Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District elections (2016)
← 2014 |
|---|
 |
|
|
| Enrollment (13–14): |
|
|
Four of the seven seats on the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District Governing Board were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. No incumbents filed to run for the Trustee Area 1 and 2 seats, guaranteeing at least two newcomers joined the board. Three candidates—Spencer Marks, Bethany Smith, and Mike Wright—ran for the open Trustee Area 1 seat, and two candidates—Melvin Cockhren II and Joan Gaut—ran to take the Trustee Area 2 seat. Smith and Gaut won election to the board. In her bid for re-election to Trustee Area 3, incumbent Judi Honeychurch ran unopposed and won re-election by default. Trustee Area 6 incumbent John Silva defeated challenger Ana Petero to win another term.[1][2]
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Fairfield-Suisan Unified Governing Board consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district on a staggered basis every November of even-numbered years. Three seats were up for election on November 4, 2014, and four seats were up for election on November 8, 2016. There was no primary election.[3]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to register with the county elections office by August 12, 2016. If incumbents did not file by that deadline, the filing deadline was extended for non-incumbent candidates until August 17, 2016. In order to qualify as candidates, they had to be at least 18 years old, citizens of California, residents of the school district, registered voters, and "not legally disqualified from holding civil office," according to the bylaws of the Fairfield-Suisan Unified Governing Board. Once they took office, school board members could not be employed by the school district.[4][5]
To vote in this election, residents of the school district had to register by October 24, 2016.[6] Photo identification was not required to vote in this election.[7]
Candidates and results
Trustee Area 1
Results
| Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, Trustee Area 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Bethany Smith |
42.15% | 2,624 |
| Spencer Marks | 31.16% | 1,940 |
| Mike Wright | 25.90% | 1,612 |
| Write-in votes | 0.79% | 49 |
| Total Votes | 6,225 | |
| Source: Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Final Official Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Spencer Marks | Bethany Smith 
|
Mike Wright | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|||
Trustee Area 2
Results
| Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, Trustee Area 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Joan Gaut |
75.42% | 4,913 |
| Melvin Cockhren II | 23.95% | 1,560 |
| Write-in votes | 0.63% | 41 |
| Total Votes | 6,514 | |
| Source: Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Final Official Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Melvin Cockhren II | Joan Gaut
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
||
Trustee Area 3
Results
This race was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Judi Honeychurch was re-elected by default.[1]
Candidates
| Judi Honeychurch
| |
|---|---|
|
|
|
Trustee Area 6
Results
| Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, Trustee Area 6 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| John Silva Incumbent |
50.71% | 3,760 |
| Ana Petero | 48.86% | 3,623 |
| Write-in votes | 0.43% | 32 |
| Total Votes | 7,415 | |
| Source: Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Final Official Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| John Silva
|
Ana Petero | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2016
The district's school board election shared the ballot with two ballot measures for the city of Fairfield, one ballot measure for Suisun City, three ballot measures for Solano County, and a number of statewide ballot measures. It also shared the ballot with elections for the following offices:[8][9]
|
|
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for California school board elections in 2016:[10][11]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| August 1, 2016 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| August 10, 2016 - November 8, 2016 | 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period |
| August 12, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| August 17, 2016 | Extended filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates for open seats |
| September 29, 2016 | First pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2016 | Voter registration deadline |
| October 27, 2016 | Second pre-election campaign finance report due |
| November 8, 2016 | Election Day |
| January 31, 2017 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Endorsements
The Democratic Party of Solano County endorsed Trustee Area 1 candidate Spencer Marks and Trustee Area 6 candidate Ana Petero.[12] The community organization Evolve also endorsed Marks as well as Trustee Area 2 candidate Joan Gaut.[13]
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
Candidates in this race were required to file two pre-election reports. The first was due on September 29, 2016, and the second was due on October 27, 2016. If candidates received more than $1,000 from a single source between August 10, 2016, and November 8, 2016, they had to file a campaign finance report within 24 hours of receiving the contribution.[11]
Candidates who did not raise or spend more than $2,000 on their campaigns had to file an exemption form by September 29, 2016. They did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[11]
Candidates who had a remaining balance from previous campaigns or who had raised or spent money on their campaigns prior to the candidate filing deadline had to file a semi-annual campaign finance report by August 1, 2016. The next semi-annual campaign finance report was due January 31, 2017.[11]
Reports
At the time of this election, the Solano County Registrar of Voters did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staff directly requested this information, but the county did not provide it.
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014Trustee Area 4
Trustee Area 5This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Newcomer Jonathan Richardson won the Trustee Area 5 seat by default.[14] Trustee Area 7This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Trustee Area 7 incumbent David C. Isom won re-election by default.[14] 2013Prior to 2013, the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District elected members to the board of trustees during odd-numbered years. After they decided to transition to district elections, the school district also switched to holding elections during even-numbered years. Because of this, the election that would have been held in 2013 was postponed until 2014.[15] 2011
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2016
Issues in the district
Court rules test scores not required in teacher evaluations
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barry Goode ruled in September 2016 that the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, along with 12 other school districts, could not be required to use student test scores in teacher evaluations. Goode's ruling went against a lawsuit filed by the group Students Matter, which sought to mandate the use of student standardized test scores in teacher evaluations. Students Matter argued that the districts' teacher contracts violated California's 1971 Stull Act, which requires school districts to evaluate teachers in a manner related to student performance. Goode concluded that all of the school districts in question were meeting their legal obligations.[16]
“The Legislature endorses many uses of those tests, including evaluating pupils, entire schools and local educational agencies,” Goode wrote in his opinion. “But it does not say the results should be used to evaluate individual teachers.”[16]
Marcellus McRae, who represented the plaintiffs, said he was surprised by the ruling. “If you really think about it, this is such a basic concept that the goal of teaching is for students to learn,” McRae said. “It is, to me, axiomatic that teacher evaluations have to be based at least in part over whether students have learned.”[16]
Students Matter won a similar case in 2012. That lawsuit had been filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the school district was ultimately required to include test scores in its teacher evaluations. In the 2016 case, however, Goode ruled that school districts were allowed to decide how to use test results. “There are serious questions about whether, and the extent to which, a pupil’s standardized test score is ‘reasonably related’ and ‘applicable’ to the performance of a given teacher,” Goode said.[16]
Teachers unions supported Goode's ruling. They argued that standardized test scores overlooked external factors that inhibited student learning, such as poverty.[16]
“Every day teachers across California use a variety of benchmarks, including in-class quizzes, tests, projects, and personal observation to fine-tune their approaches with their students,” said California Federation of Teachers President Joshua Pechthalt. “There is no single method for assessing progress that is ideal or that should be used to the exclusion of all others.”[16]
Candidate survey
|
|
Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
About the district
The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is located in Solano County in central California. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County was home to 436,092 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[17] The district was the 66th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 21,574 students.[18]
Demographics
Solano County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 24.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of state residents. The median household income for Solano County was $67,341, compared to $61,489 for the entire state. The poverty rate in the county was 12.3 percent, compared to 16.4 percent statewide.[17]
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 'Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District' 'California'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District | California | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filed Log (On The Ballot) - November 8, 2016 General Election As Of 08/22/2016," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Solano County, "Solano County, CA 2016 General Election - November 8, 2016," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, "Governing Board," accessed July 8, 2016
- ↑ Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, "BB 9220 Board Bylaws: Governing Board Elections," accessed July 8, 2016
- ↑ California Elections Code, “Part 5, Section 10600-10604: School District And Community College District Governing Board Elections,” accessed June 15, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Voter Registration," accessed June 13, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "California Online Voter Registration," accessed June 13, 2016
- ↑ Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Notice of Measures," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filed Log," accessed September 26, 2016
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016, General Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 8, 2016," accessed July 27, 2016
- ↑ Democratic Party of Solano County, "2016 General Endorsements," accessed October 16, 2016
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate Filed Log - November 4, 2014 General Election," accessed August 20, 2014
- ↑ Suisun City Patch, "County to Act on School District Election-Year Switch in Two Weeks," May 7, 2013
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 Los Angeles Times, "Court refuses to mandate use of test scores in teacher evaluations," September 22, 2016
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 United States Census Bureau, "Solano County, California," accessed July 8, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Solano County Registrar of Voters, "Election Results and Files," accessed July 18, 2014
| 2016 Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District Elections | |
| Solano County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Spencer Marks • Bethany Smith • Mike Wright Trustee Area 2: • Melvin Cockhren II • Joan Gaut Trustee Area 3: • Incumbent, Judi Honeychurch Trustee Area 6: • Incumbent, John Silva • Ana Petero |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
