Tyler Independent School District elections (2016)
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Two of the seven seats on the Tyler Independent School District school board were up for general election on May 7, 2016. Incumbents Wade Washmon and Jean Washington ran unopposed in Districts 1 and 3, respectively. Their elections were canceled due to a lack of opposition and both were automatically re-elected to another term. District 6 incumbent Fritz Hager Jr. defeated challenger Marc Loredo for the seat.[1][2]
Multiple board members, including incumbent Wade Washmon, showed support for efforts to be in full compliance with a desegregation order issued by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1970. Receiving a "unitary status" from the Department of Justice in regards to the order would return local control to the district after over 45 years of federal oversight. District 6 incumbent Fritz Hager Jr. and Marc Loredo had differing opinions on the district's compliance with the order.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Tyler ISD Board of Trustees is composed of seven members who are elected by district to three-year terms in specifically numbered seats. Candidates file to run for a specific seat, but all voters in the school district are eligible to vote for every seat up for election. Districts 1, 3 and 6 were scheduled for general election on May 7, 2016. There was no primary election.[3]
Candidates running for the school board had to be a United States citizen, a resident of Texas for at least 12 months, and a resident of the district for at least six months. Candidates also had to be 18 years of age or older and registered to vote.[3]
Candidates and results
District 1
Results
This election was canceled due to a lack of opposition.
Candidates
Wade Washmon 
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District 3
Results
This election was canceled due to a lack of opposition.
Candidates
| Jean Washington
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District 6
Results
| Tyler Independent School District, District 6 General Election, 3-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Fritz Hager Jr. Incumbent |
79.95% | 881 |
| Marc Loredo | 20.05% | 221 |
| Total Votes | 1,102 | |
| Source: Smith County, Texas, "Smith County Election Results," accessed May 7, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Fritz Hager Jr.
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Marc Loredo | ||
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Additional elections
- See also: Texas elections, 2016
This race shared the ballot with elections for mayor and District 6 city council member for the city of Tyler.[4]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Texas school board elections in 2016:[5][6]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| February 19, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| February 23, 2016 | Deadline for write-in candidates |
| April 7, 2016 | Pre-general election campaign finance deadline |
| April 19, 2016 | Campaign finance report due |
| May 7, 2016 | Election Day |
| May 18, 2016 | Final day for canvassing of votes |
| July 15, 2016 | Post-election campaign finance deadline |
Endorsements
Hager received endorsements from the following:[7]
- Texas State Sen. Kevin Eltife (R-1)
- Former state education commissioners Mike Moses and Jim Nelson
- Former Tyler board members Marty Dunbar and Michelle Carr
- Current Tyler board members Aaron Martinez, Wade Washmon, and Jean Washington
Campaign finance
No contributions or expenditures were reported during the election, according to the Texas Ethics Commission.[8]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2015
Incumbent J.A. Bergfeld won re-election without opposition. 2014District 2
District 4Patricia Nation won election to the District 4 seat without opposition. District 5
2013The 2013 Board of Trustee’s election was canceled due to a lack of opposed races. R. Wade Washmon, Jean Washington and Mary M. Dunbar were elected as unopposed candidates on March 7, 2013, to their respective District 1, 3 and 6 seats.[9] 2012The 2012 Board of Trustee’s election was canceled due to a lack of opposed races. Brad Spradlin and J.A. Bergfeld were elected as unopposed candidates on March 22, 2012, to their respective District 5 and 7 seats.[9] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2016
Issues in the district
District works to get desegregation order lifted
Before 1970, the Tyler Independent School District operated as two separate school districts: one district for white students and a separate district for black students. In July 1970, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered all Texas school districts to integrate. Tyler ISD was one of the 36 districts in the state to receive an individual order after their compliance plans were not deemed sufficient. The district, along with nine other Texas districts, was still working towards compliance over 45 years later.[10]
School board member Orenthia Mason, a former student in the segregated Tyler ISD and former educator in the integrated Tyler ISD, came out for efforts by the school board to get the desegregation order lifted in order to maintain full local control over their district. Another school board member, Wade Washmon, came out in favor of working to get the order lifted. The District 1 incumbent was up for election in 2016. He was declared the winner of his seat after his election was canceled due to a lack of opposition. He expressed his desire to work towards getting the desegregation order lifted during his second term. Mason and Washmon weren't the only school board members to support the effort. District 6 incumbent Fritz Hager Jr. felt the district has complied with the federal order and it should be lifted. Hager's opponent, Marc Loredo, spoke in favor of working to get the order lifted, but did not feel the district had met the requirements to have it lifted. Laredo's opponent in District 6, In March 2015, the board voted unanimously to hire the law firm Friedman and Feiger to assist the district in achieving "unitary status" which would lift the desegregation order and signify that the district had met all requirements of the federal government concerning desegregation.[11][12][13]
The order requires the district to submit all plans to rezone or build new schools to the Department of Justice for approval. The order also affects any plans by the district to increase school choice through magnet schools or charter schools. In 1995, the Department of Justice overturned an affirmative vote for a $39 million bond that would have funded the construction of two elementary schools and a middle school citing a negative effect on racial ratios in the district.[10][14]
Attorney Tom Hardy has assisted the district with compliance since 1976. He pointed out the difficulty in maintaining compliance with the order including special education students and bus routes. He stated that the order is outdated since it only applies to the racial ratios of black and white students and does not consider Hispanic students. In 1972, the district was made up of 67 percent white students and 32 percent black students. As of 2015, the district's demographic split was 21 percent white, 30 percent black, and 45 percent Hispanic.[10]
An opponent of the efforts to remove the order is Cedrick Granberry, president of the NAACP of Tyler. Although he is open to hearing arguments in favor of lifting the order, he feels that the order provides accountability to the district. He expressed his opinion on the matter by saying, "If lifted there is no recourse. It’s like preclearance that the state must seek regarding the Voting Rights Act. You would hope they would do what’s right for everyone but actually doing it is another thing." Granberry attended school in the district and chose to be bused outside of his community in order to attend a more racially diverse school.[10]
Candidate survey
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About the district
- See also: Tyler Independent School District, Texas
Tyler Independent School District is located in Smith County, Texas. The county seat is Tyler. The county's population was 222,936 in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[15] Tyler Independent School District is located in Texas. The district was the 67th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 18,029 students.[16]
Demographics
Smith County underperformed in comparison to Texas as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010-2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 25.2 percent of county residents over 25 years old held undergraduate degrees, compared to a 27.1 percent of state residents. Smith County had a median income of $46,669, compared to $52,576 for the state. The poverty rate for the county was 18.1 percent, while it was 17.2 percent rate for the entire state.[15]
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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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Tyler Independent School District' 'Texas'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Tyler Independent School District | Texas | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Mandy Gillip,"Phone conversation with Tyler ISD, secretary to the superintendent," February 24, 2016
- ↑ Smith County, Texas, "Smith County Election Results," accessed May 7, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tyler Independent School District, "Board Members Elections," accessed February 24, 2016
- ↑ Smith County, Texas, "Current Elections," accessed April 12, 2016
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "2016 Filing Schedule for Reports Due in Connection with Elections Held on Uniform Election Dates," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "May 7, 2016 Election Law Calendar," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ Hager for TISD, "Endorsements," accessed April 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Ethics Commission, "Search Campaign Finance Reports," accessed April 21, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Rosa Miranda Smith, Tyler ISD Records Management/Public Information Officer," March 4, 2015
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Tyler Morning Telegrah, "Desegregation order: Tyler ISD looks to move on," July 18, 2015
- ↑ Tyler Morning Telegraph, "Two Tyler ISD trustees declared elected for new terms," March 17, 2016
- ↑ Tyler Morning Telegraph, "Tyler ISD candidate Marc Loredo doubts district is ready to remove desegregation order," April 21, 2016
- ↑ Tyler Morning Telegraph, "Tyler ISD candidate Fritz Hager says district complies with desegregation order, time to have lifted," April 21, 2016
- ↑ Tyler Morning Telegraph, "Tyler demographics study shows growth to south and west," April 12, 2016
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 U.S. Census, "Quick Facts: Smith County," accessed April 12, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Historical Election Results," accessed February 25, 2014
| 2016 Tyler Independent School District Elections | |
| Smith County, Texas | |
| Election date: | May 7, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 1: Incumbent, Wade Washmon District 3: Incumbent, Jean Washington |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
