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San Jose Unified School District elections (2016)
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Three of the five seats on the San Jose Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In her bid for re-election to Trustee Area 1, incumbent Teresa Castellanos ran unopposed and won re-election by default. Trustee Area 3 incumbent Pam Foley defeated challenger Olivia Navarro to win another term on the board. The Trustee Area 5 race featured incumbent Sandra Engel and challenger Kimberly Meek. Meek won the election.[1][2] On top of choosing candidates to represent Trustee Areas 3 and 5, citizens of the district also voted on a school parcel tax measure.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The San Jose Unified Board of Education consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district 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.[4]
To vote in this election, residents of the school district had to register by October 24, 2016.[5] Photo identification was not required to vote in this election.[6]
Candidates and results
Trustee Area 1
Results
This race was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Teresa Castellanos won re-election by default.[1]
Candidates
Teresa Castellanos 
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Trustee Area 3
Results
| San Jose Unified School District, Trustee Area 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Pam Foley Incumbent |
63.86% | 13,002 |
| Olivia Navarro | 36.14% | 7,357 |
| Total Votes | 20,359 | |
| Source: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," accessed December 7, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Pam Foley
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Olivia Navarro | ||
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Trustee Area 5
Results
| San Jose Unified School District, Trustee Area 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kimberly Meek |
53.43% | 10,830 |
| Sandra Engel Incumbent | 46.57% | 9,440 |
| Total Votes | 20,270 | |
| Source: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," accessed December 7, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Sandra Engel | Kimberly Meek
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2016
The district's school board election shared the ballot with a bond measure for the school district, three bond measures for the city of San Jose, a bond measure for Santa Clara County, and a number of statewide ballot measures. It also shared the ballot with elections for the following offices:[7][8]
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Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for California school board elections in 2016:[9][10]
| Deadline | Event |
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| 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
CCSA Advocates endorsed Trustee Area 3 challenger Olivia Navarro and Trustee Area 5 challenger Kimberly Meek.[11]
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.[10]
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.[10]
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.[10]
Results
Candidates received a total of $71,625.00 and spent a total of $40,979.73 as of November 3, 2016, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.[12]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pam Foley | $25,255.00 | $9,061.86 | $16,193.14 |
| Olivia Navarro | $7,480.00 | $5,958.02 | $1,521.98 |
| Sandra Engel | $5,400.00 | $17,802.22 | ($12,402.22) |
| Kimberly Meek | $33,490.00 | $8,157.63 | $25,332.37 |
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2014Trustee Area 2
Trustee Area 4
2012Trustee Area 1
Trustee Area 3This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Pam Foley was re-elected without challenge.[13] Trustee Area 5
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What was at stake?
2016
Issues in the election
Measure Y
In addition to choosing candidates for the Trustee Area 3 and 5 seats on the San Jose Unified School District Board of Education, citizens of the school district voted on Measure Y on November 8, 2016. The measure asked to set up an annual school parcel tax for eight years. A two-thirds majority was required for the measure to pass. It was unable to meet that threshold and was defeated.[14] The measure appeared on the ballot as follows:
| “ | To improve education in local neighborhood schools by supporting core academic programs in reading, writing, math, the arts and science, preparing students for college and careers and attracting and retaining high performing teachers and educational staff, shall San Jose Unified School District authorize an annual $72 school parcel tax for 8 years, raising approximately $5 million annually, with independent citizen oversight, no funds for district office administrators’ salaries, a senior citizen exemption and all funds benefiting local neighborhood schools?[15] | ” |
| —San Jose Unified School District (2016)[16] | ||
Issues in the district
District one of 100 to pursue socioeconomic integration
The San Jose 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]
Candidate survey
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About the district
The San Jose Unified School District is located in Santa Clara County in western-central California. The county seat is San Jose. Santa Clara County was home to 1,918,044 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[20] The district was the 24th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 33,152 students.[21]
Demographics
Santa Clara County outperformed California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2010 and 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 47.3 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 Santa Clara County was $93,854, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 8.5 percent, compared to 16.4 percent statewide.[20]
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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 'San Jose Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| San Jose Unified School District | California | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List," accessed August 17, 2016
- ↑ Santa Clara County, "November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election Summary," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ San Jose Unified School District, "Board of Education," accessed August 9, 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
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "List of Local Measures: Presidential General Election November 8, 2016," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Contest/Candidate Proof List: Presidential General Election," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016, General Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 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
- ↑ CCSA Advocates, "Our Endorsements: November 2016 Elections," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "County of Santa Clara Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed November 3, 2016
- ↑ San Jose Mercury News, "San Jose Unified School Board: Castellanos, Engel elected," November 6, 2012
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Unofficial Semi-Final Results," accessed November 14, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "List of Local Measures," accessed November 3, 2016
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Washington Post, "These are the 100 U.S. school districts that are actively pursuing socioeconomic integration," October 14, 2016
- ↑ The Century Foundation, "About the Century Foundation," accessed October 18, 2016
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 United States Census Bureau, "Santa Clara County, California," accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Past Election Results," accessed July 3, 2014
| 2016 San Jose Unified School District Elections | |
| Santa Clara County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Teresa Castellanos Trustee Area 3: • Incumbent, Pam Foley • Olivia Navarro Trustee Area 5: • Incumbent, Sandra Engel • Kimberly Meek |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
