Shane Schulte
Shane Schulte was a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Des Moines School Board in Iowa. The seat was up for general election on September 8, 2015. He lost to Heather Anderson.[1][2]
Schulte unsuccessfully ran for one of two at-large seats on the school board that was up for election on September 10, 2013.
Schulte participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates.
Biography
Shane Schulte resides in Des Moines with his wife and daughter. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He went on to earn an MBA from Drake University. He works as a senior project manager at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Schulte has served as president of the Des Moines City Wide PTA and, at the time of his candidacy, served as a member of the Des Moines Public Schools Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee.[3][4]
Elections
2015
Four of the seven seats on the Des Moines Public Schools School Board were up for election on September 8, 2015. The available seats included an at-large seat with a four-year term, seats with four-year terms in Districts 1 and 3, and a seat with a two-year term in District 2.
Prior to 2013, all representatives on the school board represented the district at-large. Voters approved a proposal to incorporate four district representatives on the school board in 2011. In 2013, residents voted for representatives in District 2 and District 4. In 2015, residents voted for a representative in District 1 and District 3. Toussaint Cheatom won the election for the District 2 seat in 2013, but he resigned due to health concerns. Nathan Blake was appointed to the open seat. The District 2 seat was open in 2015 for a two-year term.[5]
Incumbent Cindy Elsbernd defeated Royce Turner for the at-large seat. Newcomers Heather Anderson and Shane Schulte ran for the one available seat in District 1. Anderson defeated Schulte. Dionna Langford defeated challengers Ed Linebach and Edgar Ortiz for the two-year term seat in District 2. In District 3, Rocio Hermosillo was defeated by Natasha Newcomb. Incumbents Nathan Blake, Bill Howard, and Pat Sweeney did not run for re-election.[6][7][8]
Results
This election was held September 8, 2015.
| Des Moines Public Schools, District 1, 4-Year Term, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Heather Anderson |
50.9% | 1,286 |
| Shane Schulte | 49.1% | 1,240 |
| Total Votes | 2,526 | |
| Source: Polk County Auditor's Office, "Regular School Election," accessed November 12, 2015 | ||
Funding
Endorsements
Schulte received no official endorsements during the election.
2013
Connie Boesen and Rob X. Barron defeated incumbent Joe Jongewaard and challengers Heather Ryan and Shane Schulte for two at-large seats in the general election on September 10, 2013.[9][10]
Results
| Des Moines Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Connie Boesen Incumbent |
24.4% | 2,838 | |
| Nonpartisan | Rob X. Barron |
23.2% | 2,699 | |
| Nonpartisan | Joe Jongewaard Incumbent | 22.9% | 2,671 | |
| Nonpartisan | Shane Schulte | 19.3% | 2,251 | |
| Nonpartisan | Heather Ryan | 9.2% | 1,076 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1% | 120 | |
| Total Votes | 11,655 | |||
| Source: Polk County Auditor, "School Board Election," accessed September 14, 2013 | ||||
Funding
As of September 9, 2013, Schulte reported $2,166.00 in donations and $4,321.09 in expenditures to the Iowa Secretary of State, which left him $2,155.09 in debt.[11]
Endorsements
Schulte received an endorsement for his campaign from the Des Moines Education Association.[12]
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Schulte participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Asking the Superintendent for a strategic plan so the broader community can buy into our vision and journey for the future.[13] | ” |
| —Ralph Johanson (2015)[14] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was 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 this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Idaho. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "We do more than Common Core" | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "No" | |
| "Equal opportunity means equal access to equal resources. We need to be careful not to over-allocate resources to lower achieving students where it prohibits other students from a rigorous curriculum. The only way to maintain balance is with close monitoring and transparency in program funding and student achievement results" | |
| "Expulsion should only be used as a last resort" | |
| "Change Leadership, Rotate staff, engage with parents and ask them for help. Be open, honest, and transparent about the real issues facing the school. Schools are challenged to deal with many of socieities problems that they are not equipped to solve, like extreme poverty" | |
| "No" | |
| "Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district." | |
| "Participate in other community boards and community wide strategic planning sessions. Make myself available to the persons most impacted by schools, Parents, Teachers, and Students" |
2013
Schulte supported Superintendent Ahart and believed, "...there’s a lack of trust in our school board."[15] Schulte's campaign website listed the following campaign themes for 2013:[16]
| “ | *Open and Transparent Government
|
” |
| —Shane Schulte's campaign website (2013), [15] | ||
Note: The above quote is from the candidate's website, which may include some typographical or spelling errors.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Shane Schulte Des Moines Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa
- Des Moines Public Schools elections (2015)
- Des Moines Public Schools elections (2013)
- Newcomers and incumbents share the victories in Iowa's largest school district elections (September 9, 2015)
- Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Polk County Auditor's Office, "Regular School Election," accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Des Moines Public Schools, "2015 School Board Candidates," accessed August 3, 2015
- ↑ Education in Des Moines, "About," accessed July 31, 2013
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Shane Schulte," accessed July 31, 2013
- ↑ Des Moines Public School, "School Board Election Information," accessed March 27, 2015
- ↑ Polk County Auditor's Office, "Regular School Election," accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Des Moines Public Schools, "2015 School Board Candidates," accessed August 3, 2015
- ↑ Office of the Polk County Auditor, "Candidate Guide," accessed March 11, 2015
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Parent volunteer running for Des Moines school board," July 11, 2013
- ↑ Mary Stegmeir, Des Moines Register, "Mix of incumbents, challengers to join Des Moines school board," September 10, 2013
- ↑ IECDB Web Reporting System, "DR-2 Disclosure Summary Page," accessed September 9, 2013
- ↑ Mary Stegmeir, Des Moines Register, "Teachers union endorses candidates in Des Moines school board race," August 8, 2013
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Shane Schulte responses," August 24, 2015
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Andy Fales, WHOtv.com 13, "SCHOOL BOARD: 8 New Candidates Vying For Spots," September 4, 2013
- ↑ Education in Des Moines, "What I stand for," July 26, 2013
| 2015 Des Moines Public Schools Elections | |
| Polk County, Iowa | |
| Election date: | September 8, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Cindy Elsbernd • Royce Turner District 1: Heather Anderson • Shane Schulte |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
| ||||||||||
