Robertson County Schools elections (2016)
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Four of the six seats on the Robertson County Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016.[1] In his bid for re-election in District 3, incumbent Jeff White ran unopposed and won. Bobby Jones, William Harrison III, and Scott Rice ran for the District 4 seat, which was left open when board member Jerry Converse decided not to file for re-election. Rice was elected to the seat. The District 5 race featured incumbent Lyle Payne and challenger Tommy Mason. Mason defeated Payne to win the seat. District 6 incumbent Connie Hogan defeated challenger Carolyn Woodard to win another term.[2] Paula Farmer originally filed to run for that seat as well, but she withdrew from the race.[3][4][5]
With a smaller percentage of unopposed seats and a higher average number of candidates running per seat, this race had a more competitive atmosphere than the district's 2012 and 2014 elections. To find out how this race compared to past elections in both the district and the state, check out the "Election trends" section below.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Robertson County Board of Education consists of six members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every August of even-numbered years. The District 1 and 2 seats were up for election on August 7, 2014, and the District 3, 4, 5, and 6 seats were up for general election on August 4, 2016. There was no primary election.[6][7]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file their qualifying documents by April 7, 2016. The deadline to withdraw from the election was April 14, 2016.[1]
To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by July 5, 2016.[1] Photo identification was required to vote in this election.[8]
Candidates and results
District 3
Results
| Robertson County Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jeff White Incumbent (unopposed) |
99.26% | 801 |
| Write-in votes | 0.74% | 6 |
| Total Votes | 807 | |
| Source: Robertson County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed November 28, 2016 | ||
Candidates
Jeff White 
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District 4
Results
| Robertson County Schools, District 4 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Scott Rice |
48.26% | 471 |
| William Harrison III | 27.46% | 268 |
| Bobby Jones | 24.08% | 235 |
| Write-in votes | 0.2% | 2 |
| Total Votes | 976 | |
| Source: Robertson County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed November 28, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Bobby Jones | William Harrison III | Scott Rice
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District 5
Results
| Robertson County Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Tommy Mason |
59.62% | 651 |
| Lyle Payne Incumbent | 40.20% | 439 |
| Write-in votes | 0.18% | 2 |
| Total Votes | 1,092 | |
| Source: Robertson County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed November 28, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Lyle Payne | Tommy Mason
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District 6
Results
| Robertson County Schools, District 6 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Connie Hogan Incumbent |
57.80% | 489 |
| Carolyn Woodard | 42.08% | 356 |
| Write-in votes | 0.12% | 1 |
| Total Votes | 846 | |
| Source: Robertson County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report," accessed November 28, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Connie Hogan
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Carolyn Woodard | ||
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Tennessee elections, 2016
The Robertson County Schools election shared the ballot with primary elections for the 6th Congressional District on the U.S. House of Representatives and the District 66 seat on the Tennessee State House of Representatives. It also shared the ballot with general elections for the Parts III and IV seats on the 19th Circuit Court, the Robertson County Assessor of Property, the Districts 1 through 12 seats on the Robertson County Highway Commission, and city offices in Greenbrier.[9]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Tennessee school board elections in 2016:[1]
| Deadline | Event |
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| April 7, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 11, 2016 | 1st quarter campaign finance report due |
| April 14, 2016 | Candidate withdrawal deadline |
| July 5, 2016 | Voter registration deadline |
| July 11, 2016 | 2nd quarter campaign finance report due |
| July 15, 2016 - July 30, 2016 | Early voting period |
| July 28, 2016 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| August 4, 2016 | Election day |
| October 11, 2016 | 3rd quarter campaign finance report due |
| January 25, 2017 | 4th quarter campaign finance report due |
Endorsements
No candidates received official endorsements in the election.
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
Every candidate in this race filed financial disclosure statement exemptions detailing they would not raise or spend more than $1,000 on their campaigns. Because of this, they did not have to file any additional campaign finance statements.[10]
The pre-general campaign financial disclosure report for this election was due July 28, 2016. Candidates were also required to file quarterly reports for the 2016 election year. Those reports were due on April 11, 2016; July 11, 2016; October 11, 2016; and January 25, 2017.[1]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2014District 1
District 2
2012Districts 3 and 4District 3 and District 4 incumbents Jeff White and Jerry Converse ran unopposed and won re-election to their seats by default without an election.[11] District 5
District 6
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What was at stake?
2016
Election trends
- See also: School board elections, 2014
The 2016 election for the Robertson County Schools Board of Education had a lower percentage of unopposed seats compared to past elections in the district and the state. It also attracted an equal or higher average number of candidates per seat. Eight candidates ran for four seats in the district's 2016 election, equaling an average of two candidates per seat. In 2014, the district attracted an average of 1.5 candidates per seat, and in 2012, the district again saw an average of two candidates run per seat. Overall in 2014, Tennessee's largest school districts attracted an average of 1.94 candidates per seat.
One of the four seats on the district's ballot in 2016 was unopposed. In the district's 2012 and 2014 races, half of the seats on the ballot were unopposed. Statewide in 2014, 36.78 percent of the school board seats up for election saw no opposition.
One incumbent was guaranteed to keep his seat, and one newcomer was guaranteed to be elected to the board in the district's 2016 race. The other two seats split the difference with one incumbent defeating a challenger to win re-election and one newcomer defeating an incumbent to win a seat on the board. If both incumbents had defeated their challengers, the 2016 race would have matched the district's 2014 race where 100 percent of the incumbents who ran won re-election. Instead, the 2016 race saw an incumbent success rate of 66.67 percent. The district's 2012 race saw 50 percent of the incumbents who ran win additional terms. Overall in 2014, 75.41 percent of incumbents retained their seats statewide.
No newcomers were elected to the Robertson County Board of Education in 2014, but two won election in 2012, defeating incumbents to take 50 percent of the seats on the ballot that year. Statewide in 2014, 45.98 percent of the seats on the ballot were taken by newcomers.
Issues in the district
Testing suspended in wake of state terminating TNReady contract
After the Tennessee Department of Education terminated the contract with the provider of the state's new TNReady test assessments on April 27, 2016, Robertson County Schools halted its assessments for students in grades three through eight. Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said the contract was terminated with North Carolina-based Measurement Inc. after it failed to deliver all of the testing materials.[12][13]
McQueen called Measurement Inc.'s performance "deeply disappointing" after months of delivery delays and a failure to rollout the assessment online in February 2016. "We’ve exhausted every option in problem solving with this vendor to assist them in getting these tests delivered. Districts have exceeded their responsibility and obligation to wait for grade 3-8 materials, and we will not ask districts to continue waiting on a vendor that has repeatedly failed us," said McQueen.[14]
Measurement Inc. President Henry Scherich said the contract termination was a disappointment. "It has been a very difficult job, and we were within a couple days or so of having all the tests in the state," said Scherich.[13]
Scherich said that the company had been put in a "difficult, and even impossible, situation" after they were required to switch to a paper test in response to the failed online assessment, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee. McQueen said the state's contract had included provisions for paper tests in the case of technical difficulties.[14] The state first contracted with Measurement Inc. in 2014 in response to displeasure with the Common Core standards. As of the termination, the state had paid $1.6 million toward the $108 million contract.[13]
The state decided to continue testing high school students, as those materials had been received, but it suspended the tests for younger students. School districts that received the needed materials for testing younger grades were allowed to choose between continuing the assessments or suspending them.[12][14]
Due to the suspension, accountability measures related to test scores, such as teacher evaluations, were also delayed for one year. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said that despite the delay, the state was still moving forward.[14]
| “ | The failure of the testing vendor to deliver the tests and meet its own obligations does not take away from the fact that Tennessee has created our own, higher standards, we have an improved assessment fully aligned with those standards, and we remain committed going forward to measuring student performance fairly and ensuring accountability for those results.[15] | ” |
| —Gov. Bill Haslam (R)[14] | ||
Issues in the state
Transgender bathroom bill withdrawn
State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57) proposed legislation in January 2016 that would require public school students in kindergarten through college to use the bathroom and locker room that corresponded with the sex listed on their birth certificates. Four months later, she withdrew the bill. "I am still absolutely 100 percent in support of maintaining the privacy of all students. But I'm going to roll the bill over until next year so we can work on those issues," Lynn said.[16][17]
House Bill 2414 drew criticism from local media and some companies threatened to withhold business from the state if the bill were passed. Lynn said that was not why she withdrew the bill; instead, she put it on hold in order to further study the issue. She said school districts in Tennessee were "largely following what the bill says."[16][18]
While HB 2414 was still in committee, Gov. Bill Haslam (R) expressed concern about the bill. “I’m hearing that our school boards have figured out how to adjust to each situation that arises, and to date, I’m not hearing parents say we have [a] problem in our schools today,” said Haslam.[19]
State Reps. Mike Stewart (D-52) and Harry Brooks (R-19) asked for an opinion on the issue from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R). Slatery responded by warning that the state could lose federal Title IX funding if the bill were passed.[20]
| “ | As things currently stand, we must, as a practical matter, assume that H.B. 2414 would violate Title IX, because the enforcer of Title IX has clearly interpreted — and enforced — Title IX to prohibit as 'discriminatory on the basis of sex' what H.B. 2414 is designed to accomplish.[15] | ” |
| —Attorney General Herbert Slatery (April 2016)[20] | ||
Stewart said Slatery's opinion was the "final nail in the coffin" for the bill. He and State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-55) said the bill could also hinder the state's goal of creating a business-friendly climate.[20] Executives of dozens of companies had signed a letter to state lawmakers asking them to reject the bill on the grounds that it was discriminatory.[21]
David Fowler, former state senator and president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, objected to Slatery's opinion. He said the attorney general had used settlement agreements rather than court decisions to warn the state legislature away from passing the bill. "Settlement agreements have no persuasive value as a matter of law, unlike the court decisions that have actually ruled in favor of sex-designated bathrooms," Fowler said.[20]
After the bill was withdrawn, Fowler issued a statement:
| “ | But we join the thousands of parents across the state who are profoundly disappointed that at this point in the process Rep. Lynn has decided not to proceed with a bill that would have simply protected the privacy of the children they have entrusted to our public schools.[15] | ” |
| —David Fowler (April 2016)[16] | ||
In addition to receiving support from the Family Action Council of Tennessee, the bill was backed by approximately 30 pastors from the Tennessee Pastors Network. At least 67,000 state citizens opposed the bill, as two transgender high school students turned in that many signatures to the governor's office. They were joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the Tennessee Equality Project, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and the Human Rights Campaign.[16]
Candidate survey
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About the district
- See also: Robertson County Schools, Tennessee
The Robertson County school district is located in Robertson County in north-central Tennessee. The county seat is Springfield. Robertson County was home to 68,570 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[22] The district was the 14th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 11,423 students.[23]
Demographics
Robertson County underperformed compared to Tennessee as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 16.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 24.4 percent of state residents. The median household income for Robertson County was $53,748, compared to $44,621 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 13.4 percent, while it was 18.3 percent statewide.[22]
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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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Robertson County Schools' 'Tennessee'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Robertson County Schools | Tennessee | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Calendar 2016," accessed March 31, 2016 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "calendar" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Tennesseean, "3 Robertson County School Board seats contested," April 7, 2016
- ↑ The Tennesseean, "Robertson County races impacted by candidate withdrawals," April 19, 2016
- ↑ The Tennesseean, "Robertson County election results," August 4, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Cathy Hamsley, Administrator of Robertson County Elections," August 5, 2016
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Robertson County election results," August 7, 2014
- ↑ Robertson County Schools, "Board of Education: Members," accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "What ID is required when voting?" accessed March 31, 2016
- ↑ Robertson County Election Commission, "2016 Robertson County Election Calendar," accessed April 14, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Cathy W. Hamsley, Administrator of Robertson County Elections," August 1, 2016
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Incumbents lose in Robertson school board's district contests," August 3, 2012
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 WATE.com, "Tennessee Department of Education terminates TNReady testing contract," April 27, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 The Tennesseean, "Tennessee terminates contract with TNReady test company," April 27, 2016
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Tennessee fires TNReady testmaker, suspends tests for grades 3-8," April 27, 2016
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 The Tennesseean, "Transgender bathroom bill dead for year," April 18, 2016
- ↑ Open States, "HB 2414," accessed April 19, 2016
- ↑ Knoxville News Sentinel, "Tennessee lawmakers should stay out of students’ restrooms," April 3, 2016
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Tennessee Governor Skeptical Of Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bill," April 13, 2016
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 The Tennesseean, "Attorney general: Tennessee bathroom bill threatens Title IX funds," April 11, 2016
- ↑ CBS News, "Tennessee lawmakers under fire over transgender bathroom bill," April 13, 2016
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 United States Census Bureau, "Robertson County, Tennessee," accessed April 11, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed June 25, 2014
| 2016 Robertson County Schools Elections | |
| Robertson County, Tennessee | |
| Election date: | August 4, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 3: • Incumbent, Jeff White District 4: • Bobby Jones • William Harrison III • Scott Rice District 5: • Incumbent, Lyle Payne • Tommy Mason District 6: • Incumbent, Connie Hogan • Carolyn Woodard |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
