposing lawsuits, the former in support of the law and the latter against it. On one side, the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights office said that the law is discriminatory and infringes on civil rights. “This action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them.” Gov. McCrory's lawsuit was against the Justice Department, charging the federal government with “baseless and blatant overreach.” McCrory defended the necessity of the law as a response to a nondiscrimination ordinance in Charlotte.

The ACLU and the Justice Department asked a judge to hold off on HB2 while the lawsuit is being decided. According to federal documents, the trial could take place as early as October or November 2016. The Charlotte Observer stated that it would "not be unreasonable to expect Schroeder's ruling by the summer of 2017, perhaps before."

Backlash

On July 21, 2016, the NBA announced it planned to move its All-Star Game from Charlotte, North Carolina, which was scheduled to be held there in 2017. According to the Charlotte Observer, this decision will cost the city approximately $100 million. On September 12, 2016, the NCAA ousted seven championships that were scheduled to be held in the state during the 2016-2017 school year. Two days later, the Atlantic Coast Conference made a similar decision, revealing it planned to move the men's football championship game scheduled for December 2016 from Charlotte.

Partisan board shift

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

Iredell County State Legislators, 2015
Clockwise from top left: state Sen. Andrew Brock (R-34), state Rep. John Fraley (R-95), state Sen. David Curtis (R-44), and state Rep. Rena W. Turner (R-84)

Partisan school board shift

Several North Carolina school districts held their first partisan school board elections in 2016, including Iredell-Statesville and Robeson County. On May 26, 2015, many school boards became partisan offices when House Bill 110 was ratified and became Session Law 2015-35. The move came with support from three of Iredell County's four state legislators. The partisan change also required the school boards to begin holding primaries (if necessary) and to shift their general elections to the November general election date. Prior to this law's passage, 17 school districts in the state had partisan school board elections. Following its implementation, 22 of the state's 115 school districts had partisan boards.

HB 110 was introduced by State Rep. Roger West (R-120) on February 24, 2015. The initial form of the bill only sought to change the Cherokee County board. Through a series of committee substitutes, the list of districts to be changed grew from one to the final five.

Iredell-Statesville and Davie County joined that list when State Sen. Andrew Brock (R-34), senator for Iredell County, added it in an amendment. The senator told local media that he had done so at the request of the Republican parties in both counties, saying, “They requested it and I said, well, moving an election to November you’re going to get more people to vote on it and I think it opens up the process to get more people involved in the election."

The final version of the bill passed the Senate in a 32-13 vote on May 18, 2015, and the House in a 98-10 vote on May 21, 2015. Iredell County's state legislators, however, were not unanimous in supporting the bill. House member Rena W. Turner (R-84) voted in favor of the final version of the measure, along with Brock and David Curtis (R-44) in the Senate.

State Rep. John Fraley (R-95), meanwhile, voted against the measure in its final form and was the only Republican member of the House to do so. Fraley told a local media outlet that he had spoken with approximately 40 local leaders, a majority of whom expressed a preference for a nonpartisan school board. He further stated, "A few months ago, all the Iredell legislators were approached (by the local GOP) ... and asked if we would run a bill requiring all school board elections in Iredell to be partisan. I understood their job was to elect more Republicans, but thought the more important question was what was best for Iredell County's education of its students.”

The push for partisan school boards was specifically included in the 2015 North Carolina Republican Party platform, which stated, "The party affiliation of judicial and school board candidates should appear on the ballot." Less than a month after the introduction of HB 110, another bill to change all school boards in the state to partisan offices was introduced: HB 324. That bill was pulled from the House calendar on April 21, 2015, and referred to the Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee. The committee did not act on the bill in 2015.

Election trends

Trends in North Carolina school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections in North Carolina's largest schools districts attracted a higher average number of candidates per seat on the ballot than the state's 2014 school board elections did. The 2015 elections also had a lower percentage of unopposed seats than the 2014 elections had. Newcomers, however, fared better in the state's 2014 elections, taking 50.00 percent of the seats up for election. In 2015, newcomers won 37.50 percent of the seats on the ballot.

The 2015 elections had fewer seats on the ballot compared to the 2014 elections. Sixteen seats were on the ballot in 2015, whereas 126 seats were on the ballot in 2014.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in North Carolina's school board elections. These districts did not utilize primary or runoff elections. Winners only had to receive a plurality, or relative majority, of votes to secure a seat. 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, elections held in North Carolina's largest school districts attracted an average of 2.56 candidates per seat up for election. This was higher than the average 2.17 candidates who ran per seat in the state's 2014 school board elections. In addition to having more candidates compete for each seat, the 2015 election saw a smaller percentage of unopposed seats. A total of 6.25 percent of the seats on the ballot in 2015 were unopposed, compared to the 22.22 percent that were unopposed in 2014.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

A total of 83.33 percent of the incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 retained their seats. Twelve of the 16 incumbents whose terms were on the ballot ran to keep their seats, and 10 of them won. One of those winners was unopposed; the other nine winners defeated challengers to win additional terms.

In 2014, 69.23 percent of incumbents who ran to retain their seats won re-election. A total of 91 out of the 126 incumbents whose terms were on the ballot ran to keep their seats, and 63 of them won. Nineteen of those winners ran unopposed; the other 54 defeated challengers to win their re-election bids.

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.

The map above details the success rates of incumbent who ran to retain their school board seats in the largest school districts in each state. States depicted in gray did not hold school board elections.

Data table

North Carolina school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	126	16
Candidates	273	41
Candidates/seat	2.17	2.56
Unopposed seats	28	1
% unopposed	22.22%	6.25%
% seats won by newcomers	50.00%	37.50%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	91	12
Unopposed	19	1
Retained	63	10
% retained	69.23%	83.33%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in North Carolina

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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. Students in North Carolina generally scored higher than those in South Carolina and Tennessee, but lower than those in Virginia. The best scores in the state were earned by fourth graders in math, with 45 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
North Carolina	45%	36%	35%	33%
South Carolina	35%	31%	28%	29%
Tennessee	40%	28%	34%	33%
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
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 and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

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

North Carolina schools reported a graduation rate of 82.5 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second lowest among its neighboring states.

In North Carolina, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 18.7.

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
North Carolina	82.5%	Third	18.7	100%	1479	62%
South Carolina	77.6%	Fourth	20.4	51%	1436	64%
Tennessee	86.3%	Second	19.5	100%	1709	8%
Virginia	84.5%	Third	22.6	26%	1528	71%
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 North Carolina was higher than the national average at 3.9 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and lower than the national average at 3.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for North Carolina
	North Carolina	U.S.
Total population:	10,035,186	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	48,618	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.5%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.5%	12.6%
Asian:	2.5%	5.1%
Native American:	1.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.8%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	28.4%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$46,868	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	20.5%	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 North Carolina. **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 North Carolina

North Carolina voted Republican in six out of the 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, six are located in North Carolina, accounting for 2.91 percent of the total pivot counties.

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. North Carolina had six Retained Pivot Counties, 3.31 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More North Carolina coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in North Carolina
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• Public policy in North Carolina
• Endorsers in North Carolina
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• More...

See also

North Carolina	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in North Carolina List of school districts in North Carolina	School board elections, 2016 North Carolina school board elections, 2015 North Carolina 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