School District of Holmen elections (2017)
2018 →
← 2016 |
|---|
 |
|
|
| Enrollment (14-15) |
|
|
Three seats on the School District of Holmen Board of Education were up for at-large general election on April 4, 2017. In their bids for re-election to the board, incumbents Gary Dunlap, Cheryl Hancock, and Tom Kruse ran unopposed and won additional terms.[1][2] In addition to voting on board of education members, citizens of the school district also voted on three referenda questions that together totaled over $4 million. They passed the two largest questions.[3]
The 100 percent unopposed rate in 2017 was a contrast from the district's 2016 election. That year, an average of 2.5 candidates ran per seat, which caused the district to hold a primary election. For more election trends, click here.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Holmen Board of Education consists of seven members elected to three-year terms. Elections are held at large on a staggered basis every year in April. Two seats were up for election in 2016, and three seats were up for election in 2017. The general election was held on April 4, 2017. A primary election could have been held on February 21, 2017, if seven or more candidates had filed in the race.[4][5]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, U.S. citizens, and residents of the school district for a minimum of 28 consecutive days before filing as a candidate. They also could not be disqualified from voting under Wisconsin law.[6]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file nomination papers with the school district clerk by January 3, 2017. If incumbents whose terms were up for re-election did not file to run in the race and did not file written notification that they would not be running, the candidate filing deadline could have been extended until January 6, 2017. The terms of candidates elected in the race started on April 24, 2017.[6]
Candidates and results
At-large
Results
| School District of Holmen, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Cheryl Hancock Incumbent |
35.97% | 1,975 |
| Gary Dunlap Incumbent |
31.91% | 1,752 |
| Tom Kruse Incumbent |
31.07% | 1,706 |
| Write-in votes | 1.06% | 58 |
| Total Votes | 5,491 | |
| Source: La Crosse County Clerk, "Municipal Summary," accessed May 9, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Gary Dunlap 
|
Cheryl Hancock
|
Tom Kruse
| |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Wisconsin elections, 2017
The Holmen Board of Education election shared the ballot with elections for the office of Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction and one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It also shared the ballot with three referenda questions for the school district and elections for Village of Holmen president and three village trustee seats.[3][7][8]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Wisconsin school board elections in 2017:[9][10]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3, 2017 | Candidate filing deadline |
| January 16, 2017 | Campaign finance deadline for candidates registered before January 1 |
| February 13, 2017 | Campaign finance deadline for districts holding primary elections |
| March 27, 2017 | Campaign finance deadline for general election |
| April 4, 2017 | Election Day |
| April 24, 2017 | Board members take office |
| July 15, 2017 | Post-election campaign finance deadline |
Endorsements
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
All school board candidates in Wisconsin were required to file a campaign registration statement with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission after qualifying as candidates. This statement declares their candidacy to the county clerk's office and allows them to claim exemption from reporting campaign contributions and expenditures. Candidates were only required to report campaign contributions and expenditures if they did one or both of the following:[11]
- Accepted contributions, made disbursements, or incurred debt in excess of $2,000 during the calendar year
- Accepted more than $100 from a single source during the calendar year, barring contributions made by candidates to their own campaigns
There were three campaign finance report deadlines in 2017:
- The pre-primary report was due February 13, 2017,
- The pre-election report was due March 27, 2017, and
- The post-election report was due July 15, 2017.[12]
Candidates who filed before January 1, 2017, also had to file a continuing campaign finance report on January 16, 2017.[10]
Reports
All three candidates in this race filed exemption statements detailing they would not spend or receive more than $2,000 toward their campaigns. Because of this, they did not have to file additional campaign finance reports.[13]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016
2015Anita Jagodzinski and Kate Mayer won election without opposition in the election on April 7, 2015.[14] 2014
2013
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2017
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
Unlike the district's 2016 school board election, the 2017 election for three seats on the Holmen Board of Education was completely unopposed. In 2016, an average of 2.5 candidates ran per seat, which constituted the need for a primary election. One incumbent ran for re-election in 2016, and she won another term on the board. A newcomer won an open seat.
| School board election trends | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| School District of Holmen | ||||||
| 2017 | 1.00 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2016 | 2.50 | 0.00% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 50.00% | |
| Wisconsin | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.38 | 38.24% | 73.53% | 84.00% | 35.29% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Issues in the election
Referenda questions
Board of education members were not the only School District of Holmen items on the ballot on April 4, 2017. Citizens of the school district also voted on three referenda questions. The three questions asked for a total of $4,048,203. All three referenda appeared on the ballot as separate questions, which allowed district citizens to vote on each individually. Two of the questions were approved by voters.[3][2]
The largest referendum asked for $2,848,203 for safety and security capital improvements, and it was approved with 64.04 percent of voters in favor, according to unofficial results. The improvements included surveillance systems, digitally controlled door access, and reconstruction on main entryways.[3][2]
The second-largest referendum asked for $900,000 for site improvements at Holmen High School. It was approved with 54.3 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. Those improvements included expanding the student and guest parking lots, constructing access drives to help alleviate traffic, and developing two athletic fields.[3][2]
The smallest referendum asked for $300,000 to help fund the installation of multi-purpose synthetic turf as well as the construction of additional seating at Empire Stadium. It failed with 51.54 percent of voters casting ballots against it, according to unofficial results.[3][2]
Issues in the district
District seeks flexibility for school start date
Holmen District Administrator Kristin Mueller joined other school administrators throughout the state in February 2017 when she said her district was interested in starting school in August. A state law enacted in 2000 and supported by the tourism industry, however, prohibited districts from starting school before September 1 unless a waiver was obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for "extraordinary reasons."[15][16]
State lawmakers introduced a bill to repeal the September 1 school start mandate in the Wisconsin State Legislature in February 2017. It did not move out of committee before the 2017-2018 school year started on September 5, 2017.[17] Similar bills were introduced in past legislative sessions but were never passed.[18]
Mueller said starting school earlier in the year would help decrease backsliding during the summer as breaks could be shorter and more frequent. “It is really nice to have a break every so often,” said Mueller. “Having the flexibility would allow for more of those.”[16]
Other school administrators said school calendars should be controlled by school districts in order to create optimal schedules for their students. They said starting in August would give high school students more class time before taking advanced placement tests in May and that it would help maximize learning for other students as well. Administrators said students were more ready to learn in August than they were in the spring, when teachers started seeing declining results.[15][16]
Officials with the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association, the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, and some city and county visitor centers, however, said they relied on student workers to close out the season through Labor Day. La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director A.J. Frels said August was a better time for families to vacation compared to June due to the weather. In 2015, the month of August brought in $130 million more in tourism revenue than the month of June, according to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.[15][16]
“We just know that is a good time for tourism,” said Frels. “There would be a huge impact if there is a change to the school start day. We hope it doesn’t.”[16]
Candidate survey
|
|
Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
About the district
- See also: School District of Holmen, Wisconsin
The School District of Holmen is located in La Crosse County in western Wisconsin. The county seat is La Crosse. An estimated 118,212 residents lived in the county in 2015, according to United States Census Bureau.[19] The district was the 46th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 3,959 students.[20]
Demographics
Higher education achievement
La Crosse County outperformed Wisconsin as a whole and the national average in terms of higher education achievement from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.8 percent of state residents. The national average was 29.8 percent.[19]
Median household income
From 2011 to 2015, the median household income of $50,539 in La Crosse County was below the state and national averages. The median household income for Wisconsin was $53,357. For the United States, it was $53,889.[19]
Poverty rate
The poverty rate in the county was 14.4 percent from 2011 to 2015, falling above the state and national averages. During that same period, the poverty rate was 12.1 percent for the state and 13.5 percent for the entire country.[19]
Racial demographics
| Racial Demographics, 2015[19] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | La Crosse County (%) | Wisconsin (%) | |
| White | 91.7 | 87.6 | |
| Black or African American | 1.5 | 6.6 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4 | 1.1 | |
| Asian | 4.6 | 2.8 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| Two or more races | 1.7 | 1.8 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 1.8 | 6.6 | |
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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms School District of Holmen Wisconsin election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| School District of Holmen | Wisconsin | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Cristina Kovacs," January 5, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 La Crosse County Clerk, "Unofficial Summary," accessed April 5, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, "Custom Referenda Reports," accessed January 30, 2017
- ↑ School District of Holmen, "Board of Education Members," January 3, 2017
- ↑ School District of Holmen, "Board of Education Elections," accessed January 3, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Wisconsin Association of School Boards, "Guide for Candidates: 2017 Spring Election Edition," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Election Commission, "Spring 2017 Election," accessed January 3, 2017
- ↑ Village of Holmen, "Notice of Spring Election: April 4, 2017," accessed January 5, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Guided for Candidates," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Campaign Finance Checklist," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, "11.0104 Reporting exemptions: limited activity," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Ethics Commission, "Filing Deadlines and Reporting Periods," accessed December 15, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Cristina Kovacs, School District of Holmen," March 28, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Life, "Holmen voters OK school referendums," April 8, 2015
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Proposed bill would repeal Sept. 1 school start law," February 3, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 La Crosse Tribune, "Educators, parents would relish chance to start early," February 13, 2017
- ↑ Open States, "AB 103," accessed September 5, 2017
- ↑ WXOW.com, "Should local districts decide school start dates?" February 21, 2017
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 United States Census Bureau, "La Crosse County, Wisconsin," accessed December 19, 2016
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| School District of Holmen elections in 2017 | |
| La Crosse County, Wisconsin | |
| Election date: | April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Gary Dunlap • Incumbent, Cheryl Hancock • Incumbent, Tom Kruse |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
