Virginia school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Virginia school boards were held on May 3 or November 8 in 2016. Special elections for unexpired board terms were held in conjunction with the general election cycle. 10 of the 30 Virginia school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment had elections for 39 seats in 2016.

Here are several quick facts about Virginia's school board elections in 2016:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was Virginia Beach City Public Schools with 70,556 K-12 students.
• The smallest Virginia school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was Roanoke County Public Schools with 14,333 K-12 students.
• Richmond Public Schools had the most seats on the ballot among Virginia's largest districts with nine seats up for election.
• Arlington Public Schools and Norfolk Public Schools had the fewest seats on the ballot among Virginia's largest districts with two seats up for election.
• Roanoke County Public Schools held a special election for two vacant school board seats.

The districts listed below served 284,877 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district name for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2016 Virginia School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Chesapeake Public Schools	5/3/2016	4	4	9	39,737
Hampton City Schools	5/3/2016	4	4	7	21,157
Newport News Public Schools	5/3/2016	4	3	7	29,777
Norfolk Public Schools	5/3/2016	4	2	7	32,597
Arlington Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	2	5	23,499
Portsmouth Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	5	9	14,970
Richmond Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	9	9	23,775
Suffolk Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	3	7	14,476
Virginia Beach City Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	5	11	70,556
Roanoke County Public Schools	11/8/2016	4	2	5	14,333

Election trends

Trends in Virginia school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections in Virginia's largest school districts attracted a smaller average number of candidates per seat on the ballot compared to the average number of candidates that ran in the state's 2014 school board elections. The 2015 elections also had a higher percentage of unopposed seats than the 2014 elections had. Newcomers fared better in the 2014 elections than the 2015 elections. They won 50.00 percent of the seats on the ballot in 2014, compared to 41.75 percent of the seats in 2015.

The 2015 elections had more seats on the ballot than the 2014 elections did. There were 103 seats on the ballot in 2015, compared to 32 seats in 2014.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Idaho's school board elections. These districts did not utilize primary or runoff elections. Winners only had to receive a plurality, or relative majority, of votes to secure a seat. All of the school board elections held in the state in 2014 and 2015 were nonpartisan.

Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

In 2015, school board elections in Virginia's largest school districts attracted an average of 1.61 candidates per seat on the ballot. This was lower than the average 2.16 candidates that ran per seat in 2014. The 2015 elections also had a higher percentage of unopposed seats. Nearly half of the seats—44.66 percent—were unopposed in 2015, compared to the 15.63 percent of seats that were unopposed in 2014.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

A total of 85.29 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 retained their seats. A total of 68 of the 103 incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran to keep their seats, and 58 of them won. Of the winners, 37 ran unopposed; the others defeated challengers to win additional terms.

In 2014, two-thirds of incumbents who ran to retain their seats won re-election. Twenty-four of the 32 incumbents whose terms were up for re-election ran to keep their seats, and 16 of them won. Five of those winners ran unopposed; the other 11 winners defeated challengers to win re-election.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2015 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

The map above details the success rates of incumbent who ran to retain their school board seats in the largest school districts in each state. States depicted in gray did not hold school board elections.

Data table

Virginia school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	32	103
Candidates	69	166
Candidates/seat	2.16	1.61
Unopposed seats	5	46
% unopposed	15.63%	44.66%
% seats won by newcomers	50.00%	41.75%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	24	68
Unopposed	5	37
Retained	16	58
% retained	66.67%	85.29%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Virginia

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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). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Maryland, North Carolina, and West Virginia), Virginia had the highest percentage of eighth grade students scoring at or above proficient in math. Both fourth and eighth grade students fell below those in Maryland in reading.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
Maryland	47%	37%	45%	42%
North Carolina	45%	36%	35%	33%
West Virginia	35%	24%	27%	25%
United States	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

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

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.

Virginia schools reported a graduation rate of 84.5 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second highest among its neighboring states.

In Virginia, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1528.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Virginia	84.5%	Third	22.6	26%	1528	71%
Maryland	85%	Second	22.3	21%	1483	73%
North Carolina	82.5%	Third	18.7	100%	1479	62%
West Virginia	81.4%	Third	20.6	63%	1513	15%
United States	81.4%		20.9	54%	1498	50%
**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. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express" ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores" The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013"

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 nine through 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 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Virginia was lower than the national average at 2.3 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 1.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Virginia
	Virginia	U.S.
Total population:	8,367,587	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	39,490	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69%	73.6%
Black/African American:	19.2%	12.6%
Asian:	6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	3.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.6%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.3%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	36.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$65,015	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13%	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 Virginia. **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 Virginia

Virginia voted for the Democratic candidate in five out of the 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 Virginia, 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. Virginia had five Retained Pivot Counties, 2.76 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Virginia coverage on Ballotpedia

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

See also

Virginia	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Virginia List of school districts in Virginia	School board elections, 2016 Virginia school board elections, 2015 Virginia school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey