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Shelby County Schools, Tennessee elections (2016)

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Shelby County Schools Elections

General election date:
August 4, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
149,832 students

Five of the nine seats on the Shelby County Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016.[1] Four of the five incumbents who ran to retain their seats ran unopposed and won additional terms: Teresa Jones in District 2, Kevin Woods in District 4, Scott McCormick in District 5, and Miska Clay-Bibbs in District 7. The District 3 race was the only contested race on the ballot, featuring incumbent Stephanie Love and challenger Sharon Fields. Love was re-elected to her seat.[2][3][4][5]

This race had a higher percentage of unopposed seats and attracted fewer candidates per seat than past elections in both the district and the state. To see how else this race compared to past elections in the district and the state, check out the "Election trends" section below.

In July 2016, the U.S. Department of Education announced its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) would be investigating Shelby County Schools. The OCR probe was started due to a complaint that the district was discriminating against migrant students.[6]

See also: Issues in the district

Elections

Voter and candidate information

Shelby County School District logo.png

The Shelby County Board of Education consists of nine members elected by district to four-year terms. Elections are held on a staggered basis every August of even-numbered years. The district's 2014 election expanded the board size from seven to nine members. Seven seats were up for election that year, and five seats were up for general election on August 4, 2016. There was no primary election.[4][7]

To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file their qualifying documents by April 7, 2016. The deadline to withdraw from the election was April 14, 2016.[1]

To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by July 5, 2016.[1] Photo identification was required to vote in this election.[8]

Candidates and results

District 2

Results

Shelby County Schools,
District 2 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Teresa Jones Incumbent (unopposed) 99.08% 4,535
Write-in votes 0.92% 42
Total Votes 4,577
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Certified Elections Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Teresa Jones Green check mark transparent.png

Teresa Jones.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2011-2016
  • Graduate, Lane College and the Memphis State University Law School
  • Chief city prosecutor, City Of Memphis Law Division

District 3

Results

Shelby County Schools,
District 3 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Stephanie Love Incumbent 58.97% 3,236
Sharon Fields 40.87% 2,243
Write-in votes 0.16% 9
Total Votes 5,488
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Certified Elections Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Stephanie Love Green check mark transparent.png Sharon Fields

Stephanie Love.jpeg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2014-2016
  • Graduate, Tennessee Academy of Cosmetology
  • Cosmetologist, On The Spot Cuts and Styles

Placeholder image.png

  • Office manager and family coordinator, Libertas School of Memphis

District 4

Results

Shelby County Schools,
District 4 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Kevin Woods Incumbent (unopposed) 99.16% 6,225
Write-in votes 0.84% 53
Total Votes 6,278
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Certified Elections Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Kevin Woods Green check mark transparent.png

Kevin Woods.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2012-2016
  • Graduate, University of Memphis
  • Executive director, Workforce Investment Network

District 5

Results

Shelby County Schools,
District 5 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Scott McCormick Incumbent (unopposed) 98.92% 5,937
Write-in votes 1.08% 65
Total Votes 6,002
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Certified Elections Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Scott McCormick Green check mark transparent.png

Scott McCormick (Tennessee).jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2014-2016
  • Graduate, University of Memphis
  • Executive director, Memphis Botanic Garden

District 7

Results

Shelby County Schools,
District 7 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Miska Clay-Bibbs Incumbent (unopposed) 99.63% 3,734
Write-in votes 0.37% 14
Total Votes 3,748
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Certified Elections Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed September 1, 2016

Candidates

Miska Clay-Bibbs Green check mark transparent.png

Miska Clay Bibbs.jpg

  • Incumbent
  • Member from 2014-2016
  • Graduate, Hampton College
  • Executive director, Teach Plus

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Tennessee elections, 2016

The Shelby County Schools election shared the ballot with primary elections for the state's 8th and 9th Congressional District seats on the U.S. House of Representatives, the District 30 and 32 seats on the Tennessee State Senate, and the District 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99 seats on the Tennessee House of Representatives. It also shared the ballot with general elections for the Division 3 seat on the Circuit Court, the Part III seat on the Chancery Court, and the Division 1 and 2 seats on the Bartlett Court.[2]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for Tennessee school board elections in 2016:[1]

Deadline Event
April 7, 2016 Candidate filing deadline
April 11, 2016 1st quarter campaign finance report due
April 14, 2016 Candidate withdrawal deadline
July 5, 2016 Voter registration deadline
July 11, 2016 2nd quarter campaign finance report due
July 15, 2016 - July 30, 2016 Early voting period
July 28, 2016 Pre-election campaign finance report due
August 4, 2016 Election day
October 11, 2016 3rd quarter campaign finance report due
January 25, 2017 4th quarter campaign finance report due

Endorsements

District 7 incumbent Miska Clay-Bibbs was endorsed by the organization Stand for Children.[9]

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

Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png
See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

The pre-general campaign financial disclosure report for this election was due July 28, 2016. Candidates were also required to file quarterly reports for the 2016 election year. Those reports were due on April 11, 2016; July 11, 2016; October 11, 2016; and January 25, 2017.[1]

Reports

Candidates received a total of $7,965.70 and spent a total of $6,791.15 in the election, according to the Shelby County Election Commission.[10]

Candidate Existing balance Contributions Expenditures Cash on hand
Teresa Jones $6,368.12 $5,520.70 $2,945.85 $8,942.97
Stephanie Love $0.00 $1,945.00 $1,250.00 $695.00
Sharon Fields $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Kevin Woods $246.80 $500.00 $0.00 $746.80
Scott McCormick $6,839.41 $0.00 $2,595.30 $4,244.11
Miska Clay-Bibbs $650.00 $0.00 $0.00 $650.00

Past elections

What was at stake?

2016

Election trends

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

The Shelby County Schools Board of Education election in 2016 had a higher percentage of unopposed seats than the district and the state has had in past election years. A total of 80 percent of the seats on the ballot in the district's 2016 race were unopposed. In the district's 2014 school board election, 28.57 percent of the seats saw no opposition, and in the district's 2012 election, 14.29 percent of the seats were unopposed. A total of 36.78 percent of the school board seats up for election in Tennessee's largest school districts in 2014 were unopposed.

The district's 2016 race also attracted fewer candidates per seat. Six candidates ran for five seats, equaling an average of 1.2 candidates per seat. In the district's 2012 and 2014 school board elections, an average of two candidates ran per seat. Statewide in 2014, an average of 1.94 candidates ran per seat.

All five Shelby County Board of Education incumbents up for re-election in 2016 ran to retain their seats. Four were guaranteed to win additional terms, as they ran unopposed. The fifth also won re-election after defeating a challenger, creating a 100 percent incumbent success rate.

Incumbents in the district's 2014 race also had a 100 percent success rate. Two of the seven incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran to keep their seats and won re-election. That year, five new members were also added to the board. All five won open seats, taking 71.43 percent of the seats up for election. Statewide in 2014, 75.41 percent of incumbents won re-election, and 45.98 percent of school board seats were taken by newcomers.

Issues in the district

District under investigation over migrant students

The U.S. Department of Education announced on July 20, 2016, that Shelby County Schools was being investigated by the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The investigation involves "issues affecting English learners and limited English proficiency parental communication, under Title VI,” according to OCR spokeswoman Dorie Nolt. Title VI prohibits any organization or program that receives federal funding from discriminating based on race or national origin, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee.[6]

An Associated Press report in May 2016 found that a number of migrant children who lived in the Shelby County school district had been kept from enrolling in school by district officials due to lack of transcripts or the age of the students.[11] If the investigation finds evidence of discrimination, the OCR would work with district leaders to find a resolution to fix the issues. If a resolution did not work, the OCR could bring a lawsuit against the district.[6]

The OCR saw 51 percent more complaints related to Title VI from 2009 to 2015. Overall, Title VI complaints represented 21 percent of complaints brought to the OCR in 2015, according to Education Dive.[12]

Memphis City Schools, now part of Shelby County Schools, underwent an OCR probe in 2012. That time, the OCR investigated allegations of discrimination against students with disabilities, and the district agreed to resolve the issue by better communicating about the rights of students with district parents.[6]

State responds to district's 2015 lawsuit
See also: Education reform: State funding battles and local responses (2016)

Shelby County Schools filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee in 2015. The lawsuit said that the state's lack of funding had disproportionately hurt the district's poorer students and that the state's funding model failed "to take into account the actual costs of funding an education."[13][14]

The state did not respond to Shelby County's lawsuit until July 2016, when officials submitted a 25-page response that denied that the state's funding model was the cause of the school district's financial problems. The response also detailed that the funding model meets the state's responsibilities to maintain a public school system “that affords substantially equal educational opportunities to all students in Tennessee."[14]

Shelby County Schools was not alone in suing the state over education funding. Two other large urban school districts—Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Hamilton County School District—sued the state in 2015 and 2016. Hamilton County, along with six surrounding county school districts, filed a lawsuit against the state that stated it had not provided sufficient funding for schools. Metro Nashville's lawsuit sought additional education funding for the district, specifically for teaching English as a second language. Hamilton County's lawsuit was denied class-action status in 2016, but a judge also ruled against the state's motion to dismiss it.[15]

At issue in the three lawsuits was the state's funding formula, known as the Basic Education Program (BEP). Shelby County, Metro Nashville, and Hamilton County said they did not receive the funding due to them under BEP. The 2016 budget that was signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) marked the second year for "substantial increases" to the state's public education funding, according to The Tennesseean. It added $261 million to BEP, $104.6 million of which was dedicated to raising teacher salaries.[15] What the budget did not do, however, was set up BEP 2.0, a program that changed the funding formula to help larger school districts.[13]

Want to see how this election related to state and national trends on this topic? Ballotpedia tracked this issue in the 2016 election cycle so you can see the connections and impact on this race in context.

Click here for The Bite on this topic.
State's Achievement School District halts school takeovers for one year
Tennessee Achievement School District.jpg

Following the cancellation of the state's TNReady tests, officials of the state's Achievement School District (ASD) announced they would not seek to take over any additional schools for the 2017-2018 school year. “Extending flexibility to priority schools during this transition mirrors the flexibility we have offered to teachers and students,” Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced in a statement on April 15, 2016.[16]

The ASD is a statewide school district designed to take control of struggling schools. The schools are assigned to charter school networks and taken out of the control of the county school district. According to its website, the ASD "was created to catapult the bottom 5% of schools in Tennessee straight to the top 25% in the state."[16][17]

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-98)

The ASD opened its first school in 2012. As of the 2015-2016 school year, the ASD operated 29 schools. Two of those schools were former Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, and the other 27 were previously under the jurisdiction of Shelby County Schools. Though the ASD's goals were to turn around its schools within five years, five of the six schools that were opened in 2012 were still in the state's bottom 5 percent in performance in 2016. ASD Superintendent Malika Anderson admitted that the goals had been "overly ambitious," according to Chalkbeat Tennessee.[16]

The move to suspend ASD takeovers was approved by both critics and supporters of the district. An open critic of the ASD, State Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-98) said, “The fact that the ASD/DOE is listening and holding their 17-18 school year as a ‘hold harmless’ year is a positive step in the right direction.”[16]

Mendell Grinter, the state director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a group that has advocated for the ASD, said, "Students need adequate time to prepare for and adjust to the new TNReady assessment, and this decision will allow for that."[16]

Testing suspended in wake of state terminating TNReady contract

After the Tennessee Department of Education terminated the contract with the provider of the state's new TNReady test assessments on April 27, 2016, Shelby County Schools halted its assessments for students in grades three through eight. Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said the contract was terminated with North Carolina-based Measurement Inc. after it failed to deliver all of the testing materials.[18][19][20]

Education Commissioner Candice McQueen

McQueen called Measurement Inc.'s performance "deeply disappointing" after months of delivery delays and a failure to rollout the assessment online in February 2016. "We’ve exhausted every option in problem solving with this vendor to assist them in getting these tests delivered. Districts have exceeded their responsibility and obligation to wait for grade 3-8 materials, and we will not ask districts to continue waiting on a vendor that has repeatedly failed us," said McQueen.[21]

Measurement Inc. President Henry Scherich said the contract termination was a disappointment. "It has been a very difficult job, and we were within a couple days or so of having all the tests in the state," said Scherich.[19]

Scherich said that the company had been put in a "difficult, and even impossible, situation" after they were required to switch to a paper test in response to the failed online assessment, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee. McQueen said the state's contract had included provisions for paper tests in the case of technical difficulties.[21] The state first contracted with Measurement Inc. in 2014 in response to displeasure with the Common Core standards. As of the termination, the state had paid $1.6 million toward the $108 million contract.[19]

The state decided to continue testing high school students, as those materials had been received, but it suspended the tests for younger students. School districts that received the needed materials for testing younger grades were allowed to choose between continuing the assessments or suspending them.[18][21] When district officials announced they would be suspending tests, Shelby County Schools released the following statement:

The constant changes with regard to this year's TNReady testing have been challenging, but we applaud the Tennessee Department of Education for keeping us updated along the way.

SCS has elected, per the State's option, to suspend testing for all students in Grades 3-8 due to Measurement Inc.'s failed delivery of testing materials. Although this testing period has been tumultuous, we are pleased that the State is providing districts, teachers and students with flexibility in performance and evaluation as they continue to work to provide us with a quality annual assessment.[22]

—Shelby County Schools (2016)[20]

Due to the suspension, accountability measures related to test scores—such as teacher evaluations—were also delayed for one year. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said that despite the delay, the state was still moving forward.[21]

The failure of the testing vendor to deliver the tests and meet its own obligations does not take away from the fact that Tennessee has created our own, higher standards, we have an improved assessment fully aligned with those standards, and we remain committed going forward to measuring student performance fairly and ensuring accountability for those results.[22]
—Gov. Bill Haslam (R)[21]

Issues in the state

Transgender bathroom bill withdrawn
Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57)

State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-57) proposed legislation in January 2016 that would require public school students in kindergarten through college to use the bathroom and locker room that corresponded with the sex listed on their birth certificates. Four months later, she withdrew the bill. "I am still absolutely 100 percent in support of maintaining the privacy of all students. But I'm going to roll the bill over until next year so we can work on those issues," Lynn said.[23][24]

House Bill 2414 drew criticism from local media and some companies threatened to withhold business from the state if the bill were passed. Lynn said that was not why she withdrew the bill; instead, she put it on hold in order to further study the issue. She said school districts in Tennessee were "largely following what the bill says."[23][25]

While HB 2414 was still in committee, Gov. Bill Haslam (R) expressed concern about the bill. “I’m hearing that our school boards have figured out how to adjust to each situation that arises, and to date, I’m not hearing parents say we have [a] problem in our schools today,” said Haslam.[26]

Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R)

State Reps. Mike Stewart (D-52) and Harry Brooks (R-19) asked for an opinion on the issue from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R). Slatery responded by warning that the state could lose federal Title IX funding if the bill were passed.[27]

As things currently stand, we must, as a practical matter, assume that H.B. 2414 would violate Title IX, because the enforcer of Title IX has clearly interpreted — and enforced — Title IX to prohibit as 'discriminatory on the basis of sex' what H.B. 2414 is designed to accomplish.[22]
—Attorney General Herbert Slatery (April 2016)[27]

Stewart said Slatery's opinion was the "final nail in the coffin" for the bill. He and State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-55) said the bill could also hinder the state's goal of creating a business-friendly climate.[27] Executives of dozens of companies had signed a letter to state lawmakers asking them to reject the bill on the grounds that it was discriminatory.[28]

David Fowler, former state senator and president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, objected to Slatery's opinion. He said the attorney general had used settlement agreements rather than court decisions to warn the state legislature away from passing the bill. "Settlement agreements have no persuasive value as a matter of law, unlike the court decisions that have actually ruled in favor of sex-designated bathrooms," Fowler said.[27]

After the bill was withdrawn, Fowler issued a statement:

But we join the thousands of parents across the state who are profoundly disappointed that at this point in the process Rep. Lynn has decided not to proceed with a bill that would have simply protected the privacy of the children they have entrusted to our public schools.[22]
—David Fowler (April 2016)[23]

In addition to receiving support from the Family Action Council of Tennessee, the bill was backed by approximately 30 pastors from the Tennessee Pastors Network. At least 67,000 state citizens opposed the bill, as two transgender high school students turned in that many signatures to the governor's office. They were joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the Tennessee Equality Project, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and the Human Rights Campaign.[23]

Candidate survey

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About the district

See also: Shelby County Schools, Tennessee
The Shelby County school district is located in Shelby County, Tennessee.

The Shelby County school district is located in Shelby County in southwestern Tennessee. The county seat is Memphis. Shelby County was home to 938,069 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[29] The district was the largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 149,832 students.[30]

Demographics

Shelby County outperformed Tennessee as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.8 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 24.4 percent of state residents. The median household income in Shelby County was $46,213, compared to $44,621 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 23.0 percent, compared to 18.3 percent statewide.[29]

Racial Demographics, 2014[29]
Race Shelby County (%) Tennessee (%)
White 42.3 78.9
Black or African American 53.3 17.1
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4 0.4
Asian 2.6 1.7
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.1 0.1
Two or More Races 1.4 1.7
Hispanic or Latino 6.0 5.0

Presidential Voting Pattern, Shelby County[31]
Year Democratic Vote Republican Vote
2012 232,443 135,649
2008 256,297 145,458
2004 216,945 158,137
2000 190,404 141,756

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 'Shelby County Schools' 'Tennessee'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

Shelby County Schools Tennessee School Boards
School Board badge.png
Seal of Tennessee.png
School Board badge.png

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Calendar 2016," accessed March 31, 2016 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "calendar" defined multiple times with different content
  2. 2.0 2.1 Shelby County Election Commission, "Candidate Petitions Issued and Filed," accessed April 8, 2016
  3. Memphis Daily News, "Two More August School Board Races Go Uncontested," April 14, 2016
  4. 4.0 4.1 Shelby County Schools, "Shelby County Board of Education," accessed March 31, 2016
  5. Shelby County Election Commission, "Unofficial Results: 2016 State and Federal Primary Elections and County General Election," accessed August 5, 2016
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Shelby County Schools subject of federal civil rights probe over migrant students," July 20, 2016
  7. Tiffany Rouse, "Email communication with Shelby County Administrator of Elections Richard Holden," March 5, 2015
  8. Tennessee Secretary of State, "What ID is required when voting?" accessed March 31, 2016
  9. Stand for Children Tennessee, "District 7- Miska Clay Bibbs," accessed June 29, 2016
  10. Shelby County Election Commission, "Information Directory," accessed September 22, 2016
  11. The Commercial Appeal, "Migrant children kept from enrolling in school," May 1, 2016
  12. Education Dive, "OCR probes Tennessee's Shelby County over immigrant ed," July 22, 2016
  13. 13.0 13.1 Times Free Press, "More lawsuits expected as frustration grows over Tennessee education funding," June 21, 2016
  14. 14.0 14.1 Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Tennessee affirms its school funding formula in response to lawsuit over Memphis schools," July 11, 2016
  15. 15.0 15.1 The Tennessean, "Nashville schools to sue state for education funding," June 15, 2016
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Citing TNReady transition, Tennessee’s school turnaround district to halt takeovers for one year," April 15, 2016
  17. Achievement School District, "Building the Possible," accessed June 10, 2016
  18. 18.0 18.1 WATE.com, "Tennessee Department of Education terminates TNReady testing contract," April 27, 2016
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 The Tennesseean, "Tennessee terminates contract with TNReady test company," April 27, 2016
  20. 20.0 20.1 WREG, "State suspends some TNReady testing after vendor fails to deliver materials," April 27, 2016
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Tennessee fires TNReady testmaker, suspends tests for grades 3-8," April 27, 2016
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 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 The Tennesseean, "Transgender bathroom bill dead for year," April 18, 2016
  24. Open States, "HB 2414," accessed April 19, 2016
  25. Knoxville News Sentinel, "Tennessee lawmakers should stay out of students’ restrooms," April 3, 2016
  26. Huffington Post, "Tennessee Governor Skeptical Of Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bill," April 13, 2016
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 The Tennesseean, "Attorney general: Tennessee bathroom bill threatens Title IX funds," April 11, 2016
  28. CBS News, "Tennessee lawmakers under fire over transgender bathroom bill," April 13, 2016
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 United States Census Bureau, "Shelby County, Tennessee," accessed April 12, 2016
  30. National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
  31. Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed June 26, 2014