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Pocola Public Schools, Oklahoma, elections

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Pocola Public Schools
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District details
School board members: 5
Students: 747 (2022-2023)
Schools: 3 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

Pocola Public Schools is a school district in Oklahoma (Le Flore County). During the 2023 school year, 747 students attended one of the district's three schools.

This page provides information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more details about the district.

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Elections School board Location Budget Academic performance Students Staff Schools

Elections

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Pocola Public Schools school board Office 5

General election

General election for Pocola Public Schools school board Office 5

Gaylon E. Freeman and Ronnie Joe Piovesan ran in the general election for Pocola Public Schools school board Office 5 on April 1, 2025.

Candidate
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Gaylon E. Freeman (Nonpartisan)
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Ronnie Joe Piovesan (Nonpartisan)

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Pocola Public Schools school board Office 3

General election

General election for Pocola Public Schools school board Office 3

Roger Lairamore and Josh Merritt ran in the general election for Pocola Public Schools school board Office 3 on April 4, 2023.

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Roger Lairamore (Nonpartisan)
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Josh Merritt (Nonpartisan)

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Election rules

 

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board nonpartisan primary elections in Oklahoma are held on the second Tuesday in February every year. School board primary elections are only held if more than two candidates run for a school board member seat. If two candidates run, the primary is canceled and both candidates advance to the general election.

School board general elections in Oklahoma are held on the first Tuesday in April every year.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

Recent or upcoming election dates for all public school districts in the state

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all public school districts in the state. There may be exceptions to these dates for specific districts because of local charters and district-specific exceptions and carve-outs.

  • Filing deadline date: December 3, 2025
  • Primary election date: February 10, 2026
  • General election date: April 7, 2026

Election system

School board members in Oklahoma are elected through a system of a nonpartisan primary election and a nonpartisan general election. The primary election is only held if a large enough number of candidates run for office.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Oklahoma are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

Winning an election

The top two school board candidates with the most votes in the nonpartisan primary advance to the general election as long as none of them receives more than 50% of the vote. If only two candidates file for the primary election, they automatically advance to the general election. If there are three or more candidates on the ballot for the primary election and one receives more than 50% of the vote, that candidate wins the election outright and is elected to office, and the general election is canceled.

The school board candidate with the most votes in the general election is elected to office. In Oklahoma, school board candidates can be elected outright in the nonpartisan primary election.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

Term length and staggering

School districts with three board members have three-year board member terms. School districts with five members have five-year board member terms. School districts with seven members have four-year board member terms. Elementary school district board members have three-year terms. Independent school districts (which serve grades K-12) have school boards with five-year terms or four-year terms, depending on how many school board members they have. Districts with average student attendance of more than 30,000 can opt to elect a chair of the board in addition to other school board members. The chair must be elected at large to four-year terms. As of 2022, Oklahoma City Schools was the only district that had opted to have an additional elected chair of the school board.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure


Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School districts either elect all regular school board members at large, or they elect all regular school board members from residence areas (sub-districts) with one board member elected by the voters of each sub-district. Elementary school districts must elect school board members at large. Any school district with an average daily student attendance of fewer than 1,800 students may choose to elect school board members at large instead of from sub-districts. Other school districts must elect school board members by sub-districts. Independent school districts that contain a city and for which less than 20% of the population of the school district resides outside of the city's limits may use the city's ward boundaries instead of drawing its own sub-district boundaries. Board members elected from sub-districts must reside within that sub-district when elected and for the duration of their terms. School districts with average student attendance of more than 30,000 can opt to elect a chair of the school board at large, which means that if other board members are elected by sub-district, that district would use a combination of elections at large and elections by sub-district elections.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

The deadline for candidates to file for regular school board elections is the Wednesday following the first Monday in December in the year before the February primary election. Candidates must submit their filing by 5:00 pm on the day of the filing deadline.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §26-13A-110

Newly elected school board members officially take office at the first school board meeting taking place after the results of the election have been certified.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Oklahoma Statute §70-5-107A. Boards of education of school districts - Membership - Election procedure

 


About the district

School board

Pocola Public Schools consists of five members serving five-year terms. To find information about school board meetings, click here.

List of school board members
NameSeatYear assumed officeYear term ends
Lauren ChristensenOffice 2
Terry SmithOffice 4
Roger LairamoreOffice 52028
Alan AlexanderOffice 32025
Josh MerrittOffice 12024

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District map

School district map

Overlapping state house districts

Pocola Public Schools
Office NameCurrent OfficeholderParty% School District Covered% Other District Covered
Oklahoma House of Representatives District 3Rick WestRepublican Party 100% 5%

The table was limited to the lower chamber because it provides the most granularity. State house districts tend to be more numerous and therefore smaller than state senate or U.S. House districts. This provides an impression of the partisan affiliations in the area.

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[1]

Revenue, 2020-2021
SOURCE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Federal: $1,055,000 $1,480 16%
Local: $1,358,000 $1,905 20%
State: $4,247,000 $5,957 64%
Total: $6,660,000 $9,341
Expenditures, 2020-2021
TYPE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Total Expenditures: $6,458,000 $9,057
Total Current Expenditures: $6,193,000 $8,685
Instructional Expenditures: $3,533,000 $4,955 55%
Student and Staff Support: $519,000 $727 8%
Administration: $956,000 $1,340 15%
Operations, Food Service, Other: $1,185,000 $1,661 18%
Total Capital Outlay: $81,000 $113
Construction: $22,000 $30
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other: $0 $0
Interest on Debt: $0 $0

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements. To protect student privacy, percentages are reported as ranges for groups of 300 students or fewer. If five or fewer students were included in a data set, the data will display as "PS."[2]

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 15 PS PS <50 <=10 11-19 10-14
2018-2019 27 PS <50 <50 15-19 30-39 30-34
2017-2018 19 PS PS <50 25-29 20-29 15-19
2016-2017 28 PS PS <50 30-34 30-39 25-29
2015-2016 62 PS PS >=50 60-64 65-69 60-64
2014-2015 61 PS <50 >=50 60-64 70-79 60-64
2013-2014 57 PS <50 40-59 50-54 55-59 60-64
2012-2013 63 PS >=50 >=50 55-59 80-89 60-64
2011-2012 50 PS >=50 40-59 35-39 50-59 50-54
2010-2011 47 PS <50 21-39 35-39 52

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 23 PS PS <50 20-29 20-29 20-24
2018-2019 29 PS <50 <50 25-29 30-39 25-29
2017-2018 29 PS PS <50 30-34 30-39 25-29
2016-2017 36 PS PS >=50 45-49 30-39 30-34
2015-2016 73 PS PS >=50 75-79 75-79 70-74
2014-2015 77 PS >=50 >=50 80-84 80-89 75-79
2013-2014 64 PS >=50 <50 60-64 75-79 60-64
2012-2013 68 PS >=50 60-79 70-74 70-79 65-69
2011-2012 62 PS >=50 40-59 60-64 75-79 55-59
2010-2011 61 >=50 40-59 65-69 60-64

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2019-2020 70-74 >=50 PS 60-79 >=50 70-79
2018-2019 85-89 PS >=50 >=50 80-89
2017-2018 80-89 PS PS >=50 >=50 80-89
2016-2017 70-79 PS PS >=50 PS 70-79
2015-2016 70-74 PS >=50 >=50 70-79
2014-2015 70-79 PS PS >=80 >=50 60-79
2013-2014 80-89 PS PS >=50 >=50 >=80
2012-2013 80-89 PS >=80 PS >=80

Students

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[3]

Year Enrollment Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023 747 0.5
2021-2022 743 4.0
2020-2021 713 -8.6
2019-2020 774 -3.5
2018-2019 801 -8.7
2017-2018 871 2.0
2016-2017 854 1.8
2015-2016 839 3.0
2014-2015 814 -4.2
2013-2014 848 3.7
2012-2013 817 -3.4
2011-2012 845 -0.6
2010-2011 850 -0.4
2009-2010 853 -0.8
2008-2009 860 -2.9
2007-2008 885 -0.1
2006-2007 886 3.0
2005-2006 859 -0.7
2004-2005 865 -2.4
2003-2004 886 0.9
2002-2003 878 4.4
2001-2002 839 -1.1
2000-2001 848 1.7
1999-2000 834 0.0
Racial Demographics, 2022-2023
RACE Pocola Public Schools (%) Oklahoma K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native 13.7 11.2
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 0.8 2.3
Black 1.2 7.9
Hispanic 4.6 19.8
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.0 0.4
Two or More Races 16.5 12.9
White 63.3 45.5

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.

Staff

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[4]

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Pocola Public Schools had 46.08 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 16.21.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten: 1.00
Kindergarten: 3.00
Elementary: 18.79
Secondary: 23.29
Total: 46.08

Pocola Public Schools employed 1.00 district administrators and 3.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators: 1.00
District Administrative Support: 6.59
School Administrators: 3.00
School Administrative Support: 4.20
Other staff, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides: 8.00
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors: 0.00
Total Guidance Counselors: 2.00
Elementary Guidance Counselors: 1.00
Secondary Guidance Counselors: 1.00
Librarians/Media Specialists: 1.00
Library/Media Support: 2.00
Student Support Services: 2.44
Other Support Services: 6.84

Schools

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[5]

Pocola Public Schools operates three schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.
List of schools
SCHOOL NAMENUMBER OF STUDENTSGRADES
Pocola Es385PK-5
Pocola Hs2079-12
Pocola Ms1556-8

About school boards

Education legislation in Oklahoma

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

School Boards Education Policy Local Politics Oklahoma
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External links

  • Office website
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    • Footnotes

    1. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
    2. ↑ U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC: EDFacts, "State Assessments in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics- School Year 2018-19 EDFacts Data Documentation," accessed February 25, 2021
    3. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
    4. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
    5. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
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