West Virginia school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for West Virginia school boards were held on May 10, 2016. The nine West Virginia school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 18 seats in May 2016. There was also one special election for one seat in the Mercer County school district on November 8, 2016.

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

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was the Kanawha County Schools with 28,378 K-12 students.
• The smallest West Virginia school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Mercer County Schools with 9,585 K-12 students.
• All nine of the largest districts had the same number of seats on their 2016 general election ballots with two seats up for election each.

The district listed below served 126,359 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each and its school board elections.

2016 West Virginia School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Berkeley County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	18,221
Cabell County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	12,335
Harrison County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	10,913
Kanawha County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	28,378
Mercer County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	9,585
Monongalia County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	11,192
Putnam County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	9,907
Raleigh County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	12,568
Wood County Schools	5/10/2016	4	2	5	13,260
Mercer County Schools	11/8/2016	4	1	5	9,585

Issues

Declining enrollment affects state funding

Three of West Virginia's largest school districts saw a decrease in state funding for the 2016-2017 school year due to declining enrollments. The drop in funding led schools boards to announce the impending layoffs of district employees at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

Cabell County Schools

See also: What was at stake in the Cabell County Schools elections?

The Cabell County Board of Education unanimously approved 61 layoffs and 97 transfers for professional and service personnel in the 2016-2017 school year at a February 2016 meeting. The "reductions in force" (RIFs) were in response to a drop in state funding as well as a drop in student enrollment. Taken together, those funding measures created an anticipated loss of $2.6 million for the district's 2016-2017 school year. At the time of the announcement, the board hoped some of the RIFs would be mitigated by Title I federal funding, but that funding had not been announced at the time of the board meeting.

Kanawha County Schools

See also: What was at stake in the Kanawha County Schools elections?

In February 2016, the Kanawha County Board of Education announced 25 employees would be laid off at the end of the 2015-2016 school year due to declining enrollment, which affected state funding. The 25 employees included 21 teacher aid positions and four Garnet Career Center employees. Board President Robin Rector said there was a possibility some employees could be hired back if the enrollment numbers increased for the 2016-2017 school year.

Rector expressed regret at the announcement. “In many times they’ve become part of the family at the schools they work with. They’re very invested in the students and the teachers are invested in the school. It’s just something you hate to do,” she said.

Wood County Schools

See also: What was at stake in the Wood County Schools elections?

In February 2016, the Wood County Board of Education announced it would have to lay off 54 employees for the 2016-2017 school year. A total of 30 service personnel were targeted for the layoffs as well as 20 professional personnel, which included some teachers. The cuts were necessary due to declining enrollment, which impacted the school district's state funding. Superintendent Mike Fling said that some of the employees, specifically elementary school teachers, should be able to be transferred rather than let go.

Election trends

Trends in West Virginia school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2014 elections by the numbers

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in school board elections held in West Virginia's largest school districts by student enrollment. 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 2016 were nonpartisan.

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

Competitiveness

Nineteen school board seats in West Virginia's largest school districts by enrollment were up for election 2016. In 2014, 28 seats were on the ballot, and 52 candidates ran in the elections. That created an average of 1.86 candidates per seat, which was similar to the 2014 national average of 1.89 candidates per seat. A total of 10.71 percent of the school board seats on the ballot in West Virginia in 2014 were unopposed. This was a lower percentage than the 32.57 percent of school board seats that were unopposed nationally that year.

Incumbency advantage

See also: Analysis of incumbency advantage in the 2014 school board elections

A total of 75 percent of the incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran for re-election in 2014, and 76.19 percent of them won. Nationally, 81.37 percent of incumbents won re-election in 2014.

Twelve newcomers were elected to school boards in West Virginia in 2014. They took 42.86 percent of the total seats, which was higher than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally in 2014.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2014 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

Data table

West Virginia school board elections, 2014 - 2016
	2014	2016
All candidates
Seats up	28	19
Candidates	52	TBD
Candidates/seat	1.86	TBD
Unopposed seats	3	TBD
% unopposed	10.71%	TBD
% seats won by newcomers	33.33%	TBD
Incumbents
Sought re-election	21	TBD
Unopposed	2	TBD
Retained	16	TBD
% retained	80.00%	TBD

Academic performance

See also: Public education in West 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 (Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia), students in West Virginia earned the lowest scores across all categories.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
West Virginia	35%	24%	27%	25%
Kentucky	41%	30%	36%	38%
Ohio	48%	40%	37%	39%
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
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 West 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.

West Virginia schools reported a graduation rate of 81.4 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, lowest among its neighboring states.

In West Virginia, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 20.6.

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
West Virginia	81.4%	Third	20.6	63%	1513	15%
Kentucky	86.1%	Second	19.6	100%	1741	5%
Ohio	82.2%	Third	21.8	72%	1635	17%
Virginia	84.5%	Third	22.6	26%	1528	71%
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

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 West Virginia was higher than the national average at 3.4 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and lower than the national average at 2.7 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for West Virginia
	West Virginia	U.S.
Total population:	1,841,053	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	24,038	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	93.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	3.3%	12.6%
Asian:	0.7%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	1.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	19.2%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$41,751	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	22.2%	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 West 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 West Virginia

West Virginia voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More West Virginia coverage on Ballotpedia

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

See also

West Virginia	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in West Virginia List of school districts in West Virginia	School board elections, 2016 West Virginia school board elections, 2015 West 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