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San Diego Unified School District elections (2016)

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San Diego Unified School District Elections
Primary election date:
June 7, 2016
General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
130,303 students

Three of the five seats on the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election for all three seats was held on June 7, 2016. In his bid for re-election in District A, incumbent John Lee Evans faced challenger Stephen Groce. District D incumbent Richard Barrera ran unopposed. Incumbent Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, who was appointed to the District E seat in February 2016 after former member Marne Foster pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and resigned from the board, ran for re-election against challenger Lashae Collins. Because no more than two candidates ran in each race, all the candidates who ran in the primary advanced to the general election.[1][2] All three incumbents won re-election in the general election.[3]

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The San Diego Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. The primary election was held on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The top two vote-getters in the primary election advanced to the general election. Candidates run for seats according to their geographical subdistrict within the school district. Only voters within that geographical subdistrict vote on the candidates running for that seat in the primary election. In the general election, all voters vote for all seats up for election.[4]

Candidates began to file affidavits of candidacy on February 16, 2016. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the general election was March 11, 2016. Voters had to register by May 23, 2016, to vote in the primary election, and they had to register by October 24, 2016, to vote in the general election.[5]

Candidates and results

District A

General election results

San Diego Unified School District,
District A General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png John Lee Evans Incumbent 68.32% 216,948
Stephen Groce 31.68% 100,577
Total Votes 317,525
Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016

General election candidates

John Lee Evans Green check mark transparent.png Stephen Groce

John Lee Evans.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2008-2016
  • Psychologist
  • Bachelor's degree
  • Master's degree
  • Doctoral degree, U.S. International University

Stephen Groce.jpg

  • Commissioner of Human Relations, City of San Diego
  • District and distribution center asset protection manager, Sport Chalet
  • Academic administration proctor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
  • Bachelor's degree, Trident University International
  • Master's degree, Trident University International

Primary results

San Diego Unified School District,
District A Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png John Lee Evans Incumbent 72.90% 28,847
Green check mark transparent.png Stephen Groce 27.10% 10,722
Total Votes 39,569
Source: County of San Diego, "Presidential Primary Election Tuesday, June 7, 2016," accessed July 12, 2016

District D

General election results

San Diego Unified School District,
District D General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Richard Barrera Incumbent (unopposed) 100.00% 282,195
Total Votes 282,195
Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016

General election candidates

Richard Barrera Green check mark transparent.png

Richard Barrera.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2008-2016
  • Bachelor's degree, University of California, San Diego
  • Master's degree, Harvard University

Primary results

San Diego Unified School District,
District D Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Richard Barrera Incumbent (unopposed) 100.00% 32,314
Total Votes 32,314
Source: County of San Diego, "Presidential Primary Election Tuesday, June 7, 2016," accessed July 12, 2016

District E

General election results

San Diego Unified School District,
District E General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Sharon Whitehurst-Payne Incumbent 54.78% 172,347
Lashae Collins 45.22% 142,293
Total Votes 314,640
Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016

General election candidates

Sharon Whitehurst-Payne Green check mark transparent.png Lashae Collins

Sharon Whitehurst-Payne.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Appointed to the board in 2016
  • Former educator
  • Bachelor's degree, Duke University
  • Master's degree, Duke University
  • Doctorate degree, University of California, Los Angeles

LaShae Collins.jpg

  • District director, California State Representative
  • Adjunct professor, San Diego State University
  • Bachelor's degree, San Diego State University
  • Master's degree, San Diego State University

Primary results

San Diego Unified School District,
District E Primary Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Lashae Collins 60.00% 17,966
Green check mark transparent.png Sharon Whitehurst-Payne Incumbent 40.00% 11,975
Total Votes 29,941
Source: County of San Diego, "Presidential Primary Election Tuesday, June 7, 2016," accessed July 12, 2016

Additional elections

See also: California elections, 2016

The San Diego school board election shared the ballot with elections for the national offices of United States President, United States Senator, and United States Representative. State offices included on the ballot were California State Senator, California State Assembly member, and Superior Court Judge. The county offices on the ballot were for seats on the San Diego County Board of Education, the Grossmont Community College board of trustees, the San Diego Community College board of trustees, and the County Board of Supervisors. There were also a variety of city-wide elections throughout the district.[1]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the San Diego school board elections in 2016:[5]

Deadline Event
February 16-March 11, 2016 Candidate filing period
May 23, 2016 Voter registration deadline for primary election
June 7, 2016 Primary election day
October 24, 2016 Voter registration deadline for general election
November 8, 2016 Election Day

Endorsements

The following is a list of endorsements made in the San Diego Unified School District elections. In addition to the endorsements below, John Lee Evans and his opponent Stephen Groce also received a rating of "acceptable" from the Clairemont Democratic Club.[6]

Candidate endorsements
Endorsement John Lee Evans
(District A) 		Stephen Groce
(District A) 		Richard Barrera
(District D) 		Sharon Whitehurst-Payne
(District E) 		Lashae Collins
(District E)
Local organizations
San Diego Democratic Party[7]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
San Diego Democrats for Equality[8]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
San Diego Education Association[9]
{{{1}}}
San Diego Unified Police Officers Association[9]
{{{1}}}
San Diego Taxpayers Advocate[9]
{{{1}}}
California Charter Schools Association Advocates[10]
{{{1}}}
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest[11]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Evolve[12]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Run Women Run[10]
{{{1}}}
SEIU Local 221[13]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
UFCW Local 135[14]
{{{1}}}
{{{1}}}
Local media
The San Diego Union-Tribune[15]
{{{1}}}
The San Diego Voice and Viewpoint[10]
{{{1}}}
State officials
State Superintendent Tom Torlakson[9]
{{{1}}}
State Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-79)[10]
{{{1}}}
State Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-78)[10]
{{{1}}}
State Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-41)[10]
{{{1}}}
Local officials
San Diego City Councilmember Myrtle Cole[10]
{{{1}}}
San Diego City Councilmember David Alvarez[10]
{{{1}}}

Campaign finance

Candidates received a total of $47,425.20 and spent a total of $41,871.73 as of November 15, 2016, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.[16]

Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on hand
District A
John Lee Evans $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Stephen Groce $1,545.00 $1,503.19 $41.81
District D
Richard Barrera $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
District E
Sharon Whitehurst-Payne $18,948.50 $17,923.40 $1,025.10
Lashae Collins $26,931.70 $22,445.14 $4,486.56

Past elections

What was at stake?

2016

Issues in the district

District one of 100 to pursue socioeconomic integration

The San Diego Unified School District was included in a list of 100 school districts pursuing socioeconomic integration. The school districts, which included 13 other California school districts and charter schools, were listed in a report published by the Century Foundation, a "progressive, nonpartisan think tank that seeks to foster opportunity, reduce inequality, and promote security at home and abroad," according to its website. The report showed that socioeconomic integration grew from two schools in 1996, when the foundation first started researching the issue, to 100 in October 2016, when the report was published. Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, praised the U.S. Department of Education for offering incentives for school districts to voluntarily use socioeconomic integration.[17][18]

The Century Foundation's report came five months after data released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in May 2016 showed schools across the country had been largely resegregated. The data showed that "the number of high-poverty schools serving primarily black and brown students more than doubled between 2001 and 2014," according to The Washington Post.[19]

The GAO said that those high-poverty schools did not offer students the same access to opportunities that other schools did and were also more likely to expel or suspend students for disciplinary issues. The rise of resegregation began in the 1990s when school districts that had integrated were released from court-ordered mandates. The student population in the United States also changed, becoming less white and affluent.[19]

A 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court stopped school districts from assigning students to schools based on race. Those in favor of integrating schools turned to a different integration method: using the socioeconomic status of students.[17]

District sues charter schools

The San Diego Unified School District joined a lawsuit against the Julian Union Elementary School District in June 2016. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Grossmont Union High School District after Julian Union Elementary authorized the creation of satellite charter schools outside of the district's boundaries. Both San Diego Unified and Grossmont Union High had charter schools opened within their boundaries without their knowledge and without listing the addresses of the charter schools on their petitions, according to the lawsuit. Though satellite charter schools are allowed, the law requires a school district to be notified of any new charter schools opening inside its boundaries.[20]

Julian Union Elementary received a portion of its authorized charter schools' revenue for providing oversight. By opening charter schools outside of its boundaries, it also did not lose students or the state funding attached to them. Julian Union Elementary Superintendent Brian Duffy did not comment on the lawsuit, but he said, "Julian Union School District strives to provide the best programs for students."[20]

The satellite charter schools in the Grossmont Union High and San Diego Unified school districts were set up as “resource centers,” which kept students in classrooms less than 80 percent of the time. Officials in the San Diego Unified School District, however, said they did not believe the charters were acting as resource centers. “We don’t believe they are resource centers,” said Andra Donovan, San Diego Unified’s general counsel. “If you want to operate a charter in San Diego Unified, apply to San Diego Unified. You’ve got a school district that’s relying on charter school revenue to stay afloat.”[20]

“When another school district authorizes a charter that goes and operates in our boundaries and without our approval, we are no longer completely overseeing education in our boundaries,” said Grossmont Union Deputy Superintendent of Business Services Scott Patterson. “It gets into accountability. Grossmont taxpayers are paying taxes that are going to Julian.”[20]

The California Charter Schools Association responded to the lawsuit by saying the Grossmont Union High and San Diego Unified school districts did not understand the law. The association said the charter schools named in the lawsuit were "non-classroom-based schools that by law may locate outside of the the [sic] district that authorizes them."[21]

“ The issue here is simple: what's best for students and for learning? The issue is not: what's the best way to keep fueling an antiquated system? If students' educational needs met aren't being met by the traditional system, they deserve to access programs that will meet their needs. Building barriers to prevent them from doing so is simply wrong.

It is time to put politics aside and support parents and students who seek alternatives to the status quo. These schools are not breaking the law. They are doing exactly what the charter law envisioned: providing flexibility, choice, and above all, better options for students and families.[22]

”
—California Charter Schools Association (June 28, 2016)[21]
Charter school sues district

A charter school called the Evangeline Roberts Institute of Learning sued the San Diego Unified School District in June 2016 after its charter was revoked. Officials of the charter school filed the lawsuit in order to seek an injunction to stop the district from shutting down the school. The lawsuit said the district violated the law when staff decided the fate of the charter school rather than the elected school board.[23]

The Evangeline Roberts Institute of Learning was opened in 2011 with a five-year charter. In order to renew the charter, the school had to meet eight criteria set by San Diego Unified, including renewing its nonprofit status and meeting performance benchmarks. According to the agreement reached by the school and the district, the Evangeline Roberts Institute of Learning had until June 15, 2016, to meet the criteria. If it did not, it had to "voluntarily surrender" its petition for renewal.[23]

The charter school filed the lawsuit against the district after San Diego Unified staff determined the school had not met the eight criteria. The lawsuit said that district staff did not have "the authority to make final judgments on the opening and closing of charter schools," according to the San Diego Reader.[23]

The lawsuit also said that the Evangeline Roberts Institute of Learning did meet the necessary criteria to renew its charter. It said district staff had failed to verify the performance benchmarks by the deadline.[23]

Former board member's misdemeanor plea bargain leads to new ethics policy

In March 2016, the San Diego Unified Board of Education unanimously approved a new ethics policy plan for the district. The plan was co-authored by Board President John Lee Evans and Board Vice President Richard Barrera and came one month after former board member Marne Foster pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and resigned from the board.[24][25]

Foster pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting illegal gifts as a public official after she accepted over $3,000 in funding from a philanthropist for her son to attend a youth theater camp. The funding gift was over the $460 threshold a public official is allowed to accept from a single source in a calendar year. As part of her plea, Foster was put on probation, required to do community service, and forbidden from running for public office for four years.[25][26]

Though the acceptance of an illegal gift was the only charge filed against Foster, allegations that she had used her position as board member for personal gain had also been made. The allegations included pressuring San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten to remove the principal of the School of Creative and Performing Arts where Foster's sons attended, meddling in other personnel decisions at the school in alleged retribution for actions taken against her sons, holding a private fundraiser to raise money for her sons and inviting people through her professional contacts, and enrolling her son in the district's subsidized lunch program even though her income level disqualified him from joining the program.[25][26]

“We must hold ourselves to a high standard,” Evans said at a press conference before the board voted on the new ethics policy plan. “It is unacceptable and contrary to the mission of the school district for any one board member to give the public cause to question our integrity.”[24]

The ethics policy plan set up a process for the superintendent to inform the full board if an individual member attempted to interfere in the operation of the school district and to inform the public if the behavior continued. It also set up a way for district employees to notify the superintendent of a board member's interference without risk of retaliation. The policy also required new board members to go through ethics and conflict of interest training within 60 days of taking office, and it required board members who were parents of students in the district to meet with staff at their students' schools to draw a clear line between their actions as parents and their actions as board members. The board began their first ethics training session a week after the plan was approved.[24]

Election trends

School Board Election Trends Banner.jpg
See also: School board elections, 2014

The fact that all five school board candidates who ran in San Diego Unified's 2016 primary election advanced to the general election was not unusual. All the candidates who ran in the district's 2014 primary election also advanced to the general election, and only one out of six candidates was eliminated in the district's 2012 primary election.

With five candidates running for three seats in the general election, the district's 2016 race had an average of 1.67 candidates per seat. The district's 2012 general election had the same average number of candidates per seat. In 2014, an average of 1.5 candidates ran per seat on the ballot in the general election, which was lower than the average of 1.91 candidates who ran per school board seat up for election in California's largest school districts that year.

Incumbents saw a 100 percent success rate in San Diego Unified's 2016 election. Incumbents also saw a 100 percent success rate in the district's 2014 race. One incumbent ran and was re-elected. The district also added a new member that year, as a newcomer won an open seat. Statewide in 2014, 79 percent of incumbents who ran to keep their seats won additional terms, and newcomers took 37.90 percent of the seats on the ballot.

Candidate survey

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About the district

See also: San Diego Unified School District, California
San Diego Unified School District is located in San Diego County, Calif.

San Diego Unified School District is located in southern California in San Diego County. The city of San Diego is the county seat. San Diego County was home to 3,299,521 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[27] The district was the second-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 130,303 students.[28]

Demographics

San Diego County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in the years 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 35.1 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 San Diego County was $63,996, compared to $61,489 for the state. The percentage of people below poverty level for the county was 14.7 percent, while it was 16.4 percent for the state.[27]

Racial Demographics, 2014[27]
Race San Diego County (%) California (%)
White 76.3 73.2
Black or African American 5.6 6.5
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.3 1.7
Asian 11.9 14.4
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.6 0.5
Two or more races 4.3 3.7
Hispanic or Latino 33.2 38.6

2016 Party Affiliation, San Diego County[29]
Party Registered Voters
Unaffiliated 408,914
Democratic 490,159
Republican 462,417
American Indepdent 48,747
Green 6,641
Total 1,419,878

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 Diego Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

San Diego Unified School District elections (2016) - Google News

See also

San Diego Unified School District California School Boards
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 San Diego County, California, "Candidate List," accessed June 2, 2016
  2. ↑ San Diego County, "Presidential Primary Election: Tuesday, June 7, 2016," accessed June 8, 2016
  3. ↑ San Diego County, "Presidential General Election Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed November 9, 2016
  4. ↑ The San Diego Union-Tribune, "The short list of candidates vying for SD school board seats," May 4, 2015
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filing Calendar," accessed June 2, 2016
  6. ↑ Clairemont Democratic Club, "2016 Endorsements," accessed July 15, 2016
  7. ↑ San Diego Democratic Party, "Democratic Candidates, 2016," accessed June 2, 2016
  8. ↑ San Diego Democrats for Equality, "Endorsements," accessed July 15, 2016
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Evans for School Board, "Endorsements," accessed June 2, 2016
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 LaShae Collins for School Board, "Endorsements," accessed June 2, 2016
  11. ↑ Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California Action Funds, "Election Info," accessed July 15, 2016
  12. ↑ Evolve, "2016 Endorsements," accessed July 15, 2016
  13. ↑ SEIU Local 221, "2016 Endorsements," accessed July 15, 2016
  14. ↑ UFCW Local 135, "Endorsements," accessed July 15, 2016
  15. ↑ The San Diego Union-Tribune, "LaShae Collins, Mark Wyland for school board posts," October 14, 2016
  16. ↑ San Diego County Voter Registrar, "Campaign Finance Disclosure: Electronic Filing and Historical Reports," accessed November 15, 2016
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Washington Post, "These are the 100 U.S. school districts that are actively pursuing socioeconomic integration," October 14, 2016
  18. ↑ The Century Foundation, "About the Century Foundation," accessed October 18, 2016
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 The Washington Post, "On the anniversary of Brown v. Board, new evidence that U.S. schools are resegregating," May 17, 2016
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Julian charter schools under fire," June 27, 2016
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 California Charter Schools Association, "CCSA Responds to Misguided Lawsuit Against Non-Classroom-Based Charters," June 28, 2016
  22. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 San Diego Reader, "Encanto charter school, facing shutdown, files lawsuit," July 1, 2016
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Times of San Diego, "San Diego Unified Tightens Ethics Policy in Wake of Foster Resignation," March 9, 2016
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Voice of San Diego, "What Brought Marne Foster Down," February 2, 2016
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 San Diego Union Tribune, "Philanthropist gift at center of Foster plea," February 2, 2016
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 United States Census Bureau, "Quickfacts: San Diego County, California," accessed June 2, 2016
  28. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
  29. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Report of Registration as of January 5, 2016 - Registration by County," accessed June 2, 2016
2016 San Diego Unified School District Elections
San Diego County, California
Election date:Primary Election: June 7, 2016 • General Election: November 8, 2016
Candidates:District A: • Incumbent John Lee Evans • Stephen Groce

District D: • Incumbent, Richard Barrera

District E: • Incumbent, Sharon Whitehurst-Payne • Lashae Collins
Important information:What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot
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