Saddleback Valley Unified School District elections (2016)
2018 →
← 2014 |
|---|
 |
|
|
| Enrollment (13–14): |
|
|
Three of the five seats on the Saddleback Valley Unified School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Incumbents Amanda Morrell and Suzie Swartz filed for re-election and faced four challengers: Mark Tettemer, Edward Wong, Theo Hunt, and David Johnson.[1] Morrell and Swartz won re-election, and Wong won the other seat on the ballot.[2]
Morrell and Wong participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Saddleback Valley Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held at large on a staggered basis every November of even-numbered years. Two seats were up for election on November 4, 2014, and three seats were up for election on November 8, 2016. There was no primary election.[3]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to register with the county elections office by August 12, 2016. If incumbents did not file by that deadline, the filing deadline was extended for non-incumbent candidates until August 17, 2016. In order to qualify as candidates, they had to be at least 18 years old, citizens of California, residents of the school district, registered voters, and "not legally disqualified from holding civil office," according to the bylaws of the Saddleback Valley Unified Board of Education. Once they took office, school board members could not be employed by the school district.[4][5]
To vote in this election, residents of the school district had to register by October 24, 2016.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in this election.[7]
Candidates and results
At-large
Results
| Saddleback Valley Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Suzie Swartz Incumbent |
24.68% | 44,812 |
| Edward Wong |
21.13% | 38,359 |
| Amanda Morrell Incumbent |
20.30% | 36,855 |
| David Johnson | 16.68% | 30,284 |
| Mark Tettemer | 9.29% | 16,864 |
| Theo Hunt | 7.91% | 14,364 |
| Total Votes | 181,538 | |
| Source: Orange County Registrar of Voters, "2016 Presidential General Election Official Results for Election," accessed December 7, 2016 | ||
Candidates
Amanda Morrell 
|
Suzie Swartz
|
Theo Hunt | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| David Johnson | Mark Tettemer | Edward Wong
| |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2016
The district's school board election shared the ballot with a number of statewide ballot measures as well as elections for the following offices:[8][9]
|
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for California school board elections in 2016:[10][11]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| August 1, 2016 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| August 10, 2016 - November 8, 2016 | 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period |
| August 12, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| August 17, 2016 | Extended filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates for open seats |
| September 29, 2016 | First pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2016 | Voter registration deadline |
| October 27, 2016 | Second pre-election campaign finance report due |
| November 8, 2016 | Election Day |
| January 31, 2017 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Endorsements
The Saddleback Valley Educators Association (SVEA) and the California School Employees Association Chapter 616 endorsed incumbent Suzie Swartz and challengers David Johnson and Edward Wong.[12][13] Johnson and Wong were also endorsed by the community organization Evolve.[14]
Incumbent Amanda Morrell was endorsed by Saddleback Valley Unified Board of Education President Ginny Fay Aitkens and City of Laguna Hills Mayor Pro-Tem Don Sedgewick.[15]
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
Candidates in this race were required to file two pre-election reports. The first was due on September 29, 2016, and the second was due on October 27, 2016. If candidates received more than $1,000 from a single source between August 10, 2016, and November 8, 2016, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours of receiving the contribution.[11]
Candidates who did not raise or spend more than $2,000 on their campaigns had to file an exemption form by September 29, 2016. They did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[11]
Candidates who had a remaining balance from previous campaigns or who had raised or spent money on their campaigns prior to the candidate filing deadline had to file a semi-annual campaign finance report by August 1, 2016. The next semi-annual campaign finance report was due January 31, 2017.[11]
Reports
Candidates received a total of $21,956.00 and spent a total of $12,941.39 as of November 1, 2016, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.[16]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda Morrell | $6,909.00 | $3,900.64 | $3,008.36 |
| Suzie Swartz | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Theo Hunt | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| David Johnson | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Mark Tettemer | $15,047.00 | $9,040.75 | $6,006.25 |
| Edward Wong | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014
2012
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2016
Issues in the district
Court rules test scores not required in teacher evaluations
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barry Goode ruled in September 2016 that the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, along with 12 other school districts, could not be required to use student test scores in teacher evaluations. Goode's ruling went against a lawsuit filed by the group Students Matter, which sought to mandate the use of student standardized test scores in teacher evaluations. Students Matter argued that the districts' teacher contracts violated California's 1971 Stull Act, which requires school districts to evaluate teachers in a manner related to student performance. Goode concluded that all of the school districts in question were meeting their legal obligations.[17]
“The Legislature endorses many uses of those tests, including evaluating pupils, entire schools and local educational agencies,” Goode wrote in his opinion. “But it does not say the results should be used to evaluate individual teachers.”[17]
Marcellus McRae, who represented the plaintiffs, said he was surprised by the ruling. “If you really think about it, this is such a basic concept that the goal of teaching is for students to learn,” McRae said. “It is, to me, axiomatic that teacher evaluations have to be based at least in part over whether students have learned.”[17]
Students Matter won a similar case in 2012. That lawsuit had been filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the school district was ultimately required to include test scores in its teacher evaluations. In the 2016 case, however, Goode ruled that school districts were allowed to decide how to use test results. “There are serious questions about whether, and the extent to which, a pupil’s standardized test score is ‘reasonably related’ and ‘applicable’ to the performance of a given teacher,” Goode said.[17]
Teachers unions supported Goode's ruling. They argued that standardized test scores overlooked external factors that inhibited student learning, such as poverty.[17]
“Every day teachers across California use a variety of benchmarks, including in-class quizzes, tests, projects, and personal observation to fine-tune their approaches with their students,” said California Federation of Teachers President Joshua Pechthalt. “There is no single method for assessing progress that is ideal or that should be used to the exclusion of all others.”[17]
Candidate survey
|
|
Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
Survey responses
Two candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from incumbent Amanda Morrell and challenger Edward Wong.
Hope to achieve
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Morrell stated:
| “ | Ensure a safe learning environment with adaptive teaching and flexible classrooms to prepare all students. Provide the necessary tools, technology and professional development of staff. Work as one team to balance the budget. Ensure public understanding of financial allocations. Leverage new ideas. Improve communication and collaboration. Identify and implement a unified vision, Eliminate bureaucratic hoops. Offer choices.[18] | ” |
| —Amanda Morrell (October 30, 2016)[19] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Wong stated:
| “ | To bring Fiscal Accountability to the district. To maintain the high academic standards and achievement that our community has come to expect in our neighborhood schools that are safe. Finally to bring more stakeholder involvement and transparency in the district![18] | ” |
| —Edward Wong (October 27, 2016)[20] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issue | Morrell's ranking | Wong's ranking | ||
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
About the district
The Saddleback Valley Unified School District is located in Orange County in southern California. The county seat is Santa Ana. Orange County was home to 3,169,776 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[21] The district was the 37th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 29,731 students.[22]
Demographics
Orange County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 37.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of state residents. The median household income for Orange County was $75,998, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 12.9 percent, while it was 16.4 percent statewide.[21]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 'Saddleback Valley Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Saddleback Valley Unified School District | California | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filing Log," accessed August 15, 2016
- ↑ Orange County, "Orange County Unofficial Results for Election," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Saddleback Valley Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed August 8, 2016
- ↑ Saddleback Valley Unified School District, "BB 9220: Governing Board Elections," accessed August 8, 2016
- ↑ California Elections Code, “Part 5, Section 10600-10604: School District And Community College District Governing Board Elections,” accessed June 15, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Voter Registration," accessed June 13, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "California Online Voter Registration," accessed June 13, 2016
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filing Log," accessed September 23, 2016
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Measures Appearing on the Ballot," accessed September 23, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016, General Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 8, 2016," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ Facebook, "Saddleback Valley Educators Association (SVEA) posted July 28, 2016," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Ian Morrell," September 21, 2016
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ Vote for Amanda Morrell for SVUSD Board of Education on Nov. 8, 2016, "Endorsements," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Orange County Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed November 1, 2016
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 Los Angeles Times, "Court refuses to mandate use of test scores in teacher evaluations," September 22, 2016
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Amanda Morrell's responses," October 30, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Edward Wong responses," October 27, 2016
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 United States Census Bureau, "Orange County, California," accessed July 19, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Orange County Registrar of Voters, "Election Results Archive," accessed July 11, 2014
| 2016 Saddleback Valley Unified School District Elections | |
| Orange County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Amanda Morrell • Incumbent, Suzie Swartz • Theo Hunt • David Johnson • Mark Tettemer • Edward Wong |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
.jpg){kind=link}
