Mississippi school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Mississippi school boards were held on November 8, 2016. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

Five of the seven Mississippi school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 10 seats in 2016. Here are several quick facts about those school board elections:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was the DeSoto County School District with 33,054 K-12 students.
• The smallest Mississippi school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Lamar County School District with 9,569 K-12 students.
• All of Mississippi's largest districts had two seats up for election in 2016.

The districts listed below served 88,721 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 Mississippi School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
DeSoto County School District	11/8/2016	6	2	5	33,054
Harrison County School District	11/8/2016	6	2	5	14,168
Lamar County School District	11/8/2016	6	2	5	9,569
Madison County School District	11/8/2016	6	2	5	12,548
Rankin County School District	11/8/2016	6	2	5	19,382

Elections trends

Trends in Mississippi school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections held in Mississippi's largest school districts saw fewer candidates run per seat compared to the 2014 school board elections. One school district held an election for one seat in 2015. In 2014, five districts held elections for five seats. The one seat up for election in 2015 was unopposed. In 2014, one of the five seats on the ballot went unopposed. No newcomers were elected to the school board in 2015, but in 2014, newcomers took 40.00 percent of the seats on the ballot.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Mississippi'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, one incumbent ran for one seat on the ballot, and no one challenged him. In 2014, there was an average of 1.80 candidates running per seat. Nine candidates ran for five seats. One of those seats was unopposed.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

Because only one incumbent ran for one seat in 2015, there was a 100.00 percent incumbency retention rate that year. In 2014, 75.00 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election retained their seats. Four of the five incumbents whose terms were up for re-election ran to keep their seats, and three of them won. All three defeated challengers to win their bids for re-election. The one seat that went unopposed that year went to a newcomer.

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

Mississippi school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	5	1
Candidates	9	1
Candidates/seat	1.80	1.00
Unopposed seats	1	1
% unopposed	20.00%	100.00%
% seats won by newcomers	40.00%	0.00%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	4	1
Unopposed	0	1
Retained	3	1
% retained	75.00%	100.00%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Mississippi

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Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
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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 (Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana), Mississippi's scores were the lowest nearly across the board.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Mississippi	26%	21%	21%	20%
Alabama	38%	20%	31%	25%
Arkansas	39%	28%	32%	30%
Louisiana	26%	21%	23%	24%
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 Mississippi 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.

Mississippi schools reported a graduation rate of 75.5 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second lowest among its neighboring states.

In Mississippi, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 18.9.

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
Mississippi	75.5%	Fifth	18.9	95%	1,673	3%
Alabama	80%	Fourth	20.4	78%	1,608	7%
Arkansas	84.9%	Second	20.2	90%	1,697	4%
Louisiana	73.5%	Fifth	19.5	100%	1,655	5%
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 Mississippi was lower than the national average at 3.2 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 3.2 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Mississippi
	Mississippi	U.S.
Total population:	2,989,390	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	46,923	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	59.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	37.4%	12.6%
Asian:	1%	5.1%
Native American:	0.4%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	1.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	2.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	82.3%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	20.7%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$39,665	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	27%	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 Mississippi. **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 Mississippi

Mississippi voted Republican in all 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, two are located in Mississippi, accounting for 0.97 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. Mississippi had two Retained Pivot Counties, 1.10 of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Mississippi coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Mississippi
• United States congressional delegations from Mississippi
• Public policy in Mississippi
• Endorsers in Mississippi
• Mississippi fact checks
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See also

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