Oklahoma school board elections see low turnout, most uncontested
February 12, 2014
By Alex Schaffer
Competitive school board elections took place on February 11, 2014 in four Oklahoma school districts. The elections scheduled to take place in nine other Oklahoma districts were canceled due to each of the candidates running unopposed in those races. No candidates filed for the District 4 seat on Union Public Schools board, which will allow the remaining board members to appoint the new member themselves. Challengers were successful in two of the three contested races that featured incumbent board members, with only Ron Millican in Oklahoma City successfully earning re-election. Low turnout was a common theme in these February elections. Tulsa Public Schools attracted the most voters with 818 ballots cast in the District 7 race, while Oklahoma City Public Schools had only 304 votes cast in its election.
Oklahoma City Public Schools, still in the midst of administrative upheaval, saw incumbent Ron Millican re-elected with over 70 percent of the vote. Fellow Oklahoma City incumbent Ruth Veales also earned a new term by virtue of being unopposed.[1] Newcomer Cynthia Benson defeated incumbent Edmond Public Schools board member Stephanie Bills. Lawton Public Schools will have a new school board member after Lori Bridges defeated fellow newcomer Bob Brown by fewer than 100 votes.[2] Cheryl Kelly, James F. Howell, Brent England, Staci L. Pruett, Tammy West, Ron B. Barber, Chad Vice and Ruth Veales were all elected in uncontested races that did not appear on the ballot.
Spotlight: Tulsa Public Schools
Tulsa Public Schools was the only district that held competitive elections for multiple seats. The district is closely monitoring its current overcrowding issue with a program known as Project Schoolhouse, which has been in place since the district closed 14 schools during the 2010-2011 school year. In the District 4 race, Shawna Keller will face incumbent Bobbie Gray-Elliott in an April 1, 2014 runoff election since neither candidate received at least 50 percent of votes. Keller came closest to the mark, earning 49.1 percent of the vote, while Gray-Elliott earned 35 percent and William D. Bickerstaff earned 15 percent of the vote. In the District 7 race, Suzanne Schreiber defeated fellow University of Tulsa graduate Gene Beach by a wide margin. Schreiber earned over 75 percent of the total votes cast in the election.[3][4]
Candidates
Note: An (i) next to a candidate's name indicates incumbent status.
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Broken Arrow Public Schools Oklahoma City Public Schools District 7 Union Public Schools |
Edmond Public Schools Moore Public Schools Owasso Public Schools |
Jenks Public Schools Mustang Public Schools Office 4 Putnam City Schools |
Lawton Public Schools Norman Public Schools Tulsa Public Schools Note: Shawna Keller defeated Bobbie Gray-Elliott in the run-off election on April 1, 2014. District 7 |
See also
- 2014 school board elections start quietly in Oklahoma
- School board elections, 2014
- Oklahoma school board elections, 2014
- Oklahoma elections, 2014
Footnotes
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "All Races by County Annual School Election — February 11, 2014," accessed February 12, 2014
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "All Races by County Annual School Election — February 11, 2014," accessed February 12, 2014
- ↑ Tulsa World, "TPS board elections: Schreiber wins District 7; runoff in District 4," February 11, 2014
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "All Races by County Annual School Election — February 11, 2014," accessed February 12, 2014
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