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School boards in session: opposition in 2015

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2015 School Board
Election Analysis

School boards in session
Overview
Methods of election
Opposition
Non-incumbent success rates
Incumbency analysis
Overview
Success rates
Past analysis
School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers
Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections
See also
School board elections portal
School board elections, 2015

The 2015 school board elections had a higher percentage of unopposed seats on the ballot and a smaller average number of candidates run per seat compared to the 2014 school board elections. A total of 35.95 percent of seats were unopposed in 2015, compared to 32.59 percent in 2014. The 2015 elections saw an average of 1.72 candidates run per seat, while the 2014 elections had an average of 1.89 candidates run per seat.

The following sections analyze the rate that school board seats were unopposed in 2015 and the number of candidates who ran per seat on the ballot. These calculations are compared by state and by district enrollment.

Methodology

See also: Methodology in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board election analysis

In 2015, Ballotpedia covered school board elections in the top 1,000 school districts in the United States by enrollment. Of those districts, 440 held school board elections. These elections took place in 32 states. The 18 states where the largest districts by enrollment did not hold elections in 2015 were Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. These states are not included in this report.

The elections in the 2015 scope were not equally divided across states. The range runs from a high of 218 school board seats on the ballot in Texas to a low of one seat on the ballot in Mississippi. The comparisons made in the report are not representative of each state as a whole; rather, they demonstrate the relative election trends among the largest districts of each state, with varying sample sizes in each location. To mitigate the unequal representation by state, this report also looks at election trends by enrollment size. School districts were compared by eight enrollment ranges, with the largest enrollment size at over 100,000 students and the smallest enrollment size below 10,000 students.

For more information on Ballotpedia's methodology for this report, check out the methodology in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board election analysis.

Unopposed seats

A total of 495 school board seats—35.95 percent of all seats up for election—saw no opposition in 2015. Every seat on the ballot was unopposed in over 20 percent of school districts—99 in total—that held elections in 2015. Unopposed seats were more likely to go to incumbents than challengers. A total of 40.45 percent of incumbents ran unopposed in their bids for re-election, compared to the 7.33 percent of non-incumbents who were unopposed.

Analysis by state


The map above details how many school board seats were unopposed in the largest school districts in each state. States depicted in gray did not hold school board elections.

Mississippi had the highest percentage of unopposed seats in 2015. It had only one seat on the ballot, and only one candidate filed to run for it. Oklahoma had the next highest unopposed rate with 85.71 percent of its 16 seats seeing no opposition. Montana had the third-highest rate; three of the four seats on the ballot were unopposed in that state.

Only Nebraska had no unopposed seats in 2015. All three of its seats saw opposition. North Carolina had the second-lowest percentage of unopposed seats, with only 6.25 percent of its 16 seats on the ballot seeing no opposition. The third-lowest rate of unopposed seats occurred in Missouri, where 10.53 percent of the 38 seats on the ballot were unopposed.

The map to the right details the percentage of school board seats that were unopposed in each state in 2015. More details about the number of seats that were unopposed as well as the percentage of incumbents and non-incumbents who were unopposed in each state can be found in the table below.

Unopposed seats in the 2015 school board elections (by state)
State Total enrollment Districts holding elections Seats up for election Total candidates Unopposed seats (#) Unopposed seats (%) Incumbents running unopposed (%) Non-incumbents running unopposed (%)
Total 10,322,036 440 1,377 2,375 495 35.95% 40.45% 7.33%
Alaska 80,652 3 8 12 4 50.00% 57.14% 0.00%
Arkansas 85,040 6 11 16 6 54.55% 55.56% 14.29%
California 1,453,222 46 122 245 28 22.95% 25.56% 3.23%
Colorado 663,315 21 65 115 20 30.77% 36.11% 8.86%
Connecticut 127,693 9 41 74 9 21.95% 17.39% 9.80%
Delaware 62,469 5 8 16 2 25.00% 50.00% 0.00%
Idaho 97,639 6 14 25 7 50.00% 50.00% 13.33%
Illinois 409,548 24 82 139 24 29.27% 38.98% 1.25%
Iowa 146,562 10 41 68 8 19.51% 20.00% 6.98%
Kansas 174,722 7 28 52 8 28.57% 27.27% 6.67%
Louisiana 71,054 3 4 8 1 25.00% 33.33% 0.00%
Massachusetts 126,853 9 51 76 13 25.49% 28.57% 7.32%
Minnesota 172,892 9 33 56 6 18.18% 17.39% 6.06%
Mississippi 9,518 1 1 1 1 100.00% 100.00% N/A*
Missouri 307,680 18 38 73 4 10.53% 8.70% 4.00%
Montana 11,145 1 4 3 3 75.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Nebraska 36,943 1 3 8 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
New Hampshire 26,243 2 19 36 8 42.11% 40.00% 9.52%
New Jersey 274,059 18 58 114 10 17.24% 19.51% 2.74%
New Mexico 198,128 8 20 41 6 30.00% 28.57% 7.41%
New York 207,170 16 44 73 11 25.00% 25.00% 8.89%
North Carolina 186,101 4 16 41 1 6.25% 8.33% 0.00%
Ohio 320,378 19 46 80 16 34.78% 38.89% 4.55%
Oklahoma 258,524 13 14 16 12 85.71% 91.67% 25.00%
Oregon 270,159 13 44 72 26 59.09% 68.97% 13.95%
Pennsylvania 238,994 18 91 161 29 31.87% 38.60% 6.73%
South Carolina 21,097 2 9 13 1 11.11% 0.00% 20.00%
South Dakota 37,227 2 5 8 1 20.00% 20.00% 0.00%
Texas 2,723,097 80 218 369 106 48.62% 54.12% 7.04%
Virginia 655,920 20 103 166 46 44.66% 54.41% 9.18%
Washington 618,358 34 102 151 65 63.73% 67.11% 18.67%
Wisconsin 249,634 12 34 47 13 38.24% 32.00% 22.73%
*Not applicable as no non-incumbents ran in this election.

Analysis by enrollment

Overall, school board seats were more likely to be unopposed in districts with the smallest student enrollments. Districts with a student enrollment between 10,001 and 20,000 had the highest percentage, with 39.20 percent of seats seeing no opposition in the 2015 school board elections. Districts with an enrollment below 10,000 students saw the second-highest percentage. In those districts, 38.10 percent of seats were unopposed.

The lowest percentage of unopposed seats was found in school districts with a student enrollment of 80,001 to 100,000. In those districts, 20.00 percent of seats were unopposed. Districts with an enrollment between 30,001 and 40,000 had the second-highest percentage with 24.64 percent of seats seeing no opposition.

The chart to the right details the percentage of school board seats that were unopposed in 2015 by student enrollment size. More details about how many incumbents and non-incumbents ran unopposed by enrollment range can be found in the table below.

Unopposed seats in the 2015 school board elections (by enrollment)
Enrollment size Districts holding elections Seats up for election Total candidates Unopposed seats (#) Unopposed seats (%) Incumbents running unopposed (%) Non-incumbents running unopposed (%)
Total 440 1,377 2,375 495 35.95% 40.45% 7.33%
Below 10,000 52 147 236 56 38.10% 47.52% 5.93%
10,001 - 20,000 243 778 1,271 305 39.20% 43.12% 9.32%
20,001 - 30,000 74 216 389 72 33.33% 35.29% 7.63%
30,001 - 40,000 25 69 132 17 24.64% 30.23% 4.49%
40,001 - 60,000 26 82 166 24 29.27% 36.36% 3.60%
60,001 - 80,000 8 31 61 8 25.81% 28.00% 2.78%
80,001 - 100,000 5 20 44 4 20.00% 30.77% 0.00%
Above 100,001 7 34 76 9 26.47% 29.63% 2.04%

Candidates per seat

An average of 1.72 candidates ran per school board seat on the ballot in 2015. A total of 2,375 candidates ran for 1,377 seats. In 2014, an average of 1.89 candidates ran for each school board seat up for election. A total of 4,141 candidates ran for 2,189 seats that year.

Analysis by state


The map above details the average number of candidates who ran per school board seat on the ballot in the largest school districts in each state. States depicted in gray did not hold school board elections.

In addition to having the lowest percentage of unopposed seats in 2015, Nebraska had the highest average number of candidates run per school board seat on the ballot. Eight candidates ran for three seats in that state, creating an average of 2.67 candidates per seat. North Carolina had the second-highest average with 2.56 candidates running per seat up for election.

Montana had the lowest average number of candidates run per seat in 2015. Only three candidates ran for four seats on the ballot, meaning less than one candidate ran per seat. Mississippi had the second-lowest average, with just one candidate running for the one seat on the ballot.

The map to the right details the average number of candidates who ran per school board seat on the ballot in each state in 2015. More details about how many candidates ran and how many seats were up for election in each state can be found in the table below.

Average number of candidates per seat in the 2015 school board elections (by state)
State Total enrollment Districts holding elections Seats up for election Total candidates Candidates per seat
Total 10,322,036 440 1,377 2,375 1.72
Alaska 80,652 3 8 12 1.50
Arkansas 85,040 6 11 16 1.45
California 1,453,222 46 122 245 2.01
Colorado 663,315 21 65 115 1.77
Connecticut 127,693 9 41 74 1.80
Delaware 62,469 5 8 16 2.00
Iowa 146,562 10 41 68 1.79
Idaho 97,639 6 14 25 1.70
Illinois 409,548 24 82 139 1.66
Kansas 174,722 7 28 52 1.86
Louisiana 71,054 3 4 8 2.00
Massachusetts 126,853 9 51 76 1.49
Minnesota 172,892 9 33 56 1.70
Mississippi 9,518 1 1 1 1.00
Missouri 307,680 18 38 73 1.92
Montana 11,145 1 4 3 0.75
Nebraska 36,943 1 3 8 2.67
New Hampshire 26,243 2 19 36 1.89
New Jersey 274,059 18 58 114 1.97
New Mexico 198,128 8 20 41 2.05
New York 207,170 16 44 73 1.66
North Carolina 186,101 4 16 41 2.56
Ohio 320,378 19 46 80 1.74
Oklahoma 258,524 13 14 16 1.14
Oregon 270,159 13 44 72 1.64
Pennsylvania 238,994 18 91 161 1.77
South Carolina 21,097 2 9 13 1.44
South Dakota 37,227 2 5 8 1.60
Texas 2,723,097 80 218 369 1.69
Virginia 655,920 20 103 166 1.61
Washington 618,358 34 102 151 1.48
Wisconsin 249,634 12 34 47 1.38

Analysis by enrollment

In the 2015 school board elections, larger school districts attracted more candidates on average than school districts with smaller enrollment sizes. Districts with an enrollment size of at least 100,001 students had an average of 2.24 candidates run per seat on the ballot, which was the highest average out of all of the enrollment ranges. The second-highest average was 2.20 candidates per seat, which was found in districts with an enrollment size of 80,001 students to 100,000 students.

The smallest school districts by enrollment had the lowest average number of candidates run for each seat on the ballot. School districts with a student enrollment size below 10,000 saw an average of 1.61 candidates run per seat, and districts with an enrollment size of 10,001 students to 20,000 students saw an average of 1.63 candidates per seat.

The chart to the right details the average number of candidates who ran per school board seat on the ballot in 2015 by student enrollment size. More details about how many candidates ran and how many seats were up for election by enrollment range can be found in the table below.

Average number of candidates per seat in the 2015 school board elections (by enrollment size)
Enrollment size Districts holding elections Seats up for election Total candidates Candidates per seat
Total 440 1,377 2,375 1.72
Below 10,000 52 147 236 1.61
10,001 - 20,000 243 778 1,271 1.63
20,001 - 30,000 74 216 389 1.80
30,001 - 40,000 25 69 132 1.91
40,001 - 60,000 26 82 166 2.02
60,001 - 80,000 8 31 61 1.97
80,001 - 100,000 5 20 44 2.20
Above 100,001 7 34 76 2.24

See also

School Boards News and Analysis
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