Oregon school board elections, 2017

Elections

A total of 14 Oregon school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2017 for 52 seats. All of the elections were scheduled on May 16, 2017.

Here are several quick facts about Oregon's school board elections in 2017:

• The largest Oregon school district by enrollment with an election in 2017 was Portland Public Schools with 47,806 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.
• The smallest Oregon school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2017 was Greater Albany Public Schools with 9,409 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.

The districts listed below served 282,767 K-12 students during the 2014-2015 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each one and its school board elections.

2017 Oregon School Board Elections
District	Primary Election	General Election	Runoff Election	Regular term length	Seats up for election	Total board seats	2014-15 enrollment
Hillsboro School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	21,027
Greater Albany Public Schools	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	5	9,409
Beaverton School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	5	7	39,941
Bend-La Pine Schools	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	17,123
David Douglas School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	11,039
Eugene School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	7	17,017
Gresham-Barlow School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	12,191
Medford School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	13,756
North Clackamas School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	7	17,192
Portland Public Schools	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	7	47,806
Reynolds School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	5	7	11,750
Salem-Keizer Public Schools	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	4	7	40,804
Springfield School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	5	11,020
Tigard-Tualatin School District	N/A	5/16/2017	N/A	4	3	5	12,692

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Oregon

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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 three neighboring states, students in Oregon scored below those in Washington, about on par with those in Idaho, and above those in California. The best scores in the state were earned by fourth graders in math, with 40 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
Oregon	40%	34%	33%	37%
California	33%	28%	27%	29%
Idaho	40%	36%	33%	38%
Washington	48%	42%	40%	42%
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 Oregon 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.

Oregon schools reported a graduation rate of 68.7 percent, second lowest in the country in 2013.

In Oregon, more students took the SAT than the ACT, earning an average SAT score of 1539.

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
Oregon	68.7%	Fifth	21.5	34%	1539	49%
California	80.4%	Third	22.2	26%	1505	57%
Idaho	N/A	N/A	22.1	49%	1364	99%
Washington	76.4%	Fourth	22.8	21%	1537	60%
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 Oregon was lower than the national average at 3.2 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout rate was higher than the national average at 3.4 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Oregon
	Oregon	U.S.
Total population:	4,024,634	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	95,988	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	85.1%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.8%	12.6%
Asian:	4%	5.1%
Native American:	1.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more:	4.1%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	12.3%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	30.8%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$51,243	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	18.4%	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 Oregon. **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 Oregon

Oregon voted for the Democratic candidate in all 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, two are located in Oregon, accounting for 0.97 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. Oregon had two Retained Pivot Counties, 1.10 of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Oregon coverage on Ballotpedia

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

See also

Oregon	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Oregon List of school districts in Oregon	School board elections, 2017 Oregon school board elections, 2016 Oregon school board elections, 2015 Oregon school board elections, 2014	School boards in session: 2015 in brief School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Footnotes

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