St. Tammany Parish Public Schools special elections (2015)
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Two seats on the St. Tammany Parish School Board were up for special election in 2015. Both elections were scheduled to fill vacancies on the board created by deaths of sitting board members, though the second election was canceled as only one candidate filed for the race.
Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
The District 14 seat was up for election on March 28, 2015, following the death of incumbent Ray Anthony Alfred (D) on September 17, 2014. Alfred was 60 years old and had recently won automatic re-election in his uncontested 2014 election bid.[1]
The vacancy on the school board was temporarily filled by his father, Anthony Alfred, who was appointed by the board in October 2014.[2] Only two candidates filed to run in the special election for District 14: Dennis "Coach" Cousin (D) and John Murchison (I).[3] This was the first campaign for public office for both Cousin and Murchison.[4] With less than 10 percent of the district's voters casting ballots, Cousin won the District 14 special election.[5]
The District 12 seat was scheduled for election on October 24, 2015, following the death of incumbent James "Ronnie" Panks Sr. (R) on January 14, 2015. Panks had also won re-election in an uncontested race in the 2014 election.[6]
Richard Hursey (R) was appointed on February 2, 2015, by the remaining board members to temporarily fill the vacancy created by Panks' death until the special election could be held.[7] However, the District 12 special election was canceled as Hursey was the only candidate to file for the race.[3]
The winners of both special elections assumed terms that ran until the next regular school board election in 2018. The Republican school board majority was not lost in these special elections, leaving the board with 12 Republicans and three Democrats. In the spring of 2015, the board faced the possibility of large numbers of students opting-out of standardized testing based on Common Core standards.
About the district
St. Tammany Parish Public Schools lies in southeastern Louisiana in St. Tammany Parish. The seat of parish government is Covington. St. Tammany Parish was home to an estimated 242,333 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[8] In the 2011-2012 school year, St. Tammany Parish was the fourth-largest school district in Louisiana and served 37,058 students.[9]
Demographics
St. Tammany Parish overperformed compared to the rest of Louisiana in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.1 percent of St. Tammany Parish residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 21.8 percent for Louisiana as a whole. The median household income for the parish was $60,799, compared to $44,874 statewide. The poverty rate in the parish was 10.6 percent, compared to 19.1 percent for the entire state.[8]
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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.
Voter and candidate information
The St. Tammany Parish School Board consists of 15 partisan members who serve four-year terms. All of the members are generally elected concurrently by district. This means that regular school board elections are held every four years with all 15 members being up for re-election at that time. Additionally, all members are elected by an area or district which they represent. Any member who, at the end of his or her term, has served more than two and one-half terms in the last three consecutive terms cannot be re-elected in the following term. However, they can be re-elected following a one term break.
All vacancies on the board are filled by appointment by the St. Tammany Parish School Board for the remainder of the unexpired term of the vacated seat. If the unexpired term is longer than one year, a special election must be called. The appointed member serves until a successor is elected and has taken the prescribed oath of office.[11] The power to fill vacancies on the board derives from Article VI, Section 13 of the Louisiana Constitution.
Louisiana school board elections require a majority of 50 percent plus one for a candidate to win. If a candidate garners this majority in what is called the primary election, no general election is held. If no candidate receives the majority of votes, a general election is held and functions as a runoff election.
District 14
The qualifying period for the District 14 special election ran from February 4, 2015, to February 6, 2015. The special election was held on March 28, 2015. A runoff election could have been held on May 2, 2015, if no candidate garnered a majority of 50 percent plus one on the first ballot. However, as only two candidates filed for the election, a runoff election was not possible.[12]
In order to vote in the special election, voters had to register by February 25, 2015. Early voting ran from March 14, 2015, to March 21, 2015.[12] A total of 9,076 voters were registered in the District 14 area for this election. At the close of the early voting period, only 174 ballots had been cast.[13]
District 12
The qualifying period for the District 12 special election ran from September 8, 2015, to September 10, 2015. The special election was scheduled on October 24, 2015, and a runoff election could have been held on November 21, 2015, if no candidate garnered a majority of 50 percent plus one on the first ballot.[12] However, the unopposed race was canceled.
In order to vote in the special election, voters had to register by September 23, 2015. Early voting would have run from October 10, 2015, to October 17, 2015.[12]
Elections
2015
Candidates
District 14
 Dennis "Coach" Cousin 
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 John Murchison
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District 12
 Richard Hursey
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District maps
District 12 |
District 14 |
Election results
District 14
| St. Tammany Parish Public Schools, District 14 Special Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Dennis "Coach" Cousin |
65.6% | 550 | |
| Independent | John Murchison | 34.4% | 288 | |
| Total Votes | 838 | |||
| Source: Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed April 3, 2015 | ||||
District 12
This election was canceled due to the lack of opposition to Richard Hursey (R). He was automatically elected to remainder of the term following the closure of the candidate filing period on September 10, 2015.
Endorsements
District 14
Cousin was endorsed by the St. Tammany Democratic Parish Executive Committee.[14]
Campaign finance
District 14
Candidates received a total of $8,830.91 and spent a total of $7,193.49 as of April 24, 2015, according to the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program. Cousin's final report for the election cycle was available at that time, but Murchinson's was not. These totals include in-kind contributions.[15]
| District 14 campaign finance | ||||
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| Candidate | Monetary contributions | In-kind contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
| Dennis "Coach" Cousin | $2,463.93 | $166.98 | $2,463.93 | $0.00 |
| John Murchison | $6,200.00 | $0.00 | $4,729.56 | $1,470.44 |
District 12
Candidates received a total of $2,880.00 and spent a total of $0.00 in this election, according to the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program.[16]
| District 12 campaign finance | ||||
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| Candidate | Monetary contributions | In-kind contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
| Richard Hursey | $2,880.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $2,880.00 |
Past elections
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2014District 1Neal M. Hennegan (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 2Elizabeth B. Heintz (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 3Michael "Mike" J. Dirmann (D) was re-elected without opposition. District 4Stephen "Jack" J. Loup III (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 5Charles T. Harrell (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 6Michael C. Nation (R) was elected without opposition after his opponent, Mike Rivault (R), withdrew from the race in mid-October 2014. Since the ballots were already printed, Nation and Rivault's names appeared on the ballot. None of the votes in the race were counted. District 7Willie "Coach" Jeter (D) was re-elected without opposition. District 8Peggy H. Seeley (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 9
District 10Ronald "Ron" Bettencourtt (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 11Robert "Bob" R. Womack (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 12James "Ronnie" Panks Sr. (R) was re-elected without opposition. District 13Robin Mullett (R) was elected without opposition. District 14Ray Anthony Alfred (D) was re-elected without opposition. District 15Mary K. Bellisario (R) was re-elected without opposition. 2010District 1Neal M. Hennegan (R) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 2
District 3Incumbent Michael "Mike" J. Dirmann (D) won re-election without opposition.[17] District 4Stephen "Jack" J. Loup III (R) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 5Incumbent Charles T. Harrell (R) was unopposed in his re-election bid.[17] District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9Robin Mullett (R) was re-elected without opposition after Kathryne C. Delcarpio (D) withdrew from the race.[3][17] District 10Ronald "Ron" Bettencourtt (R) was re-elected following the withdrawal of his opponent, Sean Mickal (R), from the race just before the election.[17] District 11Robert "Bob" R. Womack (R) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 12James "Ronnie" Panks Sr. (R) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 13John C. Lamarque, Jr. (D) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 14Ray Anthony Alfred (D) was re-elected without opposition.[17] District 15
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What was at stake?
2015
The two 2015 special elections in St. Tammany did not remove the board's Republican majority. These two special elections followed an uneventful regular election for the district in 2014, when only one race ultimately saw a contested campaign. Prior to the 2014 general election, the board was comprised of 11 Republicans and four Democrats. The special elections did not change the partisan composition of the board.
Issues in the district
Common Core test opt-out complications
- See also: Common Core State Standards Initiative
On January 30, 2015, Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) signed an executive order allowing parents to opt out of the state's spring standardized tests and asking the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to authorize alternative tests to the Common Core-aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers standardized tests. The order and the opt-outs that followed it raised concerns for school board's across the state, including St. Tammany's. Under the state's accountability scoring system, schools receive a zero for each student who did not take the state's standardized test. The scoring system determined district, school and teacher performance, all of which connect to monetary awards. According to the Louisiana Department of Education, the 2015 tests were supposed to determine a baseline from which school districts were expected to grow.[18]
Common Core: Opt-out consequences debated
With important state funding on the line, St. Tammany's school board began debating how to respond if many students' parents choose to opt them out of the standardized tests. At its February 5, 2015, meeting, the board determined that it could not opt the entire district out of testing as it would have affected their ability to get federal funding which totals about $20.1 million for the district. Additionally, poor performance on the standardized tests due to all or many students being opted-out of test taking could have allowed charter schools and scholarship money to fund students attending private schools, instead.[19]
Chas Roemer, president of the BESE, stated that individual school districts were in charge of determining how to treat opt-out students, but many districts, including St. Tammany, wanted the board to provide more explicit guidance on the matter. The school board sent two letters to the BESE in early February 2015 asking the board to hold a special meeting to place a moratorium on PARCC testing or to allow districts to remove students who do not take the standardized tests from the districts' overall performance scores. The next regular meeting of the BESE, however, was not scheduled until March 2015; PARCC testing began later that month.[19]
Common Core: BESE decision delayed; testing begins
On March 6, 2015, the BESE met and delayed making a decision on the issue of opt-outs and school performance scores until the summer.[20] The plan which had been submitted to the BESE at that meeting was proposed by State Superintendent John White and had been dubbed the "Common Core compromise." It would have set in motion the formation of a panel to review math and English standards and would have curved school letter grades for an extra year. Another provision would have had White circulate a draft request for a new testing vendor. While this plan passed out of committee with ease on March 5, 2015, the full board put the matter off until its meeting in June 2015.[21]
As of March 11, 2015, 60 St. Tammany students had been opted-out of testing. While 60 students would be only a small percentage of students in the district, other districts in the state are facing much larger number: Calcasieu Parish Public Schools reported 776 opt-outs at that time. Testing began on March 16, 2015.[22] On March 17, 2015, it was reported that a total of 228 St. Tammany students had been opted-out, approximately 3 percent of the students eligible for the testing.[23]
District stays top-ranked in state ACT scores
With a slight increase in its average ACT scores, St. Tammany's schools remained the highest scoring in the state of Louisiana for the 2013-2014 school year. The districts scores rose from 21.4 to 21.5 on the 36-point scale from 2012-2013 to 2013-2014. The range for the 2013-2014 scores by school was 18.4 to 23.4. Meanwhile, the state and national averages were 19.2 and 21, respectively. While a state requirement that all juniors take the test had lowered the average score in recent years, they consistently stayed over 21 in the district for the last 10 years. These scores, like state standardized testing, are part of the district and school performance scores. Additionally, they are used to determine eligibility for state scholarships for students. District Superintendent W.L. "Trey" Folse III celebrated the scores saying:[24]
| “ | I am proud that St. Tammany Parish Public Schools remain number one in the state in ACT score rankings and that students' scores in our schools also remain above the national average. ACT scores are the number one indicator of college readiness, and our district scores prove we are preparing our students for the future. This is truly a total team effort and a major accomplishment for our teachers, administrators, students and parents.[25] | ” |
| —Supt. W.L. "Trey" Folse III (2015)[24] | ||
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the St. Tammany Parish Schools special elections in 2015.[12]
| Event | District 14 deadline | District 12 deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate qualifying period | February 4-6, 2015 | September 8-10, 2015 |
| Voter registration deadline | February 25, 2015 | September 23, 2015 |
| Early voting period | March 14-21, 2015 | October 10-17, 2015 |
| Special election day | March 28, 2015 | October 24, 2015 |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Louisiana elections, 2015
The District 14 special election on March 28, 2015, was the statewide municipal primary and special general election date in Louisiana. Other municipal elections on the ballot in St. Tammany Parish included mayoral elections for Covington and Sun, as well as council and aldermen positions.
While the District 12 special election was canceled, elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of insurance, District 1 on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), state senate and state house appeared on the ballot. In the parish, sheriff, clerk of court, assessor, parish president, parish council members and justice of the peace were also up for election.
See also
| St. Tammany Parish Public Schools | Louisiana | School Boards |
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External links
- St. Tammany Parish Public Schools
- St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court
- Louisiana Secretary of State: Election Results
Footnotes
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany Parish School Board member Ray Alfred dies," September 17, 2014
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany School Board taps familiar candidate to fill open seat," October 3, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Louisiana Secretary of State, "Search for Candidates," accessed September 11, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany School Board, 14th District: Meet the candidates," March 10, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Unofficial Results," accessed March 28, 2015
- ↑ The Advocate, "Ronnie Panks, longest-serving St. Tammany School Board member, dies at 69," February 5, 2015
- ↑ BayouBuzz.com, "St. Tammany School Board appoints Richard Hursey to open seat," February 2, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 United States Census Bureau, "St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Quick Facts," accessed December 31, 2014
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed June 17, 2014
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Official Results," accessed September 2, 2014
- ↑ St. Tammany Parish Public Schools, "School Board: Policies," accessed December 31, 2014
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Louisiana Secretary of State, "2015 Elections Dates," accessed December 31, 2014
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Turnout for Covington City Council race already at 23 percent based only on early voting," March 23, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Dennis Cousin endorsed by Democratic committee in St. Tammany School Board race," March 10, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Ethics Administration Program, "Louisiana Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 24, 2015
- ↑ Louisiana Ethics Administration Program, "Louisiana Campaign Finance Reports," accessed Octboer 7, 2015
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8 17.9 The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany Parish election results," October 2, 2010
- ↑ The Advertiser, "Jindal issues executive order on PARCC tests; BESE responds," January 30, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany School Board again asks for guidance for Common Core test 'opt outs'," February 5, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Common Core opt-out policy decision put off by Louisiana education board," March 6, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Common Core compromise passes Louisiana education committee," March 5, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "No Common Core-aligned testing for 60 students in St. Tammany," March 11, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Louisiana Common Core test opt-outs top 4,100; still 1% of total," March 17, 2015
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany ACT scores climb slightly, remain best among Louisiana public school districts," February 13, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2015 St. Tammany Parish Public Schools Special Elections | |
| St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana | |
| Election date: | District 14: March 28, 2015
District 12: October 24, 2015 |
| Candidates: | District 14: • Dennis "Coach" Cousin (D) • John Murchison (I) District 12: • Incumbent, Richard Hursey (R) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
