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Orange County Public Schools elections (2014)

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2014 Orange County Public Schools Elections
General Election date:
August 26, 2014
Runoff Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district
Method of election
Elections
What was at stake?
Key deadlines
Additional elections
External links
See also
Florida
Orange County Public Schools
Orange County, Florida ballot measures
Local ballot measures, Florida
Flag of Florida.png

Four seats on the Orange County School Board were up for general election on August 26, 2014. The general election determined if candidates for each seat could garner a majority of the vote total. Since no candidate received 50 percent plus one in the District 3 contest, the top to vote recipients advanced to the runoff election on November 4, 2014.

Incumbents Joie Cadle and Daryl Flynn each faced a single challenger in their re-election bids for Districts 1 and 2, respectively. Both won re-election, defeating candidates Joshua A. Katz and Phil Stump, respectively. Chadwick Hardee, Regina Hellinger, Linda Kobert and Julio Rocha were running to replace District 3 member Rick Roach, who did not file for re-election. None of them received 50 percent of the votes in the general election. After finishing first and second in the general election, Linda Kobert and Regina Hellinger advanced to the runoff election on November 4, 2014.[1]

Board chair Bill Sublette did not face a challenger on August 26, 2014, but Gene Vernon Hair qualified as a write-in candidate for the November 4, 2014, election.

A 2013 board decision regarding the dissemination of religious materials by outside Christian and non-Christian groups rose again as a topic of concern in the district following a rumor that a Satanic group was seeking to distribute an activity book to students.

See also: What was at stake in the Orange County School Board 2014 election?

About the district

See also: Orange County Public Schools, Florida
Orange County Public Schools is located in Orange County, Florida

Orange County Public Schools is based in Orlando, the county seat of Orange County, Florida. Orange County is home to 1,225,267 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.[2] During the 2011-2012 school year, Orange County Public Schools was the fourth-largest school district in Florida and served 180,000 students.[3]

Demographics

Orange County outperformed the rest of Florida in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.7 percent of Orange County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 26.2 percent for Florida as a whole. The median household income in Orange County was $48,429 compared to $47,309 for the state of Florida. The poverty rate in Orange County was 16.3 percent compared to 15.6 percent for the entire state.[2]

Racial Demographics, 2012[2]
Race Orange County (%) Florida (%)
White 69.8 78.3
Black or African American 21.8 16.6
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6 0.5
Asian 5.3 2.7
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.2 0.1
Two or More Races 2.4 1.9
Hispanic or Latino 28.2 23.2

Party registration, 2014[4]
Party Number of registered voters
Democratic 300,282
Republican 204,164
Unaffiliated 164,454
Other 43,597
Total 712,497

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.

Voter and candidate information

The Orange County School Board consists of eight members elected to four-year terms. Seven members are elected to specific geographic districts and the eighth member serves the entire county as board chair. There was a general election on August 26, 2014, and the runoff election took place on November 4, 2014, if no candidate received 50 percent or more of the general election vote.

Candidates for the school board filed for the election by June 20, 2014. The county's elections office hosted early voting for the general election at various locations from August 16, 2014, to August 23, 2014. The early voting window for the runoff election ran from October 25, 2014, to November 1, 2014. The last day to request a mailed absentee ballot in the general election was August 20, 2014, and the runoff election deadline was October 29, 2014.

Elections

2014

Candidates

Chair

District 1

District 2

District 3

Candidates defeated in the general election:

District map

Orange County Public Schools map.jpg

Election results

Runoff: Chair
Orange County School District, Board Chair Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngBill Sublette Incumbent 96% 218,460
     Nonpartisan Gene Vernon Hair (write-in) 4% 9,027
Total Votes 227,487
Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 22, 2014
Runoff: District 3
Orange County School District, District 3 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngLinda Kobert 53.3% 18,753
     Nonpartisan Regina Hellinger 46.7% 16,450
Total Votes 35,203
Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 General Election Results," accessed December 22, 2014
General: Chair

Bill Sublette did not face any general election challengers. However, Gene Vernon Hair qualified as a write-in candidate in the runoff election.

General: District 1
Orange County School District, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngJoie Cadle Incumbent 50.2% 7,411
     Nonpartisan Joshua A. Katz 49.8% 7,344
Total Votes 14,755
Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Official Results," September 2, 2014
General: District 2
Orange County School District, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngDaryl Flynn Incumbent 63.6% 8,900
     Nonpartisan Phil Stump 36.4% 5,096
Total Votes 13,996
Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Official Results," September 2, 2014
General: District 3
Orange County School District, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngLinda Kobert 44.2% 6,281
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngRegina Hellinger 26.3% 3,743
     Nonpartisan Chadwick Hardee 17.2% 2,449
     Nonpartisan Julio Rocha 12.3% 1,751
Total Votes 14,224
Source: Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Official Results," September 2, 2014

Endorsements

The Orange Classroom Teachers Association endorsed Joshua A. Katz and Linda Kobert in the general election.[5][6] BusinessForce endorsed Bill Sublette, Joie Cadle, Daryl Flynn and Linda Kobert.[7]

Campaign finance

Candidates received a total of $213,620.24 and spent a total of $152,879.12 as of October 28, 2014, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections.[8]

Chair

In the board chair race, candidates raised a total of $29,400.00 and spent a total of $5,102.89.

Candidate Monetary
contributions 		Expenditures Cash on hand
Bill Sublette $29,400.00 $5,102.89 $24,297.11
Gene Vernon Hair $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
District 1

In the District 1 race, candidates raised a total of $44,489.00 and spent a total of $44,489.00.

Candidate Monetary
contributions 		Expenditures Cash on hand
Joie Cadle $25,464.00 $25,464.00 $0.00
Joshua A. Katz $19,025.00 $19,025.00 $0.00
District 2

In the District 2 race, candidates raised a total of $48,190.38 and spent a total of $27,291.91.

Candidate Monetary
contributions 		Expenditures Cash on hand
Daryl Flynn $41,679.00 $21,247.13 $20,431.87
Phil Stump $6,511.38 $6,044.78 $466.60
District 3

In the District 3 race, candidates raised a total of $91,540.86 and spent a total of $75,995.32.

Candidate Monetary
contributions 		Expenditures Cash on hand
Chadwick Hardee $8,545.73 $8,545.73 $0.00
Regina Hellinger $22,125.00 $18,308.08 $3,816.92
Linda Kobert $41,989.18 $32,190.33 $9,798.85
Julio Rocha $18,880.95 $16,951.18 $1,929.77

Past elections

What was at stake?

The Orange County School Board was guaranteed at least two returning incumbents and one new member following the general election on August 26, 2014. Incumbents in Districts 1 and 2, Joie Cadle and Daryl Flynn, both won re-election in the general election. The fate of the third incumbent running for re-election was determined in the November 4, 2014, election, where board chair Bill Sublette faced write-in candidate Gene Vernon Hair. Only newcomers sought the District 3 seat.

Issues in the district

Religious materials

In 2013, a Christian group received permission to distribute Bibles and religious materials to students in the district. The school board decided that non-Christian groups could also be allowed to distribute materials to students.[10] While the decision at the time gave rise to controversy due to board censorship of the material that a non-Christian group sought to provide, the issue arose again in 2014 when it was rumored that a Satanist group was planning to hand out a book called The Satanic Children's Big Book of Activities. Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for the Satanic Temple, said that the group did not approve of the precedent of disseminating religious texts in schools, but, "if a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students—as is the case in Orange County, Florida—we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth."[11]

Although the group had not yet approached the board to ask permission to distribute the book, the rumor generated intrigue in the district. School board members Bill Sublette and Kat Gordon received over 8,000 emails from people urging the board to ban the distribution of the materials. Sublette favored ending the distribution of all religious materials by outside groups following the public outcry.[12]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the school board election in 2014:[13]

Deadline Event
June 20, 2014 Last day of candidate filing period
August 16, 2014 First day of early voting in general election
August 20, 2014 Last day to request mailed absentee ballot for general election
August 23, 2014 Last day of early voting in general election
August 26, 2014 General election day
October 25, 2014 First day of early voting in runoff election
October 29, 2014 Last day to request mailed absentee ballot for runoff election
November 1, 2014 Last day of early voting in runoff election
November 4, 2014 Runoff election day

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Florida elections, 2014

Area residents voted on county and statewide races on November 4, 2014. Residents of Orange County voted on races for the county commission and county mayor seats. Voters decided on a statewide ballot measure to amend the state constitution to allow the use of medical marijuana. The November 4, 2014, ballot included races for state legislature, state executive and U.S. House seats.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Orange + County + Schools + Florida"

Orange County Public Schools News Feed

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Unofficial Results," accessed August 26, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United States Census Bureau, "Orange County, Florida," accessed July 7, 2014
  3. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed July 7, 2014
  4. ↑ Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "June 2014 Month End Statistics," accessed July 7, 2014
  5. ↑ Vote Linda Kobert, "Endorsements," accessed July 25, 2014
  6. ↑ Joshua Katz for School Board, "Endorsement from Orange Classroom Teachers Association," accessed July 25, 2014
  7. ↑ BusinessForce, "2014 BusinessForce Endorsed Candidates," accessed October 28, 2014
  8. ↑ Orange County Supervisor of Elections, "County Candidates," accessed July 25, 2014
  9. ↑ Orlando Sentinel, "Schools race is on only in districts 2, 3," August 20, 2006
  10. ↑ Patheos, "Thanks to Christians Wanting to Distribute Bibles, Orange County (FL) Schools Will Soon Give Away Satanist Literature," September 15, 2014
  11. ↑ Artnet News, "Satanic Coloring Books Distributed at Florida Public Schools," September 17, 2014
  12. ↑ Artnet News, "Florida Isn't Passing Out Satanic Coloring Books—Yet," October 7, 2014
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named calendar
2014 Orange County Public Schools Elections
Orange County, Florida
Election date:August 26, 2014
Candidates:Chair: • Bill Sublette • Gene Vernon Hair

District 1: • Joie Cadle • Joshua A. Katz
District 2: • Daryl Flynn • Phil Stump

District 3: • Chadwick Hardee • Regina Hellinger • Linda Kobert • Julio Rocha
Important information:What as at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot
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