Lansing School District elections (2014)

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2014 Lansing School District Elections
General Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
Michigan Lansing School District Ingham County, Michigan ballot measures Local ballot measures, Michigan

Three seats on the Lansing School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014.

Incumbents Guillermo Z. López and Shirley Rodgers and newcomer Bryan Beverly defeated challengers S. Joy Gleason, Thomas Patrick Morgan, Julee Rodocker, and Randy A. Watkins for the seats. Fellow board member Charles Ford did not file for re-election.

About the district

See also: Lansing School District, Michigan

Lansing School District is located in Ingham County, Mich.

Lansing School District is located in south-central Michigan in Ingham County. The county seat of Ingham County is Mason. Ingham County had a population of 281,723 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau in 2014. In the 2011-2012 school year, Lansing School District was the 12th-largest school district in Michigan and served 12,957 students.

Demographics

In 2012, Lansing had a lower percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree compared to the state overall. The United States Census Bureau reported that 24.5 percent of residents aged 25 and older in Lansing had earned a bachelor's degree, compared with 25.5 percent for Michigan. The city’s median household income was $37,128, below the state median of $48,471. The poverty rate in Lansing was 27.1 percent, above the state rate of 16.3 percent.

Racial Demographics, 2010
Race	Lansing (%)	Michigan (%)
White	61.2	78.9
Black or African American	23.7	14.2
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.8	0.6
Asian	3.7	2.4
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0	0
Two or More Races	6.2	2.3
Hispanic or Latino	12.5	4.4

Presidential Voting Pattern, Ingham County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	80,847	45,306
2008	93,994	46,483
2004	76,877	54,734
2000	69,231	47,314

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.

Voter and candidate information

As of the 2014 election, the Lansing Board of Education consisted of nine members elected at-large to six-year terms. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 4, 2014. Three seats were up for election in 2014.

School board candidates had to file with their county elections department during the candidate filing period, which ended on July 22, 2014. The deadline to withdraw was on July 25, 2014. Write-in candidates had to file by October 24, 2014. To vote in the 2014 general election, voters had to register by October 6, 2014.

Elections

2014

Candidates

At-large

• Guillermo Z. López
  • Incumbent

• Shirley Rodgers
  • Incumbent

• Bryan Beverly

• S. Joy Gleason

• Thomas Patrick Morgan

• Julee Rodocker

• Randy A. Watkins

Election results

Lansing School District, At-Large General Election, 6-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Shirley Rodgers Incumbent	20.3%	12,242
	Nonpartisan	Guillermo Z. López Incumbent	18.2%	10,986
	Nonpartisan	Bryan Beverly	16%	9,645
	Nonpartisan	Thomas Patrick Morgan	15.4%	9,249
	Nonpartisan	Randy A. Watkins	11.5%	6,942
	Nonpartisan	Julee Rodocker	10.3%	6,204
	Nonpartisan	S. Joy Gleason	8.3%	4,970
Total Votes				60,238
Source: Ingham County Clerk, "List of Contests," accessed December 29, 2014

Endorsements

Challengers Thomas Patrick Morgan and Randy A. Watkins each received an endorsement from the local chapter of the Michigan Education Association.

Incumbent Guillermo Z. López and challengers Bryan Beverly and Morgan each received an endorsement from the Lansing State Journal.

López also received endorsements from Lansing Board of Education President Peter Spadafore and state Representative Andy Schor (D-68).

Beverly also received endorsements from the Ingham County Democratic Party, the 4th Ward Progressives, and the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Morgan also received endorsements from:

• Lansing Board of Education member Nicole Armbruster
• Former Lansing Board of Education member Ken Jones
• State Representative Andy Schor (D-68)
• State Representative Sam Singh (D-69)
• Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope
• Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum
• The Ingham County Democratic Party
• The 4th Ward Progressives
• The Greater Lansing Labor Council
• The Michigan Democratic Party Environmental/Energy Caucus
• The Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters
• Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333

Watkins also received endorsements from:

• The Ingham County Democratic Party
• The Greater Lansing Labor Council
• The Ingham-Clinton Educators Political Action Council
• The Eaton Educational Employees Political Action Council
• The Michigan State University Administrative Professional Association Political Action Council
• The Lansing Community College Political Action Council

Campaign finance

Candidates reported $35,458.79 in contributions and $20,539.20 in expenditures during the election, according to the Ingham County Clerk.

In Michigan, candidates are prohibited from receiving contributions from corporations or labor organizations. Within 10 days of becoming a candidate, candidates must form a candidate committee. Following the creation of the committee, candidates have an additional 10 days to register the committee with the school district by filing a statement of organization. A candidate committee that does not expect to receive or spend more than $1,000 during the election cycle is eligible to receive a reporting waiver, which allows that committee not to file pre-election, post-election and annual campaign statements without legal penalty.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Guillermo Z. López	$3,895.00	$2,968.49	$926.51
Shirley Rodgers	$3,390.00	$1,211.75	$4,877.23
Bryan Beverly	$8,715.00	$3,696.94	$5,018.06
S. Joy Gleason	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Thomas Patrick Morgan	$11,609.00	$5,112.96	$6,496.04
Julee Rodocker	$2,844.79	$2,844.79	$0.00
Randy A. Watkins	$5,005.00	$4,704.27	$300.73

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2011 Lansing School District, At-Large General Election, 6-year term, 2011 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Nicole Armbruster Incumbent 22.2% 8,076      Nonpartisan Peter Spadafore 18.7% 6,803      Nonpartisan Rachel Lewis 12.3% 4,494      Nonpartisan Jeffrey Croff 10.5% 3,813      Nonpartisan Stephen Manchester 9.7% 3,534      Nonpartisan Karen Truszkowski 8.5% 3,105      Nonpartisan Mark Eagle 6.3% 2,307      Nonpartisan Andy Mutavdzija 6% 2,169      Nonpartisan B. Michael Williams 5.5% 2,016      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 101 Total Votes 36,418 Source: Ingham County Clerk, "List of Contests," accessed September 1, 2014 2009 Lansing School District, At-Large General Election, 6-year term, 2009 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Myra Ford 28.3% 9,920      Nonpartisan Amy Hodgin Incumbent 28.1% 9,882      Nonpartisan Nino Rodriguez 25.3% 8,884      Nonpartisan Ted O'Dell 18.1% 6,339      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 86 Total Votes 35,111 Source: Ingham County Clerk, "List of Contests," accessed September 1, 2014

What was at stake?

Issues in the district

School building renovations

A report published in September 2014 revealed that Eastern High School and J.W. Sexton High School needed a combined total of $89 million in renovations, and that constructing a new high school for the district would cost approximately $65 million. A 2008 community task force recommended the construction of four new elementary schools and a high school, but those plans were never implemented due to economic difficulties in the district. A separate study released in 2008 determined that Pattengill Middle School was the only one of the district's 36 school buildings in "good" condition. The Lansing State Journal editorial board published a piece on September 23, 2014, calling on the Lansing School District's leadership to propose a tax hike to fund the renovations or new construction.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Lansing School District election in 2014:

Deadline	Event
July 22, 2014	Last day for candidates to file nomination documents
July 25, 2014	Last day for candidates to withdraw
October 6, 2014	Last day to register to vote in the general election
October 24, 2014	Last day for write-in candidates to file nomination documents
November 4, 2014	General election day

Additional elections on the ballot

This election shared the ballot with general elections for a U.S. House seat, U.S. Senate seat, Michigan state executive offices, Michigan House of Representatives seats, and Michigan State Senate seats. It also shared the ballot with county, municipal, and judicial elections.

See also

• Michigan
• Lansing School District, Michigan
• Michigan school board elections, 2014
• List of school board elections in 2014
• School board elections, 2014
• Ingham County, Michigan ballot measures
• Local ballot measures, Michigan

External links

Suggest a link

• Lansing School District
• Ingham County Clerk