San Antonio Independent School District elections (2017)
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Four of the seven seats on the San Antonio Independent School District school board in Texas were up for by-district general election on May 6, 2017. All four incumbents whose terms were expiring won re-election to their seats. District 1 incumbent Steve Lecholop defeated challenger Sandra Ojeda Medina. In District 3, incumbent Debra Guerrero defeated challengers George Hinojosa and Lorna "Ms. K" Klokkenga. District 4 incumbent Arthur Valdez Jr. filed for re-election and won another term after defeating challenger Adela Segovia. Ed Garza, the District 7 incumbent, was unopposed in his re-election bid. Due to the lack of opposition, the race did not appear on the ballot, and Garza was automatically re-elected.[1][2]
In February 2017, District 6 incumbent Olga Hernandez resigned from her position amidst allegations of federal wire fraud. Christina Martinez was chosen by the board to serve the remainder of Hernandez's term. For more information about this issue in the district, please click here.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The San Antonio ISD board of trustees consists of seven members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held every two years in May with three or four seats on the ballot. The general election for Districts 1, 3, 4, and 7 was scheduled on May 6, 2017.
To run in the race, school board candidates had to file paperwork with the school district secretary by February 17, 2017. Each candidate had to be at least 18 years old, a registered voter, and a resident of the district he or she wished to represent. For information on voter identification requirements in Texas, please click here.[3]
Candidates and results
District 1
Results
| San Antonio Independent School District, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Steve Lecholop Incumbent |
63.50% | 2,711 |
| Sandra Ojeda Medina | 36.50% | 1,558 |
| Total Votes | 4,269 | |
| Source: Bexar County, Texas, "Media Report–Official Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Steve Lecholop 
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Sandra Ojeda Medina | ||
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District 3
Results
| San Antonio Independent School District, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Debra Guerrero Incumbent |
58.84% | 1,465 |
| Lorna Klokkenga | 29.04% | 723 |
| George Hinojosa | 12.13% | 302 |
| Total Votes | 2,490 | |
| Source: Bexar County, Texas, "Media Report–Official Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Debra Guerrero
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George Hinojosa | Lorna "Ms. K" Klokkenga | |||
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District 4
Results
| San Antonio Independent School District, District 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Arthur Valdez Jr. Incumbent |
59.37% | 1,340 |
| Adela Segovia | 40.63% | 917 |
| Total Votes | 2,257 | |
| Source: Bexar County, Texas, "Media Report–Official Results," accessed June 6, 2017 | ||
Candidates
| Arthur Valdez Jr.
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Adela Segovia | ||
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District 7
Results
Due to lack of opposition, the District 7 race did not appear on the ballot, and incumbent Ed Garza was automatically re-elected.
Candidates
| Ed Garza
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Texas elections, 2017
The San Antonio school district elections shared the ballot with elections for mayor and members of the San Antonio City Council.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for this Texas school board election in 2017:[4][5]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| February 17, 2017 | Candidate filing deadline |
| April 6, 2017 | Deadline to register to vote |
| April 6, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (30th day report) |
| April 28, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (8th day report) |
| April 24, 2017 - May 2, 2017 | Early voting period |
| May 6, 2017 | General election date |
| July 17, 2017 | Campaign finance reporting deadline (July semiannual report) |
Endorsements
The San Antonio Express-News endorsed District 1 incumbent Steve Lecholop, District 3 incumbent Debra Guerrero, and District 4 incumbent Arthur Valdez Jr. in the election.[6]
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
There were three campaign finance deadlines for Texas school board candidates in 2017:[7]
- The 30th day report was due on April 6, 2017,
- The 8th day report was due on April 28, 2017, and
- The July semiannual report was due on July 17, 2017.
All school board candidates in the state were also required to file July semiannual campaign finance reports. Opposed school board candidates could choose "modified reporting" if they did not plan to exceed either $500 in contributions or $500 in expenditures in the election. Modified reporting exempts a candidate from filing the 30th and 8th day reports normally due before an election. If a candidate opted for modified reporting but exceeded the threshold before the 30th day prior to the election, he or she had to file the 30th and 8th day reports. Unopposed school board candidates were only required to file a campaign finance report on the July semiannual deadline.[8]
Candidates received a total of $56,851.58 and spent a total of $25,590.46 as of April 6, 2017, when the 30 day pre-election report was due, according to the San Antonio Independent School District.[9] The following tables detail how much each candidate raised and spent in the 2017 San Antonio Independent School District elections as of April 6, 2017—the deadline for the 30 day pre-general election campaign finance report.
District 1
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Lecholop | $31,505.00 | $9,768.64 | $37,022.67 |
| Sandra Ojeda Medina | $500.00 | $0.00 | $500.00 |
District 3
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debra Guerrero | $14,300.00 | $7,089.40 | $9,065.14 |
| George Hinojosa | $0.00 | $5,862.42 | $0.00 |
| Lorna "Ms. K" Klokkenga | $3,046.58 | $2,870.00 | $2,150.02 |
District 4
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur Valdez Jr. | $7,500.00 | $0.00 | $8,661.66 |
| Adela Segovia | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2015See also: San Antonio Independent School District elections (2015) District 2
District 5Incumbent Patti Radle won re-election without opposition. District 6
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What was at stake?
Issues in the district
Member appointed after District 6 resignation
Former District 6 incumbent Olga Hernandez resigned from the San Antonio ISD board of trustees following her arrest on a federal wire fraud charge on February 21, 2017. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Hernandez was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud of honest service and was accused of accepting gifts—including vacations, jewelry, and cash—from insurance brokers attempting to win contracts with the school district.[10] The indictment against Hernandez alleged that between 2007 and 2014 she voted in favor of health-related insurance contracts on behalf of several health insurance brokers who pleaded guilty in November 2016 to related wire fraud and conspiracy charges.[10] In response to the charges Hernandez said, “It is an allegation which is not true, and with time I will prove it to be false.”[10] Prior to her resignation, Hernandez served on the board for 11 years and worked in the school district for several decades.
To fill the vacancy succeeding Hernandez's resignation, the board was able to choose between two options. The first option was to hold a special election in conjunction with the general election scheduled on May 6, 2017. In order to get the special election on the ballot, the election order would have had to be made at least 70 days prior to the general election date, as per Texas statute. Hernandez tendered her resignation 74 days prior to the general election date. Due to this time constraint, and the additional cost of holding a stand-alone special election, the board voted to appoint a member to serve the remainder of Hernandez's term, which expired in May 2019.[11]
On March 27, 2017, the San Antonio board unanimously voted to appoint Christina Martinez to fill the open District 6 seat. The decision was made during a closed meeting after two rounds of public interviews were held. Martinez, whose professional experience includes serving as vice president of external relations for Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas, was one of several applicants considered for the position. Rachel Ponce, Cynthia Spielman, Dana Wrann, and Lola Rodriguez also filed to fill the position and were interviewed by the San Antonio board of trustees. Two additional applicants—David Soto and Steven Ibanez—filed applications but later withdrew in support of Spielman and Ponce, respectively. Soto lost an election bid against Hernandez in 2015. After the announcement of Martinez's appointment, Hernandez offered her congratulations saying, "Whoever supports my community. That's why I'm here."[12]
Report a story for this election
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About the district
The San Antonio Independent School District is located in Bexar County, Texas. The county seat is San Antonio. Bexar County was home to 1,928,680 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[13] The district was the 17th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 53,750 students.[14]
Demographics
Bexar County underperformed in comparison to the rest of Texas in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 26.3 percent of Bexar County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 26.7 percent for the state as a whole. The median household income in Bexar County was $50,112 compared to $51,900 statewide. The poverty rate in Bexar County was 17.6 percent, which was the same rate for the entire state.[13]
Demographics
Bexar County underperformed compared to Texas as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2010 and 2015. The Census Bureau found that 26.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 27.6 percent for the entire state. The median household income in Bexar County was $51,150, compared to $53,207 statewide. The poverty rate in Bexar County was 15.6 percent, while it was 15.9 percent across the entire state.[13]
| Racial Demographics, 2010-2015[13] | |||
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| Race | Bexar County (%) | Texas (%) | |
| White | 84.9 | 79.7 | |
| Black or African American | 8.4 | 12.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.2 | 1.0 | |
| Asian | 3.0 | 4.8 | |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.2 | 0.1 | |
| Two or More Races | 2.2 | 1.9 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 59.5 | 38.8 | |
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 San Antonio Independent School District Texas election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| San Antonio Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ San Antonio Independent School District, "Information for May 6 Trustee Election," accessed February 21, 2017
- ↑ Bexar County, Texas, "Unofficial Results," accessed May 6, 2017
- ↑ San Antonio Independent School District, "Board Members Elections," accessed March 1, 2017
- ↑ Vote Texas, "Important 2017 Election Dates," accessed March 11, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ mySA, "Keep incumbents on SAISD board," April 25, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2017 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholders Who File with Local Filing Authorities," accessed March 28, 2017
- ↑ San Antonio ISD, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 27, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 San Antonio Express-News, “SAISD trustee Hernandez resigns following arrest,” February 21, 2017
- ↑ Rivard Report, "Olga Hernandez Resigns From SAISD Board," February 21, 2017
- ↑ My San Antonio, "SAISD trustees choose school board replacement," March 27, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Bexar County, Texas," accessed April 10, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| San Antonio Independent School District elections in 2017 | |
| Bexar County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 6, 2017 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Steve Lecholop • Sandra Ojeda Medina District 3: • Incumbent, Debra Guerrero • George Hinojosa • Lorna "Ms. K" Klokkenga District 4: • Incumbent, Arthur Valdez Jr. • Adela Segovia District 7: • Incumbent, Ed Garza |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
