South Dakota school board elections, 2014

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2014 School Board Elections

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Elections Information

Election Dates • 2014 Elections • Poll Opening and Closing Times

A total of two South Dakota school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2014 for three seats. Sioux Falls School District held its election on April 8, 2014. Rapid City Area School District held its election on June 3, 2014.

Here are several quick facts about South Dakota's school board elections in 2014:

• An average of 1.33 candidates ran for each board seat up for election in 2014 in South Dakota’s largest school districts by enrollment, which was lower than the national average of 1.89 candidates per seat.
• Two-thirds of the school board seats on the ballot in 2014 were unopposed. This was a higher percentage than the 32.57 percent of school board seats that were unopposed nationally.

• All of the incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran for re-election in 2014, and they all retained their seats.
• No newcomers were elected to school boards in South Dakota. Nationally 38.19 percent of school board seats went to newcomers.
• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Sioux Falls School District with 21,390 K-12 students.
• The smallest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Rapid City Area School District with 13,382 K-12 students.
• Rapid City Area School District had the most seats up for election in 2014 with two seats up for election. Sioux Falls School District had one seat up for election.

The districts listed below served 34,772 K-12 students during the 2010-2011 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2014 South Dakota School Board Elections
District	Date	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Sioux Falls School District	4/8/2014	1	5	21,390
Rapid City Area School District	6/3/2014	2	7	13,382

State profile

Demographic data for South Dakota
	South Dakota	U.S.
Total population:	857,919	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	75,811	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	85%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.6%	12.6%
Asian:	1.2%	5.1%
Native American:	8.6%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.3%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.9%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$50,957	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	15.3%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in South Dakota. **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.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in South Dakota

South Dakota voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in South Dakota, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. South Dakota had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More South Dakota coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in South Dakota
• United States congressional delegations from South Dakota
• Public policy in South Dakota
• Endorsers in South Dakota
• South Dakota fact checks
• More...

Academic performance

See also: Public education in South Dakota

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota), South Dakota has the smallest share of fourth grade students who scored at or above proficient in both math and reading.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
South Dakota	40%	38%	32%	36%
Montana	45%	40%	35%	40%
Nebraska	45%	36%	37%	37%
North Dakota	48%	41%	34%	34%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for South Dakota and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
South Dakota	83%	Second	21.8	81%	1,760	3%
Montana	84%	Second	22	61%	1,595	25%
Nebraska	88%	First	22	78%	1,734	4%
North Dakota	87%	First	20.7	100%	1,799	2%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–11 and school year 2011–12. The event dropout rate for South Dakota was lower than the national average at 2.6 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 3.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

See also

South Dakota	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in South Dakota List of school districts in South Dakota	School board elections, 2014 List of school board elections in 2014	School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers 2014 incumbency advantage