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West Bloomfield School District, Michigan, elections

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West Bloomfield School District
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District details
School board members: 7
Students: 4,865 (2022-2023)
Schools: 11 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

West Bloomfield School District is a school district in Michigan (Oakland County). During the 2023 school year, 4,865 students attended one of the district's 11 schools.

This page provides information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more details about the district.

Elections

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West Bloomfield School District, At-large

General election

General election for West Bloomfield School District, At-large (3 seats)

Julie Beaty, Terri Hoyer Compton, Nelson Hersh, Earnestina Moore, and Kirsten Sonneville-Douglass ran in the general election for West Bloomfield School District, At-large on November 5, 2024.


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Election rules

 

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board general elections in Michigan are held on the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November every two years in even-numbered years.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384

Recent or upcoming election dates for all local school districts in the state

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all local school districts in the state. There may be exceptions to these dates for specific districts because of local charters and district-specific exceptions and carve-outs.

  • Filing deadline date: July 21, 2026
  • General election date: November 3, 2026

Election system

School board members in Michigan are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. Michigan Election Law on school board candidate nominating petitions states, "(2)The nominating petition must be substantially in the form prescribed in section 544c, except that the petition must be nonpartisan." It also states, "At any regular election, the names of the several nonpartisan offices to be voted for shall be placed on a separate portion of the ballot containing no party designation in the following order: [...], and in a year in which an election for the office is held, local school district board member, metropolitan district officer, and district library board member."

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303 and Section 168.699

Winning an election

The candidate or candidates that receive the most votes in the nonpartisan general election are elected to office.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.307

Term length and staggering

All school districts other community school districts in Michigan have board member terms of either four or six years depending on the board by-laws. As of 2022, 60% of school districts in Michigan had six-year board member terms, and 40% -- including community school districts -- had four-year board member terms.

Community school districts in Michigan have four-year board member terms. Initial terms for the first board members of newly organized community school districts are two, four, or six years to stagger elections.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.11a and Michigan Statute Section 380.384

For community school districts in Michigan, as close to half of school board members as possible for each district are elected every two years, which means either three or four seats are up for election at each even-year election. At the first board member election after community school districts are first organized, all seven board member seats are elected. Two members are elected to two-year terms, three members are elected to four-year terms, and two members are elected to six-year terms, with higher vote totals dictating longer initial terms. After initial terms, all board members have four-year terms, which results in staggered elections: four seats up in one election and three seats up in the next election.

Michigan statute requires that at least one board member must be elected every two years at each regular even-year election. Specific seat staggering details for school districts other than community school districts are determined at the local level by the district board's bylaws. Most districts with four-year board member terms elect as close to half of board members as possible every two years. Most districts with six-year board member terms elect as close to one-third of board members as possible every two years.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384 and Michigan Statute Section 168.301

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members in Michigan are elected at large by all voters in the district.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303, Section 168.307, and Section 380.384 (3)

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

School board candidates must file affidavits and nomination petitions or candidate filing fees by 4 p.m. on the 15th Tuesday before the November election. This means that the school board candidate filing deadline is in late July every even-numbered year.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 168.303


Newly elected school board members in Michigan officially take office on January 1 of the year following the election.

DocumentIcon.jpg See law: Michigan Statute Section 380.384 and Section 168.302

 


About the district

School board

The West Bloomfield School District consists of seven members serving six-year terms. To find information about school board meetings, click here.

List of school board members
NameYear assumed officeYear term ends
Kirsten Douglass20252030
Julie Beaty20182030
Nelson Hersh20032030
Ashleigh Davis20222028
Wm. Art Holdsworth20222028
Stacy Brickman20202026
Deborah Evans20202026

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District map

Overlapping state house districts

West Bloomfield School District
Office NameCurrent OfficeholderParty% School District Covered% Other District Covered
Michigan House of Representatives District 20Noah ArbitDemocratic Party 100% 33%

The table was limited to the lower chamber because it provides the most granularity. State house districts tend to be more numerous and therefore smaller than state senate or U.S. House districts. This provides an impression of the partisan affiliations in the area.

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[1]

Revenue, 2020-2021
SOURCE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Federal: $7,112,000 $1,362 8%
Local: $37,144,000 $7,112 41%
State: $46,936,000 $8,986 52%
Total: $91,192,000 $17,460
Expenditures, 2020-2021
TYPE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Total Expenditures: $116,389,000 $22,283
Total Current Expenditures: $67,547,000 $12,932
Instructional Expenditures: $40,582,000 $7,769 35%
Student and Staff Support: $9,792,000 $1,874 8%
Administration: $8,647,000 $1,655 7%
Operations, Food Service, Other: $8,526,000 $1,632 7%
Total Capital Outlay: $40,561,000 $7,765
Construction: $33,457,000 $6,405
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other: $2,186,000 $418
Interest on Debt: $5,028,000 $962

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements. To protect student privacy, percentages are reported as ranges for groups of 300 students or fewer. If five or fewer students were included in a data set, the data will display as "PS."[2]

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 42 75-79 20 30-34 PS 45-49 50
2018-2019 48 75-79 26 35-39 PS 50-54 59
2017-2018 39 65-69 19 25-29 PS 40-44 48
2016-2017 48 75-79 23 30-34 PS 50-54 59
2015-2016 46 75-79 24 25-29 PS 40-44 54
2014-2015 45 75-79 24 25-29 PS 40-44 52
2013-2014 53 82 29 40-44 PS 45-49 60
2012-2013 55 78 34 45-49 >=50 55-59 61
2011-2012 57 82 34 55-59 >=50 55-59 63
2010-2011 89 98 80 75-79 >=50 >=95 92

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 55 75-79 38 40-44 PS 60-64 61
2018-2019 57 75-79 43 40-44 PS 55-59 66
2017-2018 41 55-59 25 30-34 PS 40-44 48
2016-2017 57 75-79 40 35-39 PS 60-64 65
2015-2016 59 80-84 41 45-49 PS 55-59 66
2014-2015 57 75-79 42 40-44 PS 55-59 63
2013-2014 75 86 60 60-64 PS 70-74 82
2012-2013 75 86 63 70-74 >=50 75-79 78
2011-2012 75 85 63 70-74 >=50 80-84 79
2010-2011 87 94 80 70-74 >=50 85-89 89

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2019-2020 97 >=90 >=95 >=80 >=80 >=95
2018-2019 95 >=90 >=95 >=50 PS >=80 90-94
2017-2018 91 >=90 85-89 >=50 >=80 90-94
2016-2017 93 >=90 90-94 >=50 PS >=50 90-94
2015-2016 93 >=90 90-94 >=50 PS >=50 90-94
2014-2015 94 >=90 >=95 >=50 PS >=50 90-94
2013-2014 92 >=95 85-89 >=50 PS >=50 92
2012-2013 90 >=90 85-89 >=50 PS PS 90
2011-2012 92 >=90 90-94 40-59 >=50 93
2010-2011 89 >=90 90-94 >=50 >=50 89

Students

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[3]

Year Enrollment Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023 4,865 -4.3
2021-2022 5,073 -3.0
2020-2021 5,223 -2.5
2019-2020 5,351 -2.1
2018-2019 5,463 -0.4
2017-2018 5,487 -0.7
2016-2017 5,527 0.5
2015-2016 5,498 -2.5
2014-2015 5,634 -5.5
2013-2014 5,944 -4.8
2012-2013 6,228 -4.4
2011-2012 6,504 -3.2
2010-2011 6,715 -4.3
2009-2010 7,006 2.4
2008-2009 6,835 2.8
2007-2008 6,642 -3.8
2006-2007 6,896 -1.4
2005-2006 6,990 0.2
2004-2005 6,977 -3.7
2003-2004 7,235 -0.5
2002-2003 7,268 11.6
2001-2002 6,427 2.3
2000-2001 6,281 1.2
1999-2000 6,205 0.0
Racial Demographics, 2022-2023
RACE West Bloomfield School District (%) Michigan K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native 0.1 0.6
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 6.1 3.6
Black 36.4 18.1
Hispanic 6.2 8.9
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.1 0.1
Two or More Races 6.0 5.1
White 45.1 63.6

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.

Staff

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[4]

As of the 2022-2023 school year, West Bloomfield School District had 320.72 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 15.17.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten: 23.05
Kindergarten: 17.00
Elementary: 112.00
Secondary: 147.82
Total: 320.72

West Bloomfield School District employed 17.00 district administrators and 13.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators: 17.00
District Administrative Support: 1.20
School Administrators: 13.00
School Administrative Support: 46.34
Other staff, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides: 56.25
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors: 1.00
Total Guidance Counselors: 10.00
Elementary Guidance Counselors: 0.00
Secondary Guidance Counselors: 10.00
Librarians/Media Specialists: 6.15
Library/Media Support: 4.00
Student Support Services: 54.36
Other Support Services: 147.32

Schools

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[5]

The West Bloomfield School District operates 11 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.
List of schools
SCHOOL NAMENUMBER OF STUDENTSGRADES
Ace499-12
Doherty Elementary School479PK-2
Gretchko Elementary School374PK-2
Oakland Early College1589-12
Project Search0UG-UG
Roosevelt Elementary School356PK-5
Scotch Elementary School3163-5
Sheiko Elementary School4323-5
West Bloomfield High School1,6529-12
West Bloomfield Middle School9416-8
West Bloomfield Transition Center11UG-UG

About school boards

Education legislation in Michigan

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

School Boards Education Policy Local Politics Michigan
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External links

  • Office website
  • Search Google News for this topic
  • Footnotes