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Simone Lightfoot
Simone Lightfoot was an at-large member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education in Michigan. Lightfoot assumed office on December 16, 2009. Lightfoot left office on December 31, 2020.
Elections
2016
Three of the seven seats on the Ann Arbor Public Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. Incumbents Simone Lightfoot and Deb Mexicotte filed for re-election, while Andy Thomas opted not to seek a new term. Lightfoot and Mexicotte ran against challengers Jeff Gaynor, Rebecca Lazarus, Jeremy Glick, Harmony Mitchell, Don Wilkerson, and Hunter Van Valkenburgh. Gaynor, Lightfoot, and Mitchell won in the election.[1]
Results
| Ann Arbor Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Jeff Gaynor |
16.04% | 22,258 |
| Simone Lightfoot Incumbent |
15.48% | 21,487 |
| Harmony Mitchell |
14.78% | 20,507 |
| Deb Mexicotte Incumbent | 14.07% | 19,524 |
| Hunter Van Valkenburgh | 12.66% | 17,566 |
| Rebecca Lazarus | 11.40% | 15,822 |
| Don Wilkerson | 7.88% | 10,940 |
| Jeremy Glick | 7.00% | 9,718 |
| Write-in votes | 0.68% | 940 |
| Total Votes | 138,762 | |
| Source: Washtenaw County, Michigan, "Official Election Results," accessed November 22, 2016 | ||
Funding
School board candidates in Michigan were required to file pre-election campaign finance reports with their county election offices by October 28, 2016. Post-election reports were due by December 8, 2016.[2]
In Michigan, candidates are prohibited from receiving contributions from corporations or labor organizations. Within 10 days of becoming a candidate, candidates must form a candidate committee. Following the creation of the committee, candidates have an additional 10 days to register the committee with the school district filing official by filing a statement of organization. A candidate committee that does not expect to receive or spend more than $1,000 during the election cycle is eligible to receive a reporting waiver, which allows that committee not to file pre-election, post-election, and annual campaign statements.[3]
October 28 filing
Candidates received a total of $15,654.22 and spent a total of $8,378.46 as of October 30, 2016, according to the Wasthenaw County Clerk/Register.[4]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Lightfoot (incumbent) | $4,143.57 | $3,282.62 | $1,005.98 |
| Deb Mexicotte (incumbent) | $2,262.30 | $450.00 | $1,812.30 |
| Jeff Gaynor | $1,361.12 | $0.00 | $1,361.12 |
| Jeremy Glick | $3,815.00 | $3,281.60 | $553.40 |
| Rebecca Lazarus | $1,350.00 | $1,364.24 | -$14.24 |
| Harmony Mitchell | $1,361.12 | $0.00 | $1,361.12 |
| Don Wilkerson | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Hunter Van Valkenburgh | $1,361.11 | $0.00 | $1,361.11 |
Campaign themes
2016
Lightfoot provided the following responses for the voter guide compiled by MLive.com:
| “ |
Why are you running for office? Second, It is a privilege to lend my professional experience in conservation, social justice and public policy to the district. My systematic approach to comfortably delving into the unknown, embracing research, state legislation and applying the knowledge gained over time has brought noticeable benefit for almost seven years. I am running for re-election in order to continue to ensure our district makes measured decisions that prioritize our students, protect our budget and grow our dynamic teaching force while managing and maintaining our growth and student achievement. What are your top three priorities? Second, providing robust TEACHER DEVELOPMENT & STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT SUPPORTS both for new and experienced educators. We should also continue working to expand student academic, social and emotional supports while recognizing growing poverty impacts including more robust summer school, Saturday school offerings and cross school district training opportunities for teachers. Third, it is critical we continue to ENGAGE IN ROBUST STATE LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY in order to protect and safeguard both our budget and traditional pubic education as a whole in our state. What is the most pressing issue for this office? Growing programs, teacher development, modernizing tools and providing the staff support necessary for student wrap around services is under constant strain. Democracy, governance and constitutional structures matter and when those structures are being attacked and dismantled, school district suffer tremendously. While we have many protective buffers in our district (financial resources, political will, educated and regarded electorate, etc.) we are not immune nor have we been spared the impacts of the pain felt by our neighbors in surrounding districts.[5][6] |
” |
| —Simone Lightfoot (2016) | ||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Washtenaw County Elections Division, "Official List of Candidates-November 8, 2016 General Election," August 26, 2016
- ↑ Michigan Bureau of Elections, "2016 and 2017 Campaign Finance Filing Schedule," January 12, 2016
- ↑ Genesee County, "Filing Requirements under Michigan's Campaign Finance Act," February 7, 2014
- ↑ Washtenaw County Clerk/Register, "Campaign Finance," accessed October 30, 2016
- ↑ MLive.com, "Voter Guide," accessed October 20, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Ann Arbor Public Schools Elections | |
| Washtenaw County, Michigan | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: Incumbent, Simone Lightfoot • Incumbent, Deb Mexicotte • Jeff Gaynor • Rebecca Lazarus • Jeremy Glick • Harmony Mitchell • Don Wilkerson • Hunter Van Valkenburgh |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
